autorickshaws – Rickshaw Challenge

Crazy Roads & Wild Parties – The Mumbai Xpress 2015 Takes Its Course

admin — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 14:18:02 +0000

Two weeks of crazy adventures lie behind our 17 brave teams participating in this year’s Mumbai Xpress, a rickshaw adventure across India for the daring ones. We’ve already reported from the first days of the challenge, now you can find our teams made it till the finish line and what adventures they met on their way!

Day 5: Panchgani to Ratnagiri

Photo by Charlie Varley from team Naan of Your Business

After Panchagani, the teams left the Millennium Hotel and headed towards Ratnagiri. The day went smoothly and all of them arrived in the hotel before the stipulated time.Team 5, Snap Crackle and Popadum, went on various detours and they were happy to explore India on a totally different route. All enjoyed the beauty of the Western Ghats of India, which was a trip that definitely changed everybody’s perception of India.

Day 6: Rathnagiri to Panaji

Photo by John Mcgivern from team The Indians.

After arriving in Panaji, the city worked its relaxing charm on the participants. Most of them went to the Casino on the river, to see if they were lucky – and indeed, Fortuna was smiling upon them, since nobody lost all the amount of money they had spent on chips.

Day 7: Panaji

Photo by Min Chai from team N2 Extreme Tuk Tuk.

A well deserved day of rest in Panaji gave all teams the possibility to relax and to recover their strength for the second half of their crazy rickshaw adventure. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Team 16, which left the rally from Panaji.

Day 8: Panaji to Murudeshwara

Photo by Liane Wicks from Ice Ice Bhaji.

The next day saw the teams racing from Panaji to Murudeshwara, but not before they had visited a school, where they enjoyed distributing gifts and frolicked with the kids. Another day of easy drive and all the teams had reached the hotel before 6.30 pm. The first team to enter the hotel had clocked in already at 3.30 pm. And even though the teams visited some unknown beaches and experienced the local customs, they always made it in time and still had many stories to share. After a long day of driving, the teams met in the evening for a great night in the Naveen Hotel.

Day 9: Murudeshwara to Mangalore (Mangaluru)

Photo by John Mcgivern from team The Indians.

The lovely night in Murudeshwara’s and a warm morning had put all the teams in high spirit. Knowing that it was a short distance to Mangalore, some of the teams had a walk around the city in morning and Team 5, Snap Crackle Popadum, went for a swim at the beach. Surprisingly, they still arrived in Mangaluru in time with an average speed of 40 km per hour. In the evening, all the teams went out to enjouy the night in a bar, which they had discovered in the internet.

Day 10: Mangalore to Mysore

Photo by John Mcgivern from team The Indians.

After a short day of drive, the teams spared no effort to make sure, that everything was okay with their rickshaws. Strange noises from unidentified parts of the vehicles had made them become anticipative of a major breakdown. In morning, we had a great school visit and all of the 6 attending teams had an amazing time. By 2pm all the teams had passed Madikeri town. Then the Kushalnagar sign board challenge was posted before they could reach Mysore.
In the evening, many teams visited the market and the palace, which both made for a fun night. As the city was preparing for Dasara, the colours of Mysore were a great sight. Team 11, N2 Extreme Tuk Tuk, went off to hunt some incense and bought some sticks and sandalwood syrup.

Day 11: Mysore to Bangalore

Photo by Max Craven from team Tuk Buddies.

Based on their drive from Murudeshwara to Mangalore, many teams begann their day in Mysore with sight seeing. Six teams turned up for the school visit and enjoyed dancing and signing with the children. Even though today’s distance was a very simple drive of just 30 km to Bangalore, all the teams got stuck in the pitfalls of Bangalore’s traffic. Team 15, the Monsoon Riders, called for support at 1pm, when they had just 15 km left to the hotel in the suburbs at the silk board. The support team was alerted and they found them within an hour and did a great job. All the teams arrived at the hotel before 7 pm and the day ended – where else – at the Envy Bar in the La Classic Hotel.

Day 12: Bangalore to Vellore

Photo by Robert Ford from team Aba Daba Chaba.

Time for one last school visit! All 5 participating teams were warmly welcomed and quickly charmed by the children, like so many teams before. The day went smoothly and even the new hotel, which we had to test last minute, surprised with pleasantness and great cooperation.

