Karma Kab

photos

2009-02-05T08:21:00.002+05:30

Sorry I have been so bad about updating here since our return. I had grand plans to recap each day's adventure, but then once arriving home I needed to recover from it all and haven't had time to just sit and rethink it all.

But here are photos that I did put up!

I will give you a rundown very soon about it all. I can say that now that it's been 2 weeks I really miss driving the rickshaw and being on the road. I am already getting itchy feet about being in Mumbai for 'so long'! hah.

Luxury stop over

2009-01-18T11:54:00.002+05:30

We decided to stop over in Kolkata for a night of luxury before heading back to Mumbai. We booked the Park hotel and got ready to be pampered! We had initially thought we'd do some sight seeing in Kolkata, but so far we've barely left the hotel grounds. We are both coming down with a cold and our bodies are finally yelling and screaming with how they were treated for the last 2+ weeks!

I went for a massage this morning only to find out that I have too many injuries to really enjoy it! I have so many bruises all over my body that the therapist kept asking 'what are all these purple dots'! haha. But as she dodged the purple spots I seemed to relax a bit.

Still have a head cold that is trying to become more so lots of rest and water is the recipe for now. Heading back to Mumbai today and will hopefully have time to go through the 800 photos and gazillion hours of video!

We made it!

2009-01-16T22:26:00.002+05:30

It was a long tough journey, but we reached the finish line in one peice and still together :)

I can't even begin to describe the state of shock, excitement and sadness that we felt when we crossed the finish line. We couldn't believe we made it here, clocked in at number 19 out of 59 teams, excited to see other teams and share our stories and sad that our little karma kab would no longer be constantly in our thoughts!

Our route was tough and we didn't see anything we wanted to see, but we really did have the experience of a lifetime. It was really amazing. Days out on the road we thought we'd never make it and wondered about just giving up to all the obstacles, but we powered on for our donors and for ourselves and man we feel great now!

I've had almost no access to internet and hardly even the phone due to our remote locations. I thank Stacie so much for updating as she heard from us - I had no idea when/if she was updating, so it's great to see all of her updates! We also thank Kevin for loaning us his video camera. It got a lot of use and will hopefully help you guys get a sense of the insanity that we faced along the way.

For now I am off to bed an hour later than most nights (10:30 pm!), getting ready to head to Kolkata tomorrow for one night of luxury before heading back to Mumbai on Sunday. I have hundreds of photos, stories and hours upon hours of video to share as soon as we get back.

Thank you all for your support - Stacie let me know all of your thoughts were with us along the way.

It took so long to reach shillong!

2009-01-15T01:01:00.002+05:30

Not really, I just could not think of anything clever to rhyme it with....hehe! They reached, a day early!! After all the fretting and feeling behind schedule, I received a text at around 5pmish, that they arrived.

I have not spoken to them, so we will have to await for the last days adventure stories across assam. Great to know they are safe and sound : ) Looking forward to photos and stories of their wild adventure!!

Day 12 & 13 - Reached Siliguri - only 2 more states to go!

2009-01-13T23:49:00.002+05:30

So apparently the 'strangers' I mentioned in the last post they had to stay with was actually a roadside restaurant, like truck stop. They often call restaurants "hotels" in India and this was where they were directed it would be possible to sleep. There were no rooms, but they had to sleep, it was dark, foggy and were told there may be some place 6kms behind them or 60kms ahead. They opted for the roadside 'hotel'!

When I spoke to them today they had already experienced a mechanical mishap, the starter cable fell onto the carburetor and burned up, they had to stop to have it replaced. K. said that the Steering was messed up, in order to go straight they had to hold the steering to the left...making it more challenging to avoid pot holes. (which i could here in the background, the auto shaking because the road was so bad and potholed).

The map they had turned out not to be much use in the North. They at this point were having to completely rely on roadside signs or stopping and asking people. They roads were either not on the map or if they were, in wrong places. At one point on the 12th I believe, they took a road that was on the map and they ended up in a tiger reserve! They ended up backtracking to get out of there. A few days back she said they drove through rice fields, for 5 or 6 kms.

What looks like a National Highway on the map turns out to be dirt road. When they try to ask for directions many times the people on the side of the road (or in it) are drunk and can't give proper directions. This is at 11am. I have seen this in the villages i have worked in, alcoholism is one of the more prevalent problems in the rural areas. They often drink toddy, a cheap homeade liquor.

