Day 8 - Varanasi to Allahabad

A late afternoon start to travel the 190 odd kms to visit Allahabad to view Sangam is planned.  We make our way out of Varanasi City before owais decides he is too bored and nails down a cycle-rickshaw and topples it down.  With regret in mind and to apologise he steps out of the shaw to be confronted with the old man whose cycle-rickshaw he toppled with a tirade of abuse, so rather than being apologetic he lets him have a few choice of words.  We bundle back into our shaws with the odd stops at Indian Oil to not only refuel our shaws but also for Owais, Hiten and Kieran to make their rear end releases of the goodies they wolf down :-).  We make it to Allahabad just before dusk but its too late to view the Sangam.  We book for a boat to take us out the following morning and head back to our hotels.  This place is swarming with insects which are attracted to anything remotely resembling a light which not only fly around but also make it so very difficult to kill with their jumps.  The next day starts with a visit to Sangam on a boat before being swindled to perform a pooja with the promise that you can donate whatever you wish before being demanded Rs.100pp.  Though i love india and its vast heritage, the crooks make this place a no-go zone.  They not only pester you with false promises but also are out only with the sole aim to suck you dry of your money.  The plan to have a dip in Sangam is quickly abandoned and we make our way back to the hotel to start our journey towards Lucknow which is only a mere 210kms. 

**Unforgettable Incident : Owais nailing down a cycle-rickshaw.**

Day 7 - Bodhgaya to Varanasi

We again plan for an early morning start :) and manage to get out of gaya before 7am to Varanasi.  Our journey is incident free till Dinesh decides he has had enough of a boring drive and smacks basanti into the rear of cindrella.  Thankfully, the outcome of this trick at 50kmph is not disastrous and basanti is left with [this](http://goo.gl/3g8LY). We get to varanasi in one piece and the city is one big pile of mess with garbage and anything you can name spread across every possible venue and this is the holiest city in India.  We trudge our way into the city to our hotel when a local tempo driver who decides he owns the road is travelling in the middle of the street at a snail's place is asked to move out of the middle to make way retilates by trying to side swipe us and rushes away.  The long journey and the dirty city has taken its toll on us and we chase him to the next place where he slows down, cut him up to avoid him rushing off again and jump out of our autos to comfront him.  Heaven knows what we were thinking as before we knew it, we had a crowd of a 100people around us but like it always happens in India most just stand around watching the fun.   After a few stern words and obscenities we go further trying to open the doors of the tempo to drag him out :-) we must have really lost our plot at that time but thankfully the gods were with us for once and the doors of the tempo were shut to our luck and all we managed was trying to open and not really manage to open.  We huddle back into our shaws and make our way to the hotel.  A quick shower and we are off to see the varanasi temple with millions of people in a sweat fest standing around to watch the daily cermony.   The cermony done, we make our way back before a priest/crook plasters our forehead with sacred vermillion and demands we drop only Rs.20/50/100 in his plate.  As religious this place is, it is also swarming with crooks who decide on their own free will that your parents have passed away and pester you to perform their last rights.  We get seperated from Owais and Hiten but continue on our own to visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple.  We are asked to deposit our mobiles, cigarattes and everything we own including cameras other than our wallets in a safe deposit locker. We are then manually frisked every 100yards 4 times by policemen before being let in.  We make our way into the temple for a 10second glance at the diety before being shoved out into the hands of throbbing false priests who without even asking you a question, plaster your forehead with every available powder, garland you, mumble out something and demand a Rs.50 payment.  The audacity of this being there is a second one waiting right next to the first who does not even bother looking at you and tries to plaster your forehead again :-).  We manage to get out of the temple with our wallets still intact and hook up with Owais and Hiten who have missed visiting the temple.  A quick advice to them on what to do and how to avoid the crooks and they are off to visit the temple before the cops seated outside decide that Hiten is a Muslim and will not be permitted inside but Owais was gladly let in.  Any amount of persuassion including displaying the sacred thread he has on his wrists proves futile and Hiten decides its not really worth visiting the temple and storms out.  A quick dinner of raj kachori and every possible option which looked tasty is wolfed down before we head back to the hotel.  We decide to wake early the next day to visit the ganges for a dip and head out by 8am for the dip.  One look at the water and we start to question our wisdom of taking a dip but hey, we are hindus and though we may pretend to be something else outside deep inside we still are very superstitious and go about taking a dip with a prayer in our lips before Owais chickens out.  Dip done, sins cleaned we make out way to Pan Galli to try the pan.  With absolutely no knowlege whatsoever of pans, we are given something which tastes like fire and absolutely disgusting which we wolf down before disaster strikes Hiten in the form of a spraying rear end which sprays in every direction except where it needs to be sprayed :).  We bid our adieus to Varanasi and make our way to Allahabad to view the sangam.