The Final Day Bash: Vellore to Chennai

Photo by Ashleigh Grant from Team Smurf.

In Vellore, the teams were informed about the day’s program. The morning project visit went as planned and it was great to see 13 teams participating, even though we had a few little hiccups: Team 2 missed the regrouping spot and decided to go back to the hotel, while Team 3 was miserably directed and lost lots of time, but managed to sneak in in time for the presentation.
Chief guest of the meeting was Dhansika an upcoming star in Tamil film industry.

And The Winners Are…

Photo by John Mcgivern

And now finally the part we have all been waiting for! Who is the winner of the Mumbai Xpress 2015?
Team 14, The Indians, scrambled for the victory in our crazy rickshaw adventure! The Charity Award goes to Team 9, Temporarily Misplaced, and the Bonkers Award for “special achievements” goes to Team 4, a.k.a Team Smurf. We congratulate all of you and hope, that you will always remember your epic rickshaw journey with the Travel Scientists across India!!
The occasion was celebrated in a right and proper manner – with a truly epic party!

Temples, goats and potholes – Ride along from Pondicherry to Thanjavur

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 04:57:24 +0000

Leaving the cyclone behind, day 2 on the Rickshaw Challenge took us away from the coast into deep Tamil Nadu, into the mysical world of ancient temples, goats that eat everything, friendly locals, terrible roads and of course, more breakdowns.
Day 2, Pondicherry to Thanjavur
After a night of partying, most of our teams slumped in the hotel lobby nursing a hangover during the briefing. While the ride to Pondicherry might have had its challenges, our teams had no idea just what the country roads of inland Tamil Nadu had to offer for the day.
The teams sped through Pondicherry’s labyrinthine streets over to the seafront for the flag off from the Gandhi statue, although, the event wasn’t without chaos. Amidst the members of the Indian press and our participants, street salesmen flocked over with mini chess sets and statues of Ganesh, shaking things up a bit. In the pandemonium, South African team Hakuna Matatu lost the keys to their rickshaw. They must have found them though, since next we heard from them they were making friends with locals who helped them during a breakdown.

“It’s the mayoral send-off at the beach front and team Hakuna Matata has lost its keys…” photo by Mandy Ramsden from team Hakuna Matatu

On the road to Thanjavur, we stopped off in two towns famous for their temples. I ran into some of the teams having lunch in Chidambaram in what looked like a converted garage covered with a corrugated roof and simple tables and chairs. The food came served up on a banana leaf, a delicious mix of rice, vegetarian curries and hot pickles, and made us forget the dodgy look of the place. It was packed with locals, which as a rule of thumb means the food is good and less likely to incur the infamous “Delhi Belly”.

Chidambaram – The Temple of the Dancing God

The Nataraja Temple, dedicated to Shiva as the Dancing God, was unfortunately closed until 4pm, however, we managed to catch a glimpse of the towering gopurams, gateway towers leading into the temple. We had to make do with snapping photos through the bars barricading the brightly coloured Dravidian structure. Then at the small market area outside the temple, a goat dragged a string of flower garlands off one of the tables, only to have the owner chase after the goat to get them back. This, however, was not the only flower-hungry goat encountered on the Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run 2015, but the Bavarian Barbarians also snapped a photo of a goat eating more flower garlands off the Wacky Racer’s rickshaw!

“Of course you can eat the decoration…” photo by Martin Schmidmaier from the Bavarian Barbarians

Our next port of call was the mystical town of Kumbakonam famed for its temples and fortune tellers. It might look like any other local junction town, but it was once a seat of medieval power, and has a number of spectacular temples. At the entrance of one of the temples, some of the women stopped us, pointing to our shoes, indicating we had to take them off and leave them at the steps.

The Kumbeshwara Temple in Kumbakonam.

I braved leaving my shoes and peeked inside the temple. Wandering around, it’s hard to gauge just how vast the complex is, where pilgrims sleep under the colonnade and a group of women in sparkling red saris disappear down the candle lit corridors. It was only after leaving, when I heard from one of my team members that the corridors lead to a huge lake, where the women went to bathe in their garments.
After a swig of coconut water, I hopped into the Ambassador car to trail the teams back to Thanjavur. We broke down somewhere in the country side about 15km outside the city, pushed the car for about half a kilometer before getting towed into town by a truck with a motorbike, a TV and a guy sitting in the back.

