Day 2: Chennai to Puducherry

 

The costumes of the participants made the first day extraordinarily colorful and gave a happy mood for the first day on road. Again the briefing was done by Aravind and teams left the base hotel within half an hour after we finished the briefing. There we go, Classic Run 2018 was officially flagged off and we were off on road. All went fine for the first day and I saw a couple of teams in Mahabalipuram, mentioned in day sheet. Alambari fort was closed as there were some issues with the locals.
 

Team 15 (Temoji), had no clue how they had to navigate in spite of briefing and they came as the last team and it was 7.30 pm when we finished the day in Puducherry. The other teams strolled to the beach to enjoy the end of the day. Over beers some stories of running out of fuel and minor break downs were discussed. The mechanics attended the overnight complaints and preparation for the next day went smoothly.
 

Day 3: Puducherry to Thanjavur

 

Being the longest day of the entire rally, teams were warned enough and the highlight of the day was again Team Temoji. At around 4.30 PM, I received a call from them and they had completely lost their way and detoured more than 40km. But everything fell into place as they were guided by some locals and the Chennai Garage team lead them after the town of Kumbakonam. Yet another day finished in the base hotel which had an extraordinary swimming pool. Beers by the pool, that’s sounds luxurious, doesn’t it?
 

Day 4 Thanjavur to Madurai

 

The big temple in Thanjavur was the first challenge for the participants. On my drive I met few teams at Tirumayam fort and the pictures taken at there were awesome. Special mention to Teams 11 (the B – Team) and 14 (Ripped and wrecked). Another no problem day ended up at Madurai and teams had their new year’s party… it was a long night for most of the teams! Let the fun begin. I would like to wish all the readers and regular followers of Rickshaw Challenge a Happy New Year!!!
 

 

Tamil Nadu

 
The Classic Run kicks off on December 28th in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu. Formerly known as Madras, Chennai is India’s fifth biggest city and is packed with history, though the first stop for sightseeing will likely be Marina beach (pictured above), the longest urban natural beach in the country.
 

 
Once teams are trained in the art of handling a rickshaw, and prepared for Indian roads, it’ll be time to set out to explore Tamil Nadu. Participants will see incredible countryside, the glorious temples of Madurai, and fantastic ocean views from the southern tip of India at Kanyakumari.
 

Union Territory

 
The time in Tamil Nadu will be briefly paused when the Classic Run spends a night in the Union Territory of Puducherry, often better known as Pondicherry. This is one of five areas in India that are not technically states, but are in fact ruled directly by central government.
 

 
A former French colony, Pondicherry is rich with European influences: in architecture, cuisine, and the generally relaxed vibe of the place. Explore the various juxtapositions on offer: of Tamil and ‘Latin’ Quarters, of Temples and Churches, and of glorious beaches running alongside pristine ocean.
 

Kerala

 
The Classic Run only reaches Kerala on the final day of its journey, but all participants are encouraged to stay longer to soak in all this state has to offer. Eat the incredible food, enjoy the many beaches, and relax in what is likely India’s most tranquil state.
 

 
We stay in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala’s capital and largest city, but we also recommend heading north to the famous backwaters, the historic trading city of Cochin, and the sensational scenery of the Western Ghats.
 

 

Day 5

 

 
The Tanjavur Morning is the Diwali morning in India. With sound of crackers all around and a few new movie releases the roads were looking like a war zone. Busted crackers papers were everywhere. After breakfast the teams were briefed and started from Thanjavur towards Yercaurd. Team 1 ‘Moggambozos’ called me within half an hour from time they started. It was the filling mistake of oil and fuel mixture. And it was not the last time. They almost called me 4 times in the same day for the same problem. Even though the water bottle trick was explained to them they could not implement it as they thought that will be alright to do it the way it is followed in the petrol station.
 

 
All the teams went to Tiruchirapalli, the rock fort town and some of the teams were lucky to find an elephant! As it was a Diwali day most families were out on the road and to see a foreigner in their vicinity exited them and they all queued up for a selfie. They were treated like Hollywood stars and Jemma Pawlyszyn from Team 10 resembled Angelina Jolie. The problem Team 1 had whenever they filled up continued and they lost lot of time; my guess was that they were going to be driving at dark in mountain road.
 

 
The fist team to arrive at the base hotel was Team 12 ‘Mitra Firm’. The Base hotel had a great view of the valley looking at the closest town Salem. The next team to arrive was Team 3 ‘Weightwatchers’ and they drove in at around 4.30 pm. After that the rest of the teams came in one by one before 6 pm except three teams. The three teams were Team 10, Team 9 and Team 1. Team 1 was caught up by the mechanics and they were following close to avoid any bad light issue. Team 10 and Team 9 worked together eventually to make it to the base hotel. When they arrived it was around 7 pm and it took another half an hour for team 1 to reach the hotel. All of the teams spoke about the view of the hotel and they witnessed the Diwali celebration of bursting crackers form the base hotel in Yercard. It was a mesmerizing view and even better with beer . There were some programs organized by the base hotel for Diwali and all the teams enjoyed the night thoroughly.
 