**Unforgettable Incident : Being plastered with vermillion and demanded we pay in large denominations in the name of good will.**

Day 6 - Patna to Bodhgaya

With only a 150kms to travel, we take it easy and have a late start by sleeping and relaxing till 9am.  Our journey starts well before disaster strikes and our rickshaw breaks down again.  After a quick fix and with only one hour lost, we are still in high spirits before we are comfronted with [this](http://goo.gl/DTNI4), [this](http://goo.gl/JS1Vs) and [this](http://goo.gl/ovQlm). We make it to Bodhgaya by 6pm and after a quick shower we head out to visit the place where Buddha was enlightened to make it before closing time.  This seemed to be the best decision we ever took as this place is synonymous for peace and tranquility.  We had a fairly quiet day with no incidents noteworthy of a mention other than [this](http://goo.gl/PY7UC) for a meal :-).

Day 5 - Katihar to Patna

Plan to start early left in ruins and we eventually start well after 6am.  The drive to Patna is a good 250kms and the general consensus is we will get to Patna by 3pm :).  The drive starts well and the roads are brilliant before disaster strikes with Owais and Hiten having a leaky rear end.  After stops at every available Indian Oil Petrol pump/Dhaba/anything remotely resembling a toilet they come back with a grin on their face and a warning to not use the toilet anymore :).  Desperate times call for desperate measures with Owais even taking refuge behind bushes and bitten by every available insect known to humans and unknown to humans.  We trudge our way into Patna and with 20kms to go our hopes are high of getting to Patna before 5pm, alas destiny had a different plan and we end up in a traffic jam of trucks streaching upto 20kms outside Patna.  A quick check with the local yields the answer of the side roads are good but i would not venture in there once it gets dark which is back to being stuck in the jam before the decision to drive on the wrong side of the traffic is taken.  We start driving crazily on the wrong side squeezing into every possible gap available when comfronted with a truck on the opposite side.  A decision to follow a local autorickshaw turns disastrous with 2fat2furious asking RicknRoll to follow a local auto and abandoning plans at the last minute when the local rickshaw turns into a side road which leaves RicknRoll on the wrong side of the pavement.  The brave souls they really are then navigate their way on the pavement with absolutely no knowledge of hindi other than grunts and finger waving :).  With most truck drivers obliging more out of curiosity than humanity, we weave in and out of oncoming traffic before darkness hits us with another 10kms to go.  It was difficult to drive during the day in a traffic jam on the wrong side and it was just madness at night.  The fancy flash lights which flash red in the rear were whipped out of our bags and we started waving them frantically to slow down traffic when trying to squeeze into any available gaps.  This seemed to work magically as a flashing red light draws attention even to the largest truck driver.  It worked so well that the local police in patna stopped us to demand we give him that light as it will be immensly useful to him. With a quick promise to give it to him the next morn, we make our way to get to the hotel which Dinesh who had arrived that day had booked.  The hotel turned out to be a paradise and after a long dirty journey we relaxed after a hot shower with a few beers and plenty of chatter on our bravado/stupidity to negotiate the jam.

**Unforgettable Incident : Owais asking a local for a toilet which provides him an answer of "Aaage Jao" [Go ahead] to which he questions how much further with the man responding "Paatha Nahi" [I dont know], and owais ripping him apart with obscenities for saying "Aaage Jao" without knowing how much. **

Day 4 - Silliguri to Katihar

Start our day again at 5am and continue our way towards [Katihar](http://goo.gl/Vq0DH).  After less than 100kms, the rickshaw breaks down again and we are off to look for a mechanic.  Find a mechanic shop who normally opens at 8am but its 9.30am and the shop is still shut :x.  The mechanic eventually decides to get to his shop at 10am and after a quick look and firing a few questions at us, says the engine needs a new piston as driving without oil for a long duration has taken its toll on the engine.  He also says, the only place to source the piston is from a bajaj dealer either in Siliguri which is 110kms away or in Katihar which is 80kms away.  Asks us to mix oil with the petrol so the ratio of oil mixed with petrol is doubled from 1:2 to 2:2 and asks us to keep it under 40KMPH.  We continue on our way to Katihar and enroute, stumble into the local mafia in Purnia, bihar who insist we pay road tax for driving kerala registered vehicles.  We claim we are from the Tourism department and know the CM of bihar who was the one who sponsored this trip which seemed to sell well.  Before the locals realise they have been tricked we make a quick getaway to reach Katihar to the bajaj dealer who has a quick look at the vehicle and says he does not have the parts required and asks to go to patna which is 250kms away.  With a curse we setoff again and stop midway to decide that we will drive all night to reach patna as the roads in Bihar was fantastic.  80kms out of Katihar driving in the dark makes us wet our pants and we decide to call it a night and end up staying at a dhaba.  The police station accomodation was heaven compared to this.  The bathroom was lit by a small red lamp which made it impossible to see what is around.  After another sleepless night we decide to wake up early and leave by 5am. BTW, this was just a plan to start early as other than one day we never left before 6-7am as a few wanted to sleep more than drive the rickshaw [no names mentioned here.. :)]