“Back street surgery…” photo by Mandy Ramsden from team Hakuna Matatu.

We only broke down once, but most of our rickshaw drivers reported a breakdown count of more then 20! Eat My Shawdust got lost on the way to Thanjavur, and Princely had to go and rescue them. Game of Horns made it back late, since they turned into a taxi service for the locals en route, and so did the Christmas themed Aussies Mighty Mouse and the Triangle, who tipped their rickshaw not far from the hotel. Fortunately a big crowd gathered around and tipped them back upright – an event worthy of a feature in the local newspaper.

Group selfie on the road! Photo by The Trashbags

We all made it to Thanjavur safely, some later than others, but we’re hoping the road to Madurai will be a smoother journey.
Check out who is in the lead to be the winner of the Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run 2015!

Planes, Trains & Autorickshaws

admin — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:40:23 +0000

A feature-length documentary about three American sisters, who were raised in India by missionary parents, as they travel back to the land of their childhood for the first time in fifty years.
Directed and produced by Scott Sheppard

Taking Up Rickshaw Challenge For Brotherhood

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:31:44 +0000

Hindu Coverage of the Classic Run 2012 in Thanjavur.
‘People are extremely helpful and friendly in India, said Ben from the United States. He was one of the participants in the Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run 2012 organised by CEMS consecutively for the sixth year now.
Ben along with his other friends from nine countries across the world were here to continue the journey of adventure and brotherhood in autorickshaws.
Check the full article below

Around the World in 80 Ways

admin — Tue, 03 May 2011 07:22:43 +0000

Article from The Wall Street Journal on unique ways of travel, with a reference to the almighty Rickshaw Challenge.

‘Other races are more focused on an experience, such as the Rickshaw Challenge, where participants pilot the three-wheeled vehicles also known as tuk-tuks to drive as far as 1,180 miles across India. “I wanted to make it, like, a wacky race, so initially we called it the amazing race for the clinically insane,” said managing director Aravind Kumar Bremanandam. The autorickshaws have seven horsepower, “which means that even a lawn mower can outrun it,” he said.’

Via: WSJ

Super Power

admin — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:05:08 +0000

‘Super Power’, is an attempt to go beyond long held stereotypes of India and to touch on the personal readings of four Artists from the US, who have spent months interacting with India through the lens of culture.

Carrie Fonder from Detroit, Rebecca Layton from Austin, Jenny Mullins from Washington and Lily Stockman from Los Angeles, each have a unique approach to the subject. Their visual narratives are filled with a different set of images: autorickshaws, godowns, mobile phone towers and electrical transformers.

The ‘Super Power’ exhibition is on view from April 1-16 at Threshold Art Gallery in New Delhi.

Via: Times of India

Auto tales across cities

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:50:26 +0000

Mumbai autorickshaws are called `ricksha’ by the local commuters.
Chennai rests easy with the name `auto’.
You can hop into a Mumbai autorickshaw in the dead of the night. He will drop you home and give you back the exact change.
You can hop into any autorickshaw whose owner agrees to ply you at night in Chennai, except that you will flag a 100 autos before you get one.
Full article here

Auto rickshaws in India

admin — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:58:43 +0000

A majority of Indian auto rickshaws have no doors or seatbelts. They are generally yellow or green in colour and have a black roof on the top. Their design varies considerably from place to place. In some locations, they have an extra plank on the seat to accommodate a fourth passenger. In reality it is not uncommon to see 6-8 passengers in an auto rickshaw with such an ad hoc setup, although, in theory, autos risk fines for carrying more than three passengers in many places.
Full article here

Proposal for pre-paid fare for rickshaws at Pune station gathers dust with railway authorities

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:55:33 +0000

A proposal for starting pre-paid fare for autorickshaws and streamlining their movement at the Pune railway station has been stuck for nearly eight months now. The result passengers leaving the railway station continue to be fleeced as they are forced to pay lump-some charges demanded by the autorickshaw drivers.
Full article here

Autos fleece passengers

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:27:41 +0000

Faced with the clampdown on overloading and imposition of the three plus one (driver) norm, autorickshaws in the city seem to have turned to fleecing passengers in the name of compensating their fare loss.
Full article here