 
Team 13 spoke about a close call with a two wheeler and bus in the mountain path to Yercaurd and they were lucky to escape from the mishap, understood from the story I heard from them. That is why we warn you enough before you join this fun. Many vehicles consumed much more fuel than what they usually consume on mountain road. The real adventure gave all the teams an feeling of accomplishment and the peacefully valley gave them the wisdom of world where they would have least expected. A completely packed day came to end.
 

Day 6

 

 
The mountain sunrise with lot of birds’ voices to wake up is like waking up in a fairy tale. The previous day crackers sound and smoke has left an effect in mind and environment. Like the calm after storm, Yercaurd morning gave a quiet feel to all the participants. Yercaud day is the judging morning for the makeover competition. Some of them made effort and some of them tried to convince me that they made effort. Whatever it was, it is a fun morning to begin with. After the briefing all the teams took the wheels and started after the judging of the competition. Team 10, Team 13and Team 7 took good effort to exhibit their makeover.
 

 
Drive to Tiruvannamalai is relatively easy drive without much calls and even though there were some calls most of them were sorted out before the mechanics could get to them. Team 7 had clutch issue before reaching Tiruvannamalai temple. It was sorted out by the mechanics in no time and they were back on track again. Team 1 to 6 tried Sathanur dam (a detour of 15 KM recommended in day sheet). Due to holiday it was crowded and they could not enjoy the place as they expected. All the teams were well on time and the day ended peacefully at a vegetarian and no alcohol hotel. Everybody enjoyed the peace there.
 

Day 7

 

 
The Last day had a different twist. Team 1 to 6 (the birthday party people) wanted to celebrate the finish on their own in a expensive hotel in the outskirts of Chennai. So the briefing became a finish party Part 1. The mementos were distributed and they were awarded with the Charity award for their overall contribution of distributing many things to the school and public. Team box car 2 had a issue with the break at the start of the day. It was sorted out at Gingee fort where the teams ventured to the top of the fort to take pictures. After that it was pretty much a smooth call except few niggles from team 3 and team 1. Team 7 had their carburetor blocked and it was sorted out by the locals itself. Finally all the teams arrived safely to the base hotel and as I said the Birthday party teams also reached their hotel without any problem.
 

 
The finish at the Elements hotel was fun with some fireworks, beer and lots of sprit. Team 13 “Morning Glory” was judged as the champions and The Irish boys ‘The Paddy Losties ‘were judged the bonkers for their long stand of drinking and entertaining other teams throughout the rally. With such happy note the Tamil Nadu run 2017 came to a perfect 10 finish and all departed happily.
 

 
See you in next fun and until then its bye from me and the total team of Rickshaw challenge.
 

 
Happy Diwali !
 

 

The first two days of the Tamilnadu Run Rickshaw Challenge 2017 were a great success. Here is organizer Princely with his recap of days 3 + 4:

Tamilnadu Run Day 3

It was overcast climate in Chennai with occasional drizzles on the Monday morning of Tamilnadu Run 2017. Team 10 ‘Jecky’ who missed the first two days joined in the morning. It was around 5.30 am when they gave a message from the hotel about some issues at check in. Immediately it was sorted out with the reception and they checked in the base hotel. I went to the base hotel from my house and reached there at around 7.30 am. By that time the Chennai Garage team had assembled to receive the luggage from the participants. As a routine the bags were collected and tagged for the transport in luggage vehicle. One by one all the teams dropped their bags and went for breakfast.

The Chennai morning briefing was held at 8.15 am. Within no time all it was over and all the teams moved from the base hotel. As usual I had my breakfast after that and started my journey towards Pondicherry. I got a call from Team 1 at around 11 am, when I was at Sadar Fort (where a challenge is based). They ran out of petrol, but before I could think about helping them, I received another call form the team saying they were helped by another team and got moving. Later I learnt that they were helped by Team 8 ‘Box Car 3’. There was absolutely no call after that except Team 4 who had issues just 5 km before the destination at Pondicherry. They were helped by the locals and they came much before the service team could reach the base hotel.

Team 10 was helped a while to ferry the Chennai traffic as they had no practice at all. Babu, our eligible and experienced mechanic from Chennai Garage accompanied them and trained them on the outskirts and they drove themselves to the destination. That is the proficiency the Chennai Garage people bring to the service of the Rickshaw Challenge. During the debriefing time I asked the team whether they were confident on taking the wheels on their own and they said thumps up for that.

Tamilnadu Run Day 4

A tough day started with a school visit in Pondicherry. Briefing and then the introduction of Round Tablers went on time and all the teams were planned to convey to the school. The Round Tablers were to lead the pack. Right at the start of the convey Team 4 ‘The Cha “Bad” Boys’ had issues. By that time the convey started and we had to take the team and rest of them continued. As they were a team of 6, I could not take Spencer and Laurance, and they got a local taxi to get to the project school. Then the Chennai Garage mechanics got the vehicle right and drove it to them to hand over.

There was a call from Team 1 just after I finished my breakfast. They had flooded their carburetor, but before the Chennai Garage team could reach them they got fixed by the locals and got moving. Later in the day I got a call from Team 4 again, they informed me that their vehicle is not performing fair enough to compare with the other teams. They were at Vaithishwaran Koil that time and it got fixed in no time but the team wanted to test the vehicle for another 10 km to make sure the vehicle is in good condition. We agreed and so the Chennai Garage team followed them and