**Unforgettable Incident : Lying to the local mafia in Bihar of being sponsored by Govt of India.**

Day 3 - Gossigoan to Katihar

We start the day at 5am escorted by the police, 5kms away our shaw breaks down again, a quick clean of the sparkplug and we again set off to break down again after 3kms and this time, it just refuses to start.  The other teams speed away with only RicknRoll with us scratching their head at their misfortune to stick with us.  The police say the nearest mechanic is in the other side of the border and tow us outside the border only to find the mechanic shop closed, we again try to start the rick and this time the rick kicks to life and the police with a relief bid their adieus in a haste whilst we continue on our journey keeping the speed under 40kms as overheating the engine seems to make the rickshaw stop.  We continue a futher 10kms into west bengal, breaking down again.  we wait for the rickshaw to cool down and push start it again and continue trudging our way to look for a mechanic.  Rick breaks down again.  This time we decide we wont continue any further till the shaw is fixed and ask the locals for a mechanic who they say is a few kms away.  RicknRoll set off again to bring the mechanic and after a few minutes, they are on their back with a mechanic who again tinkers away cleaning anything which is visible.  After a good two hours, he starts it again but on gunning the rickshaw it dies again.  He is left clueless of what is happening and after tinkering again he notices that the oil pipe which mixes with petrol is disconnected and the oil is actually dripping down rather than go into the engine.  The rickshaw manual says don't drive more than 2kms without any oil but we have driven almost 500kms with no oil.  The oil pipe is reconnected and the rickshaw barks to life and we are able to hit speeds of 60kms without any problems.  Assuming all is now well, we again set off towards [Katihar](http://goo.gl/NjtFr) and stumble into an air-conditioned dhaba.  After having spent the night in the police station without showering and a proper toilet, the 5 of us relieve ourselves with a few having double stints in the loo.  The clean and fresh dhaba by the time we left was a stinking mess.  Whilst in the Dhaba we realise that we will not get to Katihar and decide to go and stop and [Siliguri](http://goo.gl/LHzoa). After driving in treachrous conditions again and with the broken promise of not driving in the dark, we reach Siliguri at 8pm with a better accomodation than most places we have stayed at till now.  Showered and fresh, we are out seeking food and sheesha.  Find a sheesha place which is 10kms away, pay the local rickshawwallah Rs.500 to take us there and back before Kieran and Mahul decide enough is enough and head back to the hotel for an early night around 10pm.  Owais, Hiten and Myself get to the sheesha place with me just to accompany them as a bribe to wake up early next day :-).  After a smoke we huddle into the same rickshaw, before the rickshawallah decides he needs wine, so off he takes us to buy wine with most shops shut but him banging away on the shutters trying to wake up the owner to buy wine but is futile, we get back to the hotel at 12am in to call it an early night.