They slept in Siliguri on the 12th, they met up with 6 or 7 other teams there. So far, as far as repairs they have had to:

repair the carburetor 5 times
Exhaust pipe 3 times
had the engine rebuilt
Steering repaired
Windsheild wipers (does not even sound worthy of mentioning! ha!)
Sidebar
Had flat tires
Spare tire stolen

They were not sure if they were on the correct road when i spoke with them around noon on the 13th. Karilyn was asking paul if they were going north, she was afraid they may have crossed over into Bhutan! ha!

They had hoped to complete about 300kms by the day end, leaving them about 60 to 80 on the final day to reach Shillong by mid day. This was the first day they had phone coverage and thought that once they reached Assam they may loose it again! The adventure is almost over, I am sure they will have great photos and stories to share once they are back.

Day 11 & 12

2009-01-13T02:58:00.002+05:30

The kab was still in Bihar last news I received. And they are freezing their $#*% off! ha!

K. said they will be going through Assam, but not really looking forward to it. They stayed with strangers again because there was no where to stay for 60 more kilometers and it was getting dark.

Short post, hopefully longer more interesting one tomorrow when I have a chance to call them in the morning.

Day 8 to 10 - Nirvana anyone?!

2009-01-11T16:57:00.003+05:30

Well I did not hear from team karma kab for a day, yes, I was a bit concerned but they were fine, just out of network coverage. They made it thru jharkhand fine (thank goodness saw in today's paper there was naxalite activity yesterday - eek, not to scare granny! they are fine : )!!).

On day 8 they were in jharkhand and heading toward Bodh Gaya in Bihar, it is the "most important of the pilgramage sites for Buddhists". Going still rough and slow, bad roads not allowing them to go at any consistent speed, causing sore butts and putting them behind schedule.

Day 9 I received a message that they were almost to Bodh Gaya and planned to end travel for day and stay there. Good for them, I know Karilyn was looking forward to seeing this sight. Perhaps retracing Guatama Buddha's steps will lead them to enlightment.....then they can come back and share the secret of attainment with me : )

And yesterday, day 10 they were hoping that another team, Simon and John who had been caught up in some Maoist trouble, would catch up to them and travel together for a bit.

They must be heading for the hills as I type and very cold!! Will update with more when I hear from them.

Day 8

2009-01-08T12:11:00.003+05:30

Still waiting for my day 8 update, I know they have been in some remote areas and not always getting phone coverage. I guess in Chattishgar they hardly had any network coverage, when they crossed over into Orissa immediately had their bars!

I did get a text msg later in the day announcing brighter times, they had run into another team along they way. Think it is good for moral support!

One team, with Simon and John from the UK had run into some maoists, they were being delayed a bit. I hope no news is good news!! and they are moving on.

They had hoped to get into the state north of orissa, jharkhand. They were aiming for the middle route if you look at the two possible routes suggested by the Adventurists. http://rickshawrun09w.theadventurists.com/index.php?mode=route

Also, some teams are sending in updates to the coordinators via SMS, you can check out what they are doing and where they are at the event main page - http://rickshawrun.theadventurists.com/

Video of day 1 driving

2009-01-07T13:49:00.002+05:30

What better time to learn driving than in a rickshaw, in India!!

Prepping and Day 1 photos

2009-01-07T13:19:00.003+05:30

Other team's designs

Tetris themed auto...Brendan and John, guys from the States. Karilyn and paul waiting to take off on Day 1!

Horn ok please, the back of Karma Kab. Paul, waiting to take off. All the teams qued up on Beach street in Pondicherry for the send off.

Blessings from local officials before the send off!

Paul driving!! if i can figure out how to add video...hmm i see an icon. I have day 1 driving of karma kab, it is of paul getting lessons!! perfect time to learn driving, not only did he take lessons for the first time in India, his instructor did not speak english - Action, Action! was the common statement heard, go!

More Day 7 updates and photos from prep/day 1

2009-01-07T12:55:00.002+05:30

Was just on the phone with Karilyn, she had to go because the police were pulling them over. It had been a rough morning, after skipping the truckside dhaba dormitory room because it felt "sketchy" and people with machine guns were walking around and snipers outside of town and they decided to drive 25kms on a dirt road in the dark to get to a larger town. It was slow and scarey but they made it fine and are now in Orissa.

The roads are still horrible and they are trying to take it easy, they had cracked their engine - something about pistons. There was no oil in the engine. So they had the engine re built, I think that was day 3 or 4, K. will have to edit and get the days corrected. She said Paul hit a bus this morning, it caused a scratch on a state bus and more damage on the karma kab, but the bus driver was trying to get Rs 3000 for damages. Karilyn yelled at them and offered Rs 200, but I guess Paul gave a 500 up before Karilyn could snap it back....the guy ran off with the money.

