Epilogue

With more than a hint of sadness us Badgers abandoned our mobile tin bucket. Our brave work horse had carried us admirably across almost the entire sub-continent. Now as we make our way back towards Jodphur & the waiting overnight train to Delhi we still see Rickshaws grinding out the final kilometres to the finish. Sadly for them they have missed out on the chaotic victory parade around Jaisalmer fort,   another thumping in the cricket at the hands of our hosts & the epic finishing party. They also have missed the Honey Badgers receiving a silver camel,  awarded to the team that embodied the spirit of the Rickshaw Run. A high honour indeed. What did the Badgers learn on our adventure? India is incredible, the Indians are wonderful hosts, it is possible to eat over 100 curries in 2 weeks & that somehow despite the insanity that reigns it is possible to survive India's roads. Thank you for your generous support & for following our blog. Until the next time, The Honey Badgers. 

Jaisalmer


Day 13-15

We were delayed in Jodhpur due to tragic circumstances.   On the morning of what would have been our final drive, we were shocked to discover that our friend and teammate Chris had passed away.  Mary, Team Mutneg, and I then stayed behind two days to assist his family and the embassy with arrangements to get him home.  Once things were in order, the five of us finished the Rickshaw Run to a warm and supportive welcome from the Adventurists staff.

Upon reflection on the last two weeks, Mary and I are impressed with how the challenges of the Rickshaw Run have been a transformative process.  Travel is most effective when it takes you out of your comfort zone to experience new lifestyles and worldviews.  This event thrust us into the unknown culturally with the added bonus of learning to drive, plan, and be self-reliant in this alien land while testing tolerances for cleanliness. We soon learned how we each responded to these stresses, which at times strained our patience with each other.  With that comes a great sense of accomplishment as we conquered those challenges to finish something that many would have quit.  That makes it all the harder to lose Chris one day before he could share in that moment with us. 

After all, who else but Chris could have even suggested such a crazy thing?  When he pitched it to me a year ago on our travels in South America, I laughed it off as a cool idea that we would never really do.  Little did I know that he was serious and set out to recruit a team to experience the real India with.

In many ways Chris was made for this event.  He liked to brag about his skill behind the wheel, and he jumped right in to conquer the roads of India.  With Mary and I having little experience with motorbikes, he was also patient to teach us how not to stall in traffic or burn out a clutch riding over a mountain.  He was always up for a laugh and a chat with interesting people and often enjoyed being the center of attention.   Being treated like a celebrity by a mob of friendly Indians was just his style.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Toby, Rosie, and Rowan of Team Mutneg who stuck with us like family through the difficult times as well sharing laughs over the joys of the road.  Matt, Ricky, and Brooke of the Adventurists staff were also quick to lend their support and also deserve our heartfelt thanks.

I for one will miss the future chances to travel with my friend Chris. I can say though that he picked a great adventure to finish with and that Mary and I were lucky to have shared it with him.

Thank you and goodnight!

Thank you everyone for your donations, we have officially raised a staggering £2,025.

With matching, this means that Coolearth will receive £4,050.

Thank you all so much for your generosity.

Namaste.

Jodphur


Days 13 & 14 - The Finish!

A short 140km to get to Jaisalmer and the finish! We took Ginny for some off roading in the desert which she didn't enjoy as much as we did. Three wheels are not as good as four in deep sand.

The finish was at a royal palace just outside the fortified town of Jaisalmer. We had been instructed not to use Google maps to find it but that was 13 days ago and memories are short out here. The map led us down a narrow sand track in the middle of nowhere, an ideal spot for Ginny to cough and die. Luckily she was just out of fuel again, and after a heated discussion with a local in a 4x4 who refused to go off road around us we got going again. We realised something was wrong when we got to where the palace should be and drove through a restricted area sign and were stopped by a soldier with Kalashnikov who instructed us to pull over. We had arrived at a very active airforce base. To set the scene, we are in the last town before the Pakistan border and following a four day assault on an Indian air base by Pakistani militants where 10 soldiers were killed a couple of days ago, relations between the two countries are not entirely cordial. Fighters are constantly flying overhead and we have driven past dozens of tanks being moved to the border. The Captain reversed and promptly crashed straight into a soldier on a motorbike directly behind us. There didn't seem to be any damage but a now irate guard with his chums was very keen to pull us over, presumably to search Ginny, delete our photos etc. Feigning misunderstanding the Captain gallantly did a speedy u-turn and we disappeared in a cloud of two stroke smoke.

