People in Bangladesh, especially over-anxious, fidgety teens complain about how there's little else to do in this country other than going out to eat with friends. With some degree of accuracy, one can assume the rapidly expanding guts and overweight kids frequently spotted hanging around the back-roads of Dhaka have some correlation with this lack of activity. Automotive enthusiasts will claim they're of a different sort, that their passion for cars gives them a better lifestyle than those burger fed, cheese-addled teenagers. They'll say things like "my manual gearbox keeps my left leg fit", "doing wheelies on my bike keeps my forearm strength up" or something equally obnoxious and inaccurate. However, there might be some truth to it for a special kind of auto enthusiast – the ones willing to stray off the tarmac.

Off-roading in Dhaka may not seem all that special considering every person out there has driven across Malibagh in a car designed for road use (in my case, a lowered Toyota Vista). When you do it properly though, or at least find a place to go off-roading properly, it can be quite the experience.

When we got in touch with Zaheen Tajoar to feature his brother Cemol Chowdhury's Land Rover Defender 110 wagon, there was only one condition: we'd have to take it off-roading, shoot the king of off-roading in its natural habitat. He agreed, so at 8 AM on a Friday morning (perks of being an automotive journalist - waking up early on weekends to go shoot someone else's car that I can never afford with my salary) we met up with him on 300 feet road in Purbachal and headed to our top secret off-roading track. The sun was out, miniature photographer Farhan was ready with his inadequate equipment, and we were ready for some dirt.

After some initial confusion about how to engage the low range gearbox, this being Zaheen's first time going off-road properly, we set off deeper into the nearly-deserted stretch of land where the roads hadn't yet been built. The Defender, equipped with skinny tyres and steel wheels, bounded over mounds of dirt and down sloping crests with ease, although if you're uncomfortable outside of your air-conditioned cocoons of luxury, you'd have had a terrible time being lobbed up-down-left-right constantly inside the Land Rover. The basic ruggedness of the Defender and its "go-anywhere" attitude has made it a global icon, and it's easy to see why the Land Rover is one of the most recognisable automotive shapes all across the globe – the United Nations used the Defender in every role imaginable for over 40 years. It was usurped by the Toyota Land Cruiser in recent years, but Defenders still make up a huge portion of the UN's humanitarian and aid efforts.

What about when the rugged beasts themselves require some TLC? We found out firsthand, as Zaheen's 110 broke down after a few over-ambitious attempts at getting across sizeable drops in terrain. The fuel pump, notorious in petrol powered Defenders for going bust occasionally with overuse, had given up and refused to work. After some head scratching and moaning, Zaheen and I decided we'd leave the rest of the crew with the Defender and walk towards a garage on the main road. On the way, we lost track of where we were, failed at getting a lift from passing trucks, filled our shoes with sand, and when we finally reached the garage after a 45 minute walk and 10 minute drive in a sleeper 4AGE powered Corolla, we couldn't convince the mechanics to help us out. Instead, we decided to call Land Rover restorer and local expert Asad Moyeen, owner of Motorwerks, the guys who'd helped install the air-conditioning in Zaheen's Defender. He suggested a tip only LR experts would know – tap the fuel pump with a wrench while trying to start the car. With the information relayed back to Zaer Zubab, our resident hater and ricer-extraordinaire who had stayed back with the Defender, we made our way back.

Off-roading in Bangladesh is definitely a hassle. There are so many things that can go wrong in so many ways, it's going to be messy and stressful if you aren't prepared. It's a continuous learning process, but at the end of the day when you're sweaty and covered with a 2-inch layer of dust, you'll have lived.

Photos: Farhan Ahmed