Yesterday there run off the road at least 10 times, it was a high shoulder and trucks and some cars would cut in too close and run them off, so they were going slow and cautious. Will update what I hear about the current police stop - K. was worried that they would take their petrol. I guess near the borders of states they had taken other teams fuel.

The adventure continues....I will make a seperate post of the photos as to not confuse! They are safe and sound, hoping to make some good time today, feeling behind schedule. Still having fun, although having a couple of frustrating days. Karilyn's knees were hurting as they banged into the bar on the auto after Paul had to slam on the brakes.

They are in heavily tribal areas of India at the moment......police wanted a fine of Rs 100 for not having a "black spot" on their headlight. But guess it is equal treatment, all the cars are getting tickets...

Day 7 update

2009-01-07T11:59:00.005+05:30

Sticker from Rickshaw run, put on both sides of all the autos.

Roads are bad!! and the team is feeling a bit behind schedule, so have changed the route a bit. I am awaiting a phone call with further details. But here are some photos from the prepping days and first take off day i had with the team!

Registration
Me & my cast in the karma kab!

My brother mike and his girlfriend aliya, practicing driving. This photos gets some of the design well, it turned out great! I did not capture all sides of the auto, wil have to wait for Karilyn's photos. Team member Janikka helped out in the design - there were painters on site to help with the 2 days of prepping, Karilyn had him add a few things and then she got in and was painting it up herself on the final day of prep!

In line to head out of town, on beach road in pondicherry.

Day 3 to 5

2009-01-07T03:55:00.002+05:30

I have been in touch with the karma kab via mobile. I get these great text messages - "can't find a place to sleep, staying with strangers tonight!" (they are fine, that was 3 days ago!) or "our rick is being towed across rural andhra. Our spare tire was stolen last night. Great day so far!" or in regards to another team they were traveling with for a bit - "other team at police station, not sure what for?"

They say although they were far off from everyone, taking the inside route through rural areas, people have been extremely helpful and curious wherever they have been. With 50 or more people gathering around the auto in villages. Making it difficult to get through the village with any speed. Last I heard they were reassing the route, may need to head to the east and coastal way to make up some time.

Will update tomorrow with photos and more karma kab excitement!

day 2, updates via mobile!

2009-01-02T09:50:00.002+05:30

It was great to join the team for the first day - I was there at the start to see them off and get some video/photos of the event. My brother Mike and girlfriend Aliya had to leave before the teams were ready to go, they had a train booked to hyderabad already - I decided to take a bus on my own to chennai and see the karma kab off!

In good auto-rickshaw spirit the karma kab offered me a ride, we were all headed north the same direction! It was fun and K. has accounted for most of the experience in her "Day 1" post, she did fail to mention Paul's struggle with first gear and getting the little miracle machine ....going! K. and I were enjoying a flaky croissant in the back seat as Paul was restarting the auto, K. and I were chatting/eating and just as we try to take bites or our buttery treats we break into fits of whiplash causing jerks - Paul is learning, irish lad...less clutch, more gas and let OFF the brake! ha!!

After our 30 seconds of awkward dance moves in the back, K. and I bust out in chest pain causing laughter - paul did get it going and may not like me sharing this story - he did get much better as the day worn on (ok, at the toll booth it did take a few jerky turns to get us going and the autos behind were all honking - and laughing! as you can only do to enjoy a crazy adventure such as this!) .

I am in Bangalore now, waiting for an overnight bus - I get my cast off on Monday in mumbai, after re evaluating my finances I may join up with the team in Varanasi. I got a phone call from K. with a status report on today's rickshaw adventure - they had already broken down once and were mid flat tire repair with the Auto leaning against a tree she said! Some nice man had stopped to help : )

Even with a 6 am take off from mallalpuram (or did she say 5?) they had only made it 40 or 50 kms in 3 hours! The engine just needs some wearing in I think, at the moment it was not going well over 40kms/hr for long durations - especially cold early morning starts. I will try to upload some photos when back in mumbai from the starting and beautiful paint job - Team Member Janikka's design (well guess we all worked on it, but majority was her design) turned out fabulous.

Day 1

2009-01-02T05:17:00.002+05:30

Whoa. Chaos and insanity at the warehouse, then at the petrol pump where 60+ teams were attempting to fuel up. many had already learned the lack of a line in India and freely jumped the line to my utter annoyance!

Finally made it to the launch site only to find it wasn't really a launch. No megaphone, loudspeakers or speeches. A small band playing and people offering puja flowers and well wishes. Paul got interviewed for ages by a reporter from the Indian Express. Hah.