We found the Palace eventually and the Captain pulled his trademark stall on the ramp up to the podium. No better way to end our voyage! We were the 20th team to arrive, with some having arrived on the 10th- ludicrous.

Yesterday, (14th) there was a victory parade around the fort with the 70 out of 104 shaws that made it by the deadline. There have been two spectacular crashes, one on the first day where they lost a fight with a bus and actually turned it into a convertible and the other 300m from the finish. Amazingly all survived.

We were sad to see Ginny go but after well over 2,500km without a service she will need some attention (especially the clutch).

Thank you for reading our blogs and for your generous donations, so far we have raised £1,394 for Walking With The Wounded and £350 for Cool Earth. Please keep it coming!

We will be putting together a short film of our exploits in time for the dinner on 19th February so check back here afterwards to watch it.

For Quinine and Country!

Finish line circle of (slow) death


Glossary

A - Accident (n), the inevitable consequence of driving like an Indian. B - Bus (n), agent of death on the road, also a people transporter. Bobble (v), head movement by an Indian to indicate agreement, disagreement, happiness, confusion, excitement, or disappointment. C - Car (n), vehicle of greater important than a rickshaw & moped, less than bus or truck. Chai (n), drink of the gods. D - Dosa (n), breakfast of champions. Darwin Award (n), prize given to person who ended life prematurely by foolish act. Consistently won by Indian drivers. Dust (n), substance that covers all surfaces after 60 seconds in a rickshaw. Can cause allergic reaction in hotel receptionists. Danger (n), permanent state any road user will find themselves in. E - Excitement (n), reaction of the Indians when they see a Rickshaw or have a selfie opportunity with a tourist. Uncommon in Goa. F - Freezing (adj), average temperature in the back of a rickshaw before 10am. G - Goa (n), former Portuguese colony on west coast of India, now annexed by Putin. H - Hindu (n), average Indian, billions of them. Also see Excitement. Honey Badger (n), most ferocious species of badger, highly skilled operator of a rickshaw. Known for high quality banter. Horn (n), auto tool to allow Indians to express a bobble at high speed. Hotel (n), destination for food not lodging, only discovered when the latter is urgently needed. Helmet (n), road safety device deemed superfluous by motorbike user. I - India (n), incredible sub continent. Best explored in a rickshaw. J - Joke (n), state of average Indian road, rush hour driving. K - Kerala (n), beautiful & tranquil state of southern India. Often prescribed as antidote to Goa or Mumbai. L - Livestock (n), cattle, monkeys, pigs, goats, dogs, camels, commonly seen wandering the highways. Light (n), source of totally inadequate illumination for a rickshaw, cannot be used in conjunction with a horn. Load (n), game played by drivers of how many people or objects their vehicles can carry. Also see Danger. M - Moustache (n), facial hair perfected by the Indians. Map (n), navigation aid, commonly ignored by men as they know best. Mechanic (n), any passerby who can fix a broken rickshaw. N - Night time (n), a time of day to be avoided on a road. O - OMG (adj, slang), phrase most commonly used by foreigners when seeing Indians drive. P - Parantha (n), best Indian bread, accompanies any meal. Police (n), extractors of bribes from road users. Pothole (n), device to slow traffic, damage rickshaws, vary in size, known to swallow entire vehicles. Q - Queue (n), what happens post an accident, excuse to drive wrong way on the other side of the road. R - Rickshaw (n), bottom of Indian road food chain, occasionally driven by foreigners. Also see Excitement & Accident. Rush hour (n), time of day when temporary insanity grips a road user. S - Shock (n), common state of foreigner when on Indian road. Speed Bump (n), obstacle to slow traffic, vary in size and aggressiveness, only spotted at the last second. Speed Limit (n), see Joke, Police. Selfie (n), a common request by an Indian for interaction with a foreigner. School (n), place for very friendly small people, best hope for India's future. T - Truck (n), larger & slower agent of death on the road, also transports goods & people. Often seen upside down in a ditch. Take (v) - Action taken by a bus, truck or car, over or under. Also see Darwin Award. Toll (n), road use payment not required of rickshaws. Daily body count among road users. U - U-turn (n), maneuver conducted by an Indian driver without indication. V - Velocity (n), honour is obtained by achieving the highest form without regard for life. W - Waiter (n), food service provider, unused resource of local cuisine knowledge. Most commonly excited to help foreigners when asked. Wet Wipe (n), futile device to combat dust, oil & petrol. X - X-rated (n), certificate given to Indian road safety video. Y - Youth (adj), average life expectancy of an Indian road user. Z - Zebra Crossing (n), aid for pedestrians to cross a road, aid for drivers to run down pedestrians.