chennai garage – Rickshaw Challenge

The Toughest Day and Falling Phones: Days 5 & 6 of the Deccan Odyssey 2016

veronika — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 14:56:58 +0000

Days 5 and 6 of the Rickshaw Challenge – Deccan Odyssey 2016 has rolled around, and boy, did chaos and destruction come with them… Here are Princely’s account of the events:
Day 5
After a short day from Belgaum to Kolapur, Day 5 happened to be the toughest day in this year’s Deccan Odyssey rally. As usual, the teams were well on time and they were briefed about the tough traffic in Pune. I asked the teams to keep the timing based on their two days of experience. On average, a team can complete 30 kilometers per hour. That is a solid 8 hour-drive and if we include the stops and time to do some challenges from the sheet, 8 hours can quickly become 10. Without calculating in unexpected breakdowns.Team 3’s problem from the previous day was repaired by Chennai Garage mechanics. All the teams left the hotel well before 8.15 am.

On the Gooo!

Team 4 was the first one to call around 10.30 am; they had an issue with starting the engine. By the time the Chennai Garage team reached them and set it all straight, it became 11 am and I received a text message that they were back on the road again. I reached the hotel with the luggage car at around 3 pm. To my surprise, Team 1 landed in the hotel at 4.30 pm and they had already checked in. Again, they went out to complete some of the challenges mentioned in the day sheet. Around 5.15 pm , Team 3 and Team 2 arrived at the hotel.
What seemed to be an easy day turned out to be an entirely different story in the end. Around 6.30 pm, I called up the Chennai Garage team to find out their whereabouts. They informed me that they received a call from Team 4 regarding a breakdown. The team had tough time finding them in Pune. Eventually, they caught up (it was 8 pm by that time.) They were 15 km away from the hotel. The CG team found out that an inner part in the engine was broken and they decided to change the engine. It was a quick fire change by CG mechanic Babu. He did the whole job in just about half an hour and they reached the hotel at 10 pm.

Safe Arrivals.

Before that, the rest of the teams that went for scouting a pup came back to the hotel. They were surprised to see me there still hanging around and all of us sat there and shared some stories before they hit their beds. When Team 4 arrived , the team members looked stressed out. I knew for sure that next day would be a better day for them. I bid them good luck and good night and left the hotel.

Day 6
Pune morning started off in a normal fashion until Peyman from Team 4 dropped his phone while coming out of the lift and it went right into the gap between the lift body and the door. Perfect. It was an unbelievable feat to drop a phone correctly in that slot. But, the reality is, if it’s bound to happen, then it will. We informed the hotel reception and they told us that the lift maintenance personnel will arrive only at 9 am. All the teams had their breakfast and the briefing was done by 8 am. Team 4 had to wait until the person came and recovered the phone for them. It was 9.15 am when we got the phone and it was smashed in completely. Peyman was happy that he recovered the memory in phone and they started without wasting much time.
During the lunch time, I met Team 1 who stopped in the same hotel and had ice-creams for lunch. Unusually the day was extremely hot and we heard from the hotel person that the monsoon has still not set in this part of the state. I reached the hotel around 3 pm and the first team to arrive was at 5.30 pm. Team 1 was the first team to arrive, followed by Team 2 and Team 3 with a difference of 1 hour in-between. Team 4 arrived about 6.30 pm and they also had a smooth day except for the incident in the morning.
Team 2 and Team 3 had a rough time with the military museum in Aurangabad, where they had to flee from the place – literally. The reason was that they (locals) demanded more money for their parking . Team 3 also had a flat tyre to deal with during the day. Thankfully, the hotel had a bar, and all the teams settled in and shared their wacky stories.

Moments to Relax.

Being a rest day tomorrow , teams were informed about the open day. My plan is to visit the hotel at 11 am and then some touristy activity.

Are you crazy enough to come along for the ride? Then join us on the next Rickshaw Challenge. Get a team together and let’s see you at the starting line! If you want to join us in spirit, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to keep up with our latest antics.

Thieving Monkeys and the Monsoon: Days 3 and 4 of the Deccan Odyssey 2016

veronika — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 14:40:21 +0000

The Deccan Odyssey 2016 is well on the way, with teams exploring the beautiful Kolapur today. So far, the weather isn’t too forgiving, and it turns out that future paticipants of the Rickshaw Challenge should be aware of hairy, small thieves… Here is Princely’s account.

Day 3
Driving to Belgaum was the task for the day. It started with cruel weather; the rain did not show any mercy and it was pouring like hell. The crazy participants of Rickshaw challenge did not mind a challenge like some petty water pouring from the sky and they were ready for the day well in advance. The route was mainly in the mountains with lots of turns and swirls.
The Organizer Team and the Support Team of Chennai Garage started half an hour after all the teams left for the day. I picked up with Team 2 and Team 3 well before 11 am. I met Team 4 up in the mountains before they reached the Karnataka entry.
The day turned out to be a no petrol day. Almost all the teams ran out of petrol and the only team that did not have any problems was Team 4. It is amazing to know that all of the participants managed to fill petrol from local shops rather than gas stations. I saw Team 1 before Ramapur and they were getting local help to fetch petrol for them.
After that, it was pretty much a smooth day and all the teams reached the base well on time. Teams showed the pictures they took for the day challenge and had their own plans for the night.

