How did the Carnity Off-road club come to existence

[Rahimdad]

This used to be my favourite story to tell in pre-Covid times. I'm sure many of you are interested but many are too shy to ask and some can't find the words or think it's inappropriate to question on that. It's not so bad a question and it's all about friends making new friends and passing on the skills we acquired in over a decade of off roading each. Thanks to Dr @Chaitanya D for asking and @Desert Dweller reminiscing those good old pre-Covid days.

@Gaurav bhai is my senior and has been in the desert for maybe 14 years if I'm not mistaken. I just completed 12 years in the wilderness. For @Gaurav bhai he caught up with life and some difficult decisions trying to nurture Carnity since 2010. While I continued to learn where he left off. At one point he supported me in my initiatives and events and started coming back to off-road regularly. He hadn't lost what he had learned since we learned things the hard way. @Carnity started up thanks to his Mitsubishi Pajero which he never gave up on. In 2010 if you googled up your car issues we would just see websites from either USA or South Africa or Australia. Another thing was the Pajero never made it to USA and was known as Shogun or Montero in other places. The biggest concern was these other model specs would be built slightly differently not allowing us to understand or work on our own cars. @Carnity became the first website to share information on GCC spec cars, proudly it is the only one to date in the Middle East.

Back in late 2016 when I got really interested and started sharing information about my cars and checking regularly for updates and advise for my Nissan Pathfinder R50, I saw some interest in members for off-roading. I asked @Gaurav bhai if we could start an off-road club to which he was not sure. But after several discussions and couple of months of heated arguments we came to an agreement. @Gaurav bhai proposed I post 3 drives at different locations and he would support me. If we had interested members coming out to drive we would form our club or I would never mention it again. Agreement made.

Our first official drive was on 27 Jan 2017. @Srikumar was on that fist drive and never look back.

This and all 3 drives went full and soon we had enthusiasts and that's how the @Carnity off-road came to existence.

Initially it was all about creating awareness about the different aspects of off-roading and passing on the skills and the art to fellow off-roaders. But the only constant thing in life is change. Thanks to @Gaurav bhai who thought we needed to put the structure into words. Although it might seem that I am a man of many words, but putting the technical details to words is what @Gaurav bhai did best. Revising the structure and improving with every drive became our passion. The newly joined off-roaders seeing things from a different angle became our strength.

I'm very pleased to be coming close to 500 members in the club and how each one of you have contributed and made the @Carnity off-road club a success story. Each member brings their own flavour with their experience, culture and point of view as we have over 40 nationalities coming out every week to help us grow this common passion for this ever growing sport of off-roading.

We have been through many hardships and difficult decisions. But together we are proud to make the decisions best for everyone's well being. One such challenge was Covid19 which we are still all trying to deal with on a daily basis in all aspects of our lives. We at @Carnity made a decision to be the first club to introduce drives with the Covid19 restrictions in place. Our community who understands and stands by our decisions are our strength to continue doing so in the toughest of times.

Love our community and love each and everyone of the members striving to wake up at 3 am for drives posted at 5 am. For taking pics and videos and sharing it on @Carnity and their social media channels and making @Carnity popular among family and friends. My sincere thanks to all of you who read it through. It's your efforts that makes us stand out among a sea of clubs.

[Wrangeld]

@Rahimdad @Gaurav Having been lucky enough to join Carnity before Covid hit @Jeepie and myself have heard this story from you direct. 

I know I am but one of many to feel so lucky to have found @Carnitybecause, when all said and done this is a club with members who really do care for each other. Driving is what we do. Thanks to you, Carnity is what we are. 

[Rahimdad]

This is the only club started by 2 friends. But all like minded friends joined in making the journey more pleasant for all who want to continue as part of this community.

[M.Seidam]

Thank you @Rahimdad for this wonderful thread and I felt proud while reading the words you wrote about how the story begun exactly the same fire of passion growing with each single drive I have done so far. 
 

I have seen Liwa dunes Up to Ghaiathi in the heart of the empty quarter when I was at age of 10 or younger when I my dad used to take us by his land cruiser ( his nature of work let him drive  ) ... I realize Carnity has relighted the fire of passion of the desert in me and more than that all the help and support from the very beginning from @Gaurav and off course my colleague and friend @Chaitanya D .

at times  of crises ( Covid 19 ) we stand still at home, at work , and yet behind the steering wheels Navigating the desert that we all love , with all the precautions on !

cheers 🚙❤️🌷

[topgear]

I am very surprised that the off-roading club/drives started fairly recently in 2017. With all the structures, team members etc that I see today, I thought the club has been around for much longer.  Very impressed with all the hard and good work that you guys did throughout the span of 3 years + and continuing. 

 

[Rahimdad]

Thank you @topgear. We might be young as a club, but we have over 26 years of experience if you take only @Gaurav bhai and myself. We used our experience to mold this club to a community who cares about each other. When we start doing things right the right people with our mindset started joining in and we are now close to 500 strong. I must praise @Gaurav bhai a lot for his patience to understand the need for a structure and almost single handedly putting it in place. @Srikumar to be among the first to join us and moulded himself to an amazing individual we are all proud of. @Asif Hussain who learned a lot from us, but opened our mind to possibilities we could not have imagined. @Emmanuel for bring his amazing flavour to the community with endless questions. This enabled us to answer questions and realize where we need to plug the gaps.

On the way brilliant people like @Frederic, @Ale Vallecchi, @Wrangeld, @Jeepie, @Brette, @sertac, @Shamil, @Desert Dweller, @Foxtrot Oscar, @Vanessa8580 and the likes kept joining in and making this journey absolutely worth it.

Surely there are many more names that will get added to this list as we grow at an exceptional rate. We continue to look forward to remarkable individuals to learn from us and keep Carnity at the number 1 position it has achieved. My sincere thanks and gratitude to all who make our community the best one in the Middle East.