Built like a chocolate teapot
It's been difficult finding time to blog the last couple of times, but the upside of the rickshaw breaking down again is that I can sit and type this while Wayne fixes a broken accelerator cable. It was all looking so bright... [cue wobbly flashback transition]
Yesterday we were in Bangalore and we were due to be picked up at 09:30 by the rickshaw driver who we met the night below (I believe Wayne wrote about this) which transpired to be Indian time (we should have known). So at 10:00 he picked us up and we took The Knowledge to his approved man. As soon as we arrived we were taken off for the obligatory tea before work and when we got back soon amassed a crowd. A good bunch, who it turns out are all involved in the racing (or groupies) - we had fallen in with the local underground racing circuit and spent much of the morning and early afternoon chatting and sitting in their rickshaws as they got us drinks and blasted rap and R&B. I did get the opportunity to go out and buy some clean clothes though - clean pants and shirts are in very poor supply and we are never anywhere long enough to get anything cleaned.
This was a great experience for starters, but we needed to get out by 13:00 and ended up leaving at passed 17:00. This meant that we would have to do a bit of night driving for the first time - not so bad as we had had halogens fitted to the roof for just such an eventuality.
STATUS UPDATE: We have "help" from various passers by who have come into the garage and seen pitty on us. We are currently being rigged up to be towed to a local town where we will be put up (somewhere).
STATUS UPDATE 2: Just to confuse things, I am now writing from a hotel in Hyderabad (it was too hectic with the breakdown). It's now 21:45 and we have just checked in (we were due here 18:00 latest). Now, how to go on from here without making everything confusing? [more wobbly flashback effects]
So, having agreed up front that we would not drive at night unless absolutely needed... we chose to carry on driving. Halogens worked a treat and the road was good, but we were both tired so we drove on a one hour on, one hour off basis, making it to Anandapur at about 22:30. It was the easiest time yet finding the hotel we wanted but they turned us away (something to do with forms for foreigners). The hotel next door did the same but I met a very nice chap who works in a call centre and whose English was brilliant. Having regaled him of our tales and explained what we were doing he was naturally impressed, gave us his number in case of further problems and found a hotel for us. Nice man (although I received about 4 texts from him that evening expressing his friendship - my English sensibilities aren't up ready for that speed and intensity of personal engagement).
Hotel was okay, but did stink of mothballs (much to Wayne's disdain). On of the lads at the hotel then kindly walked us down to the local bus station for food (yes - that's right). It was more of a terminal than a station, full of people milling around, eating, or sleeping on the floor waiting for their buses to arrive. We had rice with vegtables mixed in, served in a banana leaves. Finger food, which we ate while walking back to the hotel, ambling through the cows that wandered through the station and trying to ignore the smell of the open street drainage (sewer?).
The morning saw us set off a little later on the basis we could make the distance in our shiny new rickshaw and we drove solidly today in 2 hour stints, striking out to Hyderabad. The scenery was lovely... but the same (amazing how you start to take things for granted). Further conversations with bike riders and lots of "ooh" moments (the amount of cows that can be packed - I use the right terms there - into a lorry, how many members of your family you can fit on your moterbike etc.).
The day went really well, with short breaks and a good road we looked like we would make it by 17:30. We nipped into a petrol station before we came into the city - about 30 minutes out - and as we pulled up for petrol (no prizes for guessing) we broke down. Cue sliiping back to where we started.
We got our tow - 20km with no tow fixings. The towing rope was run through the cabin of the rickshaw and tied at the front. Wayne had the dubious pleasure of having to steer the beast through motorway traffic then through hectic streets to a tiny garage in the back streets of a town we still don't know the name of. The Knowledge was then treated to a full insection and "fix" by a bot who cannot have been older than 14 years old (helped by a couple of adults and 2 more children who were much younger than him).Wayne wasn't entirely convinced by some of the choices they were making in their fix, but beggars can't be choosers and we let them get on with it.
We left there about 20:30 and made our way to Hyderabad. Crazy streets left us a bit bemused, but we seemed to be making good progress to our hotel of choice - until we broke down AGAIN! This - we have learned is the challenge. It is not getting across India in time, it is keeping the rickshaw running long enough to do it. With breakdowns every day so far, it has become the main concern. With this we also lose time time for other things (like clean clothes and sleep) - but... for all the difficulty so far the experiences easily weigh up the difficulties. Although I will reserve the right to change this in a week.
Anyway, Wayne had been paying attention and he managed to fix it by the roadside, so (after driving around some back allys and getting various different directions) we made it! For all the complaining we could do, we still made our target for the day. All in, it is a success. Albeit an exhausting one.
As an aside, I had received a comment from my wife about us still looking too pale. I would like to confirm that we are both browning nicely. Although showing tonight has highlighted how odd the tan-lines are - I can hear Amarjit laighing already!
Lastly, apologies for any typos or grammer mishaps - I hope it all makes sense. Just to tired and no time to check through properly now. This will likely be the same running forward.
So, tomorrow we head out to Nagpur. This is a longer day than today, with expected 10 hours of driving alone. Early start at 06:00 so will close this down now. Praying for no breakdowns!