Day 4
By Day 4, the teams had started feeling their vehicles and had understood their tricks very well. They started to get a taste of Indian Hospitality – in fact, they were getting more than what they could take. Too much attention from locals, tons of waving people, greetings and strange friends from nowhere came as a surprise to them. Slowly, however, they are coming to terms with what it feels like to drive around India like a celebrity.
“Detour” was the order of the day. It was the smallest distance of the whole rally. The whole distance between Belgaum and Kolapur is within 130 odd kilometres. All the Teams had started to religiously follow the drill of baggage drop and breakfast right to the letter. The briefing was at 8.15 a.m. and the focus was to make them aware of the recommended detour of water falls, which has been mentioned in the day sheet. The morning was bright and sunny, but the overcast of Monsoon followed soon. So, it was mix of rain and sun throughout the day.
The Travelscientists, and Chennai Garage staff had breakfast after the teams started and that gave some time for the teams to gain lead. When I first saw a team – in fact, a couple of them – it was 11 a.m. and Kolapur was just 40 km away from the wher we were. Team 3 a.k.a. Third Wheel waved a distress sign when I went past them in the luggage vehicle. I slowed down and pulled over to see what was wrong. The complaint was that the vehicle was losing power and the break efficiency was much less. I told them that the mechanic team is 40 KM behind us and if they catch up they will work on it immediately. If they were to make it to the hotel early, then their rickshaw would be attended to in the base hotel. From my experience, it looked like they had burned their clutch.

Side of the Road… With a View.

I reached hotel well before 12 noon. Being a hotel which has been booked for the first time, I had some difficulty to make them understand my system of work and it took me some time, sign language and lot of slow explanation to get what I required. The first team to drop in was Team 3 and it was 2 p.m. by then. Team 2, the other team of the same group of participants from Australia and Newzeland, lost their way and took them extra half an hour to find the hotel. They drove straight to the hotel instead of the recommended challenges because they had couple of people who felt ill. It is called the Indian food syndrome delly belly (invention of new name for an upset stomach). I spoke with them regarding any requirement of medication and they said they are fine and they will take care of things themselves.
The next team to arrive was Team 4 at around 4 p.m. and they were sharing their filming experience. They were happy to find a lot of material for their documentary and they did a lot of detours to rural places from the main high way. They visited a dam on the way and explored lots of places before they realized it was getting late (and they still needed to reach the destination.) Once all but one team was there, the teams went out to explore in Kolapur.

Go, go, go!

Team 1 was the last to arrive and they dropped in at around 5.45 p.m. The Chennai Garage support team arrived before Team 1. I guessed that the Team 1 will be inside Kolapur and I instructed the Support Team to drive straight to the hotel. Teams sat at the bar in the hotel and shared their stories. I had a chat with Team 1 about their day and they had many stories of getting in and around villages and their feel of India. The most interesting story was about stealing monkeys of which they shot photos – they showed them to me. After that, they shared a similar story about the Monkey Island in Indonesia. The conversation went little bit further with politics, monarch and world order before we realized just how short life is. We were amazed by the opportunity to meet each other in a place which is far-far away from respective homes. I bade them good night and retreated to my resting place.

Rickshaw Challenge – Malabar Rampage 2016: Days 5 & 6

veronika — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 09:46:52 +0000

Day 5:
With a distance of 260km from Calicut to Mangalore, a tiring day lay ahead of our participants, but the reward was something they all coveted: on Wednesday, they would finally leave Kerala and enter the state of Karnataka, where it wouldn’t be as difficult to find a cold beer after a hard day on the road.

En-Route

So, the time finally came to start the Malabar Rampage 2016 party. On the way to the location, our teams had the rare opportunity of being driven in a rickshaw instead of driving one themselves, which was a welcome change for everyone, as they could finally kick back en-route. Our participants feasted and chatted in the warm breeze of the night until late evening. Before that, however, they had to find their way to Mangalore and complete some challenges – they also had the opportunity to check out some amazing sights.

Team Blues Brothers Giving a Ride to Locals

Team Blues brothers fulfilled the challenges with flying colours – they snapped a picture of a team member with a holy man and gave some confused locals a ride in their rickshaw.

Blues Brothers and a Holy Man

The teams had the chance to relive history; they visited Kappad Beach. This is the place where Vasco da Gama landed in 1498, which, as first step in direction of the later colonialization of India, established a permanent sea route from Europe to India. Also a visit to Bekal Fort was possible, a huge fort build by Indians, surrounded by thousands of coconut trees, next to a kilometer long beach.

Bekal Fort

Day 6
This day was going to be a short and easy one, driving just 150km from Mangalore to Murudeshwar on nice broad roads that even had a partitioning stripe in the middle… this small detail can make all the difference when driving on Indian roads. Today’s highlight was Udupi, a quiet little town, famous for its Sri Krishna temple, established back in 13th century. The pit stop in this town was an excellent opportunity for our participants to get some insight into the colourful and devotional religious life of Hindus. Everyone admired the women, who dressed up in their breath-taking saris to visit the temple. Petting and feeding one of the holy cows roaming freely in front of the temple was an absolute must.

Teams Badmaash 1 & 2 Being Rescued

Also it is time for some big thanks to our support team, which is always there when our participants need them, like Teams Badmaash 1 and 2 can tell you. They broke down twice today, and both times our technical miracle workers from Chennai Garage showed up at the scene without even been called, solved the problem within minutes and sent the teams back on the road.

Murudeshwar Temple

The highlight of the day was for sure arriving in Murudeshwar and driving up to the hotel, with the world’s tallest statue of Lord Shiva suddenly showing up on a hill and looking just spectacular in the late afternoon light. The hotel was located directly at the beach, which made for some unforgettable sunset views.

Sunset in Murudeshwar

The teams’ scores can be checked out here.