**Unforgettable Incident : Looking to do sheesha at 10pm and paying Rs.500 for auto for a Rs.200 sheesha for 35mins.**

Day 2 - Guwahati to Jalpaiguri

Started the day at 5am to reach as close to [Jalpaiguri ](http://goo.gl/bsoQt "Jalpaiguri, WestBengal")as possible.  Driving through villages ended up having innumerous stops for sugarcane, lungi, ripping out tshirts to feel cool..(more like in cool from the heat than the look cool), posing with the [lungi's](http://goo.gl/ujbN7 "Owais with his lungi") and our spirits generally quite high.  Driven under 100kms, when our rickshaw broke down again.  Team RicknRoll drove to the nearest village to fetch a mechanic who did a carburetor clean and everything else he could possibly think of.  [Pic of repairs](http://goo.gl/5mUNu). Delayed by over 2hrs.  Our plan to reach close to Jalpaiguri now looked bleak.  Driving like fantatics, to end up somewhere decent before dark we find roads worse than country roads with craters in the middle of the road which can swallow the entire rickshaw.  Close to 5.30pm, we decided we will stop at the next village which has a decent accomodation with the only problem being rather than drive down from the NH into the villages, we asked a few locals with most just saying "Aaage Jao" (Go futher) without an idea how much further.  It had got dark and we were in the middle of nowhere trying to negotiate the mountains (craters) whilst a jeep pulls up alongside us to question who we were and what we were doing.  After giving a brief overview, we realised it was the local police and they warned us we were driving on the most notorious stretch of road infested with bandits and escorted us out a further 5kms.  After thanking them and sigh of relief, we continued looking for accomodation, in the dark trying to keep abrest with trucks so we can negotiate the road.  Stumbled into 3 more teams which were in a village but continued driving as we wanted to get somewhere fast but a KM or 2 further, we decided we would be better off having more teams alongside us and whilst contemplating turning around, the 3 teams caught up with us.  Whilst discussing of possible options to stay, another jeep full of police pulls alongside us.  We ask them on the possible options to stay and they come back with the next big town with a decent place to stay is a further 20-30kms away.  The police inspector makes a few calls and decides it is really unsafe for us to be left alone and escorts us a further 5kms away to a village called [Gossigoan](http://goo.gl/vEUla) where the local police station will find us a place to stay.  Upon reaching Gossigoan, we find the police say it is really unsafe for us to continue or stay in a hotel and extends his hospitality further by saying we can stay in the police station for the night and will be escorted out to the border to West Bengal the following morning.  We are quite happy of being safe in the police station till we find the place offered to us is a open porch with only a roof and swarming with mosquitoes as big as hornets.  With no other option, we agree rather reluctantly and ask for a place which could provide us with some food.  An inspector and two constables accompany us with rifles to the nearest hotel which serves nothing but Dhal and Rice and no spoon.   Needing a drink badly, we ask the police whilst seated in the hotel of buying beer and two members are escorted to the nearest wine shop to buy beers.  The sight of the white skinned people trying to eat food with their hands collected a huge crowd with most taking pictures and videos of it.  The icing on the cake being all of us asked to autograph on a sheet of paper :).  Back to the police station, we find the electricity keeps shutting down every few hours to leave us all in pitch darkness.  Most being tired crash out in the open porch before Hiten from RicknRoll finds a zillion roaches and decides to sleep in the rickshaw with me following suit of doing the same in our rickshaw.  After a really uncomfortable sleepless night, we decide to leave as early as possible next day before the police say the earliest they can escort us out is 5am.

**Unforgettable Incident :Spending the night in a police station and asking the police who escorted us for Beer :)**

Day 1 - Shillong to Patshala Town

Started the day in earnest driving in convoy to shillong club for the kick off which happend at 12pm IST.  We are 45th on the list to leave shillong.  Our target was to reach [Patshala Town](http://goo.gl/L2Bsv "Patshala Town") by 6pm as we were really not keen to drive in the dark.  Reached Guwahati without any problems at 1530hrs with the rick flying past most.  Stopped to help a fellow rickshawite to fix a problem with their axle after he crashed to jam his rear wheel.  On a closer inspection, the problem seemed more than a quick fix and with no mechanic around on a sunday at 6pm, spoke to the local rickshawallah's to help sort out their problem and continued.  15kms into Guwahati and our rick started to sputter and crankle and came to a stop.  Numerous tries to get it started again failed and with a crowd of locals around us more so curious to see what is happening than to help, we were getting a bit frustrated.  A local truck driver then started tinkering around with the fuel pipes and found no problems with it which left him scratching his head.  He wanted to get the spark plug out to see if the problem was with it and more surprises to us when on opening the tool kit box we find the special tool to remove the spark plug was not provided to us :(. In the meantime, most of the fellow rickshaw's thundered past us with a friendly hoot and a  wave until the angels in disguise team RicknRoll with Hiten, Mahul and Kieran saw us stranded and stopped to check.  Luckily they had the spark plug spanner we were able to remove the spark plug and change it to a new one which started the rick in one go.  The time was already close to 1800hrs, so we decided there was no point in trying to reach Patshala as it was a further 60-70kms away and decided to spend the night in Guwahati.  Team RicknRoll stuck around with us to the end of our epic journey in Jaisalmer.  Started looking for budgeted hotels and most were just next to impossible to stay. Spoke to the locals who recommended a hotel on the high street and on reaching there found a lush hotel with the aircon blasted in full which raised our hopes of a shower and a good nights sleep.  On enquiring further, we found it costs Rs.5500 a nite for a room which was not what we wanted to spend.  So back again on the road in our search for hotels.  We ended up staying in Hotel Blue Diamond which was dark, mucky, wiht more roaches and rodents than have seen in my entire life.  One look at the bathroom and all thoughts of a shower vanished and we decided to have an early start the next day to get out asap from this hotel.

**Unforgettable Incident : RicknRoll stopping to help us and sticking around with us till the end.**