Launch time came and went and it seemed that teams just started heading out, so we did as well. We had no idea where we were going, but just followed the road! The cops at the junction pushed us right, which I guess is where the other rickshaws went. But thats not where we wanted to go!!

I drove getting us out of Pondi since Paul was having stalling issues all morning. Man it was hectic. Within 15 minutes I had a total meltdown when a dog ran in front of the rickshaw. In typical Karilyn fashion, I freaked and pressed all gas, brake, and clutch at the same time. Luckily it just made the rick do a funny little shake and slow down a bit! haha. Scared the daylights out of me, so Paul took over for a bit. Oh and the thing kept shutting down when you went over 40km per hour. that was scary!

Got out of Pondi to find we were on the coastal route. Thought we'd take this one turn off but right before our rick completely seized and wouldn't start again. Within seconds locals from the bushes had appeared to help and another team stopped. took out the spark plug - all ok, fuel ok. so must just be too hot. Did a running start and were back on the road!

Paul drove for a while, getting the hang of it all. Luckily Stacie had come along with us for the ride and helped us with map reading, guarding the bags and keeping me company in the back. It was so great to have her with us for a while. We almost kidnapped her so she'd stay the whole time. Hopefully she'll meet us in a while though once her cast is off.

Had a second dog incident. a tiny 1 week old puppy was in the middle of the expressway. Amazingly all the cars swerved to miss it. And of course we had to stop to make sure it was off the road. all in the name of karma kab!!

Made it to Mammalapuram - not on our route, and not in good time. but it was day one. Today we are setting off at the crack of dawn to make up time. Hopefully heading further inland to get back on course.
Still alive and well and getting the hang of it. It's tough, but fun.

Recap: 2 dog incidents, 90 km in 4 hrs

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T08:47:00.002+05:30

Happy New Year. Welcome to 2009. This must be the year of great things.

Yesterday we spent the entire day running from here and there getting last minute items. Filled the spare petrol cans with petrol, got a fuel dipstick, did a little painting on the rick ourselves, etc. Busy day, but was fulfilling.

The party last night was fun, but a bit much for me. I was ready to leave at 10:30, but since we had been bused in, we were stuck until 1:30. Had a blast chatting til i was hoarse and playing with the stray dogs that were all over me.

Now we are packing up and getting ready to head off. We will be setting off as it is New Years in the US. Crossing our fingers that all goes well today as we don't really have any idea where we are heading once we get out of Pondicherry! Hope we can update soon.
Until then, Happy New Year!

First look

2008-12-31T00:30:00.000+05:30

Today we got to see our little beast of a machine for the first time. It looks awesome! Apparently the painters had a bit of a difficult time with our rickshaw since the upload to the Adventurist’s website wasn’t so clear. They should have just had us email in the template as it was clear as bell on that! Even with a few of the details missing, it still looks great. People kept coming by all day taking photos of our rickshaw. Ahh..

We had a few bits and bobs to sort out. They didn’t put the chakra on the Indian flag, left out the stars on the US flag, left out “kab” from our name and seemed to have spelt “Horn OK Please” as Horn ON please! Haha. The painters were on hand and were awesome. They just whipped out stuff right away. We got our cigarette lighter installed so that we will have ipod power – yeah!

Stacie, her brother Mike and his girlfriend Aliya arrived today to help out and to send us off on the 1st. Stacie was there to help put on all the stickers while Mike and Aliya pretended to drive while having their photos made. In the meantime, Stacie and I went to decorating the rick with all of our Indian god stickers, rickshaw run logo stickers and Mercy Corps. I think we might still need a few more, but for now it’s looking great.

Paul wondered around talking to people about mechanics and trying to show off his mechanics skills! Haha. Apparently we are seen as the ‘experts’ since we actually took 4 hours of lessons! But watching some of the teams do test drives made us feel nervous as some teams were already great (well… great as in seemed to be able to go fast – however one team did almost get it on 2 wheels already!).

Our little rick apparently had a flat tire on the way to the docks today – I only know because the spare tire was missing which should be replaced by tomorrow. Crossing our fingers b/c I am certain we will need it! One team’s rick was already broken down today and had to spend ages getting the mechanics to fix it. Uh oh!

Tonight we then met up with a group of teams at a local restaurant/bar for chit chat about it all. So far it seems to be a really mixed bunch although most still seem like they are from the UK. We met a team of Australians, a few Canadian teams, a Dutch team, another American team and lots of UK teams. Really diverse crowd as well, with all ages, types and sorts. Looking great so far.

