From WagonR to XUV500 to Innova Hycross — The Road That Changed Me
“Musafir hoon yaaron…”
Not trying to arrive.
Not trying to escape.
Just driving alongside memories that refuse to fade.
Some roads don’t merely challenge the machine.
They expose the person holding the wheel.
And sometimes, the car you drive becomes a quiet mirror — reflecting the season you’re living through.
I thought I was upgrading my cars. From a WagonR to an XUV500 to an Innova Hycross.
It took me years to realise —
I wasn’t upgrading machines.
I was shedding old skins.
Growing into someone I hadn’t yet met.
This WagonR to Innova Hycross journey wasn’t about upgrading cars — it was about growing through them.
From Ustaad to Haathi to Owl
A Journey Through Cars, Mountains, and Growth
You don’t realize how attached you are — until you have to let go.
I’ve owned three cars in my adult life.
A Maruti Suzuki WagonR VXi, 2014 model
A Mahindra XUV500 W10 AWD diesel automatic, 2016 model
And now, a Toyota Innova Hycross ZX(O) hybrid, 2026 model
But what I really owned were three seasons of myself.
Looking back, this WagonR to Innova Hycross journey was never really about engines or upgrades.
Ustaad — The Survival Instinct
(Maruti Suzuki WagonR | Chanshal Pass Road Trip Story)
Three friends.
Chanshal Pass.
Slush. Altitude. Rain.
If you’ve driven to Chanshal Pass in Himachal Pradesh, you know — it’s not a tourist drive. It’s a test of patience, ground clearance, and nerve.
The kind of road where confidence fades.
And then — a thud.
Front tyres dropped into a hidden pothole. The oil chamber cracked. Engine oil began to leak.
That could have been the end of the trip.
Instead, I drove 15 kilometers back to a mechanic.
Slow. Alert. Listening to every vibration as if the engine itself was whispering warnings.
The mechanic examined the crack, wiped the oil, applied soap as a temporary seal. Then reinforced it with M-seal.
Soap. And M-seal.
No drama. No panic. And certainly no tow truck.
Just faith and a little jugaad.
And that WagonR? It’s still running. Still on M-Seal
That is not just a WagonR hill drive survival story.
It is a lesson in resilience on Indian mountain roads.
My WagonR didn’t quit.
It simply refused to stop.
It endured — and in the end, it brought us home.
That is why I called it Ustaad.
That day, it taught me something about resilience, about unpredictable roads, and about staying steady when things break without warning.
Strength isn’t always loud.
Sometimes it’s resourceful.
Sometimes it’s quiet stubbornness.
And the fact that I still remember the soap and M-seal?
That’s not mechanical memory.
That’s gratitude.
Haathi — The Season of Ambition
(Mahindra XUV500 AWD | When Power Felt Necessary)
Then came Haathi.
A Mahindra XUV500 W10 AWD diesel automatic SUV — built for highways, mountain terrain, and long-distance drives across India.
It growled.
From a distance, it looked imposing.
It climbed like it had something to prove.
And so did I.
That chapter of my life was about pushing. Expanding. Accelerating. Building something bigger than yesterday.
Haathi matched that hunger perfectly.
Highways felt shorter.
Mountains felt negotiable.
Ambition felt amplified.
I hated handing it over to valet drivers. Instead, I would stand there watching until it disappeared from sight — once even sitting inside while they drove it to the parking spot, as if my presence could shield it from careless hands.
I removed pebbles from its tyre grooves like I was protecting something alive. It sounds silly now. But attachment rarely follows logic.
And one night, outside a hospital emergency building, seat reclined, windows slightly open — when life felt heavier than diesel engine and doubt louder than confidence — it held me steady.
At that moment, it wasn’t just steel and rubber. It was strength when I needed it most.
It was a witness –
To turning points.
To difficult phone calls,
To late-night chai drives,
To Kishore singing softly on long highways, and to,
silences that reshaped decisions.
When I sold it to Spinny, I didn’t feel like I was parting with a vehicle.
I felt like I was saying goodbye to a version of myself.
“𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆 — 𝒂 𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍.”
Owl — The Quiet Strength
(Toyota Innova Hycross ZX(O) Hybrid | Where Noise is No Longer Needed)
And then came Owl.
The Toyota Innova Hycross ZX(O) hybrid.
In my house, cars don’t remain cars.
They earn names.
This one is Owl.
Not because it’s loud.
But because it isn’t.
The hybrid system moves silently in city traffic.
It feels composed on highways.
It doesn’t try to prove anything.
Where Ustaad taught endurance,
and Haathi reflected ambition,
Owl embodies maturity.
School runs.
Quiet morning starts.
Long highway cruises without noise.
Not every drive now is about conquering terrain.
It’s not about how far I can go — it’s about how gently I can get there.
One day, I’ll take Owl back to the mountains.
Thin air.
Blind bends.
Higher climbs.
Not to test it. Nor to prove anything.
Just to return back home with steadier hand and a quieter mind.
And one day, without announcement,
it will stop being “new car.”
It will just be Owl.
And that is how names often become legacy.
The WagonR to Innova Hycross Journey That Changed Me
Not an Upgrade. A Quiet Change.
This WagonR to Innova Hycross journey slowly reshaped the way I see the road — and myself.
I thought I was upgrading cars.
But looking back, I see a deeper shift.
Ustaad taught me to survive.
Haathi taught me to conquer.
Owl is teaching me restraint
And maybe that’s the real journey.
Not from WagonR to XUV500 to Innova Hycross. Not from hatchback to SUV to hybrid.
But from instinct…
to ambition…
to awareness.
The road didn’t just change what I drove.
It also reshaped how I drive.
And it even altered why I drive.
And more than anything —
it changed the man holding the steering wheel.