Lots of discussions about routes being had.. most still seem to be heading up the coast for a bit at least, but seems that they all want to cut through to Varanasi at some point, so who knows what we’ll end up doing. For now we are sticking with our first day’s plan of going to kanchipurum and attempt to make it to Tirupathi. But kick off isn’t until 12 noon, so chances of us getting very far on day one are not looking great! We already found another team who have the same plan for day one, so perhaps we’ll be with them for a bit.

One little hiccup in the day…. Our hotel keys were pick pocketed from my purse L We were at the Ganesh temple oohing and aahing over an elephant standing out front when I felt someone rub up against me. Usually this is a ploy to divert your attention and steal from you. Of course I immediately looked down to realize my purse was open. I saw that my big blue wallet was still in there, so I just zipped the bag and carried on. Only 3 hours later when we got back to the hotel to dump some stuff did I find that the keys were missing! The hotel keeps them in this little wallet type thing, so I imagine that the pick pocket thought it was a money wallet. SHEESH. I rarely loose things. I often think I’ve lost something, but rarely actually lose it. I was so embarrassed and feeling mortified, but thankfully Paul is such a trooper and didn’t make me feel bad about it – we were just happy it wasn’t my wallet or else we’d have a big mess on our hands! The hotel aren’t so happy with us anyway as our group originally had two rooms booked and she wasn’t told in advance that only one room was needed.. so this just about put her over the edge. Luckily Paul is really good at calming people down and taking nicely and quietly whereas I just get frustrated and get grumpy with them!

But all ended up fine. Now it just feels a bit like we are staying with relatives where we have to knock on the door or call them to wake them up so that we can get into the house. I hope they give us some keys by tomorrow!!

Tomorrow we will again be with our cute little rickshaw finishing the pimping and getting last minute supplies before attending the big New Years Eve Party. Should be a blast. I can’t wait to meet the other teams and actually get to test drive our little beast. ONE day til launch!!! Photos to come soon – time for bed now.

We have arrived to Pondi!

2008-12-30T09:20:00.002+05:30

We arrived in Pondicherry earlier than scheduled even with a 2 hr flight delay at the airport. We could have gotten a few more hours of sleep had we known :( Boarding the flight I was a bit worried about flying Kingfisher Red since they said "limited inflight services". Wasn't sure what that meant. Apparently it means no reclining seats or blankets. But it doesn't include a full meal, several bottles of water and lemonade! Haha. I think I can manage without a blanket to be fed instead!

Our poor taxi driver had been waiting for ages for us at the airport, confused about what time our flight was coming since no one told him the flight number only the time. But he was so awesome! He was a super chatter box and we all just chatted the whole drive down. We stopped for lunch in Mammalapuram and had a yum south indian meal buffet for 70 rupees.

Made it to our hotel, or homestay as it is. Janikka had booked the hotel so I had no idea about it at all. It's actually pretty great. It's double the price it's supposed to be due to the NYE holiday, but it's relatively centrally located and is super clean and pristine. We have wireless, free water and English tv. And the best part of all is that it's literally a 2 minute walk to my chappal (sandal) maker. I had 3 pairs of shoes made from him 4+ yrs ago and was wearing one of them when i found his shop. He knew his shoes for sure, and once he saw my name written down, he also remembered me! Crazy. But i've now ordered another 3 pairs.

It's great to be in Pondi with Paul and showing him all the places that Tina and I visited when we were here in 2004. It is a lot more crowded than it was then, but mostly the same.

Today we get to visit our rickshaw and do any pimping that we need to do. We have a lighter adapter (for ipod power) that needs to be installed. We are getting super excited. However I must state that my stomach was in knots all day yesterday as we drove down here seeing the absolute choas on the roads! How will I manage to not hit the millions of animals wondering the streets?! Or how will these huge state buses manage to not hit us! Haha.

Welcome to Pogo Land and Dizzi World.

First Causalty

2008-12-29T05:25:00.004+05:30

Tonight our '3rd' has decided not to come on the run with us. This leaves us in quite a lurch to be honest, but as true adventurers, you gotta suck it up and move on! Both Paul and I were upset at first, but realize that life in India has a way of making sure that things happen for a reason and all signs point to just Paul and I being the ones meant to go on this trip. So off we go!

After an hour or so, Paul was super excited, once he got over the frustrations of having someone leave at the last minute, the worry over the amount of driving that will fall on just us, etc. And now we don't have to worry about 'democracy' or majority rule, we just do as we please! So no one knows at this point what that will entail. First thoughts are that we'll go through the cities as we had originally planned, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Nagpur or we check out some of the coast or we just go as quick as possible the first few days so that we can spend some good time at some animal parks and/or Varanasi. The road is wide open and we'll just see where it takes us. Once the initial shock was over, complete and utter excitement took over.

Packing was no easy feat I tell you. We had to chuck the tent idea as it took up too much room. We had to throw out a lot of cold weather clothes and plan to just buy it along the way as needed. And so much for taking only 2 bags!! One half of the big bag is all supplies - tool kit, medical kit, spare tire tubes, etc and one bag is almost entirely camera equipment! I have seriously lost the ability to pack light.. even though at the moment I feel like I have done great with only 5 changes of clothes, I'm sure I've taken too much of something!

A big shout out to Kevin for letting us borrow his handycam! A shout out to our 'last minute' donors who have been so generous (keep donating!). It's 5:30 am and I'm going on 2.5 hrs of sleep and am super psyched. Pondi here we come....

Driving License(s)

2008-12-23T15:42:00.002+05:30

I have had several stress fits due to the driving license requirements of the Rickshaw Run organizers. I had received an email in July stating that we had to have an International Driving Permit (IDP) that enabled us to drive a 3 wheeler. They also mentioned that in some countries this would require you to obtain your motorcycle license. Well there is no way on earth that I can do that - everytime I get on a motorcycle or scooter i just about fall over! So i was all stressed about what I could do and so I emailed the organizers. They got back to me and said that as long as I was legally allowed to drive a rickshaw in India, then it would be fine and I could do that however I wanted.

So I thought, Ok. I will get my Indian Rickshaw driving license. When I went to the driving school they told me that females can only get a one month permit, but not a full license. Crap.

When I went back to the US in November I went to AAA to obtain the IDP. At the first place I tried to get them to stamp "A" which includes 3 wheelers to no avail. Then I went to another one and we ALL misread the document and felt comfortable that I didn't need the A clicked since as we read it, it said 3 wheelers were exempt from category A.

So I carried on feeling grand that I had all the necessary paperwork. Yesterday I got an email from another team who said they were having issues with their IDP. So this sends me into a panic again! I try phoning The Adventurists but could never get a response. In the meantime I re-read my IDP and found where the mistake had been made. We read invalid as IN-VALID where it should have been invalid (like incapcitated). Jeesh. So then I call the driving school again and see if it's still possible for me to get my one month permit. Yes he says and then he proceeds to tell me that I can even have the whole license in 1 month. WHAT?! you said females couldn't get it!!! Now he says that females only can't get it for the black/yellow taxi rickshaws. urgh. if i would have known this 3 months ago I wouldn't be stressing right now. GRR.

I get all the paperwork sorted and submit. Only to get home and try the Rickshaw Run group one more time. Got Through - and guess what THEY DON'T CARE! They could care less what type of license we have - they just tell participants that so that legally they are covered. Lordy, I am about go to crazy!

Well, since my paperwork was already submitted I thought I better just go ahead with the transfer of my US license to an Indian one and get the 1 month permit for driving a rickshaw - at least this way 2/3s of our team is legal if a cop does pull us over and wants to cause hassle.

And today, Paul recieved his first ever real drivers license. He was so excited and was showing it to all of the people at his work! Apparently some of them drive all the time and don't even have licenses!

Target Reached!!

2008-12-21T14:18:00.002+05:30

First a HUGE thank you to all of you who have donated to our two charities. We have reached our fundraising target today for BOTH charities - Mercy Corps (Presently at 1,347 Pounds) and FRANK Water (1,005 Pounds). I am so excited that we have reached this point! I knew we would, but it has been amazing the people who have reached out and given to these great charities. People I have not seen or talked to in so many years have come out to give. This just makes me so excited. I know there are still a lot of people out there who have pledged, so I think we will go even higher before the start of the run in 11 days. If you are procrastinating on giving.. you have a bit more time!!

Since we've met our quota, I'm looking at registering one of our Indian NGOs on Justgiving to also get them some funds!! Will keep you updated.

Rickshaw Driving Lessons

2008-12-15T22:42:00.006+05:30

A friend of Stacie’s (Anji) who’d heard about our Rickshaw Run adventure insisted on setting up rickshaw driving lessons and mechanic instruction. He’s scared to death for us and wanted to make sure we had at least a little bit of training under our belts. He runs motorcycle tours around India, but still cannot fathom why in the world we would set out on something like this with no support vehicle, no fixed route and above all no training in how to drive a rickshaw! So, in December, the whole Karma Kab family (Karilyn, Paul, Stacie & Janikka) took a weekend trip to Pune to make him feel a bit better about our adventure! It was excellent and we are so glad that Anji set it up for us.

We were all feeling quite anxious about the lessons especially when it became clear that we weren’t going to be taken to some deserted parking lot to learn, we were going to learn right there on the streets of Korageon Park! Paul went first and rocked – he’d never driven anything in his life before his 15 hrs of driving lessons and he somehow just had the knack. Up and down the same street, learning how to shift and make uturns.

I was scared to death to try since the last time I tried to drive a rickshaw I couldn’t make it 2 feet without stalling. But after Paul’s nice display of driving skills, I had to give it a go. I amazingly did quite well and didn’t even stall the first go around. I was feeling quite proud of myself even though the one thing I just could not manage to do was start the rickshaw! I tried a good 15 times with no luck. I had given up and decided that Paul will just have to start the rickshaw for me the entire trip. But later in the day I finally realized I just didn’t have the arm strength, but that it might work if I used both arms…and it worked! I was so excited that I immediately stalled and got to do it again.

Then it was Janikka’s turn to get behind the handlebars – she was also petrified. She did great though and slowly got more comfortable with the insanity on the streets. Through most of our lesson we had no idea how to stop the rickshaw, which bothered us immensely but gave the instructor no worries. As we’d freak out coming up to a section of the road filled with kids, cars, bicycles, motorcycles and stray dogs he’d just say “no problem” and somehow we’d meander our way through without incident. I guess that is the only way to do it in India. We have to learn to rid ourselves of our natural instinct to slam on the breaks when something crazy lies in our path!
Since our driving instructor didn’t speak much English, he had little phrases he’d tell us to get his point across. When he wanted us to slow down he’d say “No Race, no race” and when we needed to give it a little gas he’d say “Small Race”. It was hilarious and kept us highly entertained!

We all got several trips around the neighborhood driving. We practiced our turns, uturns, down-shifting and stopping. Although I am still not convinced that these little tin cans on wheels actually stop when you want them to! It seems that it takes about 10 feet before it fully stops. We'll have to test our rickshaw out first thing and make sure we know the proper stopping distance. And after we left we realized that we didn't really learn how to deal with stop and go traffic. Our hope is we won't be stuck in traffic too much, but I am sure we will.

Next up was mechanics class! We met up with a local rickshaw-walla who then took us for mechanic lessons. We'd driven by the mechanics graveyard all day long, so when they saw that we had come for lessons on fixing the rickshaw they were very excited! I can’t say that I learned much though – but Paul really took to this and got right in there with the mechanics, getting his hands greasy in the process. He seems confident that he can change the gear cables, throttle cables and check the spark plug. I took notes, but I just hope that either Paul can fix it or that a mechanic isn't too far away!

After our day of training the excitement level grew 10 fold. People kept telling us how hard it was to drive a rickshaw, that there was no way we’d be able to do it, etc, so after an ego boost of lessons we all were able to brush off some of those concerns and feel more confident in the adventure that lies ahead. And I am psyched about driving the rickshaw. I kept wanting to tell the auto drivers today that I also know how to drive :)

well under way..

2008-12-12T23:13:00.000+05:30

So the planning, list making and fundraising is well underway.
I'm totally starting to get nervous now! hah. Paul is finished with his driving lessons, but has yet to go 'take the test'. That is scheduled for next week. From what we've heard you don't even actually have to take a test - you just show up and get it. Let's hope that is the case!! But he seems to be enjoying it and from the sounds of it might actually be good at it ;)

Janikka is almost fully joined our team. I think she is still waiting to figure out a few points.. but most likely it looks like she'll be going with us. I just hope our friendship can bare the brunt of what lies ahead. We just read an article that someone wrote last year and one key phrase "he punched the windsheild. i cried. A LOT." uh oh! But i think we all know going into this that we are going to fight and hate each other at moments, but that whatever happens there stays there and we can't bring the negative stuff back to Mumbai with us!! Lets see if we can stick to that. I'd be so sad if I wasn't friends with Janikka anymore over something dumb like "who forgot to put the gas cap back on?!" haha.

Fundraising is going well. I sent out an email to just about everyone I know and I have been amazing and surprised by the people who have donated. People i've not seen or talked to much in years. So this makes me immensely happy. Now i'm just waiting on those people who said they would donate and haven't yet.. and those who i thought would and haven't! Regardless we have reached our mandatory minimums due to Paul's very generous parents.

Tomorrow we head out to Pune for a day 1/2 of rickshaw driving lessons and mechanic lessons. One great tip I already got was to have the rick checked out by a mechanic BEFORE we set off to make sure that there are no defects. Sounds like a plan.

Oh and hilarious.. as I was going through people's pages to see what routes the other teams have chosen, i found not one but TWO sites that have 'stolen' a photo of mine from MDP. Haha. They should have asked permission :)

Route planning...this is not going so well at the moment. It seems that many of the other teams have chosen the coastal route. This just seems way too boring for me. I mean, it's one road all the way up the coast. How can you get lost on that? How can you have a true adventure when you are with 50 other teams? So needless to say I don't think we'll be going up the coast for much of our time. I really want to see inner India, the crazy rural areas, the animal parks in the middle of nowhere, etc. So.. we'll see. For now I am mapping out a few options - one going up the coast a bit then cutting all the way to the middle of india to varanasi and then all the way back to bangladesh and/or the himalaya mountains and one that just goes directly to the middle of india with no coast at all! but let me just say these maps are not easy to read! my eyes are going blind just looking at it all now. oh lord help us out on the road....

Oh.. and the bangladesh visa.. still have gotten no word from the Rickshaw run people on whether we have govt permission to go across the border, but I think we will go ahead and get our visa just to be safe. This means that I will have to fly up to Delhi next week with all of our passports, loads of cash and patience to try to obtain our visas. fun.

I think that is the update for now. I should have some photos from this weekend's adventure in Pune. stay tuned.

Planning Begins

2008-12-08T23:07:00.000+05:30

With the move finished and the city getting back to normal (as much as possible) it is now time to really start focusing on the upcoming Rickshaw Run. I always knew we'd wait until the last minute to plan all the juicy details...and of course it is 3 weeks away and we've not done our route nor have we booked any flights/hotels!
And.. another snag in our plans - our third 'wheel' Stacie has broken a bone in her wrist and it looks very unlikely that she will join us after all. This was her reason for staying in India for the last 6 months even, so it is very sad. But both Paul and I think that we really want a third person since we expect that we will have to drive for at least 6-8 hrs a day and a 3rd will be important to help carry the load. With the outing of Stacie, I think we are replacing her with our friend Janikka who has been in Mumbai for the last year. She and her boyfriend had also put their name in the hat for the rickshaw run, but weren't chosen, so now is her chance at least to see some of India.
Of course all of this hangs in the balance with a possible war with Pakistan looming over the horizon. Paul seems sure that we'll know something more in the week to come. If India follows through with it's threats and Pakistan continues to ignore the pressure, then I have no idea what all of this means. I would say that I'd either be on a flight with my two kitties or headed out to the far rural areas of inner India! I guess we'll just wait and see what happens.
In the meantime, we'll continue planning for the rickshaw run as needed. We are setting down thoughts on our route. You might think planning the route would be a quick and easy process, but from everyone I keep talking to it seems like it is an arduous process and will take lots of time and care. We need to at least establish checkpoints for ourselves to know if we are making good time or bad time - this will let us know if we can stop and enjoy places like Varanasi or if we just have to pass on through. Paul is gathering the medical kit and any other little supplies he thinks we might need and Janikka and I are just trying to figure out if she's coming and how to get that moving!
Next weekend we are off to Pune for mechanic lessons and our first little trial run of the rickshaw...wish us luck!

Fundraising...

2008-07-17T22:12:00.000+05:30

I have started to really focus on the upcoming Rickshaw Run that Stacie, Paul and I are participating in. We need to get busy raising money!! But we also need a logo and help in designing a brochure to give to people and businesses. I think a few friends have stepped up to help with the logo and i'm peicing together the content for the brochure. My plan is to have something done by the beginning of Aug!!! eek.

One step has been completed already and it's our fundraising pages! If you are a reader of the blog then go check it out and donate!! Even if all you can give is 5 pounds that is excellent! Every little bit helps us out to our goal. I've not done the fundraising push quite yet.. but as soon as I get this brochure I will be going strong. But we already got one donation from a friend here in India and I was SOOO happy! Seriously so excited. I've never done a fundraising thing like this before, so it was really exciting to get an unsolicited donation.

Anyhow.. the donation pages are:

http://www.justgiving.com/karmakab (For Mercy Corps)http://www.justgiving.com/karmakab3 (Frank Water)

I'll keep you updated on whats happening with it all. Soon we will be putting folo in driving school and then the three of us will be learning to drive the rickshaw! And in the meantime we are thinking and plotting of how to decorate our little vehicle so any and all ideas are welcome.

Rickshaw Run Names

2008-03-03T23:10:00.000+05:30

for now..our team name is karma kab.we were under immense pressure to come up with a name quickly before providing our deposit.

some other names we are still considering:

karma initiative
fast around the kormas
paan & curry
goodbye mumbai
bangladashing

Please give your feedback and thoughts! I'm not sure if we can even change our name at this point, but if we can, we might. we aren't creative on the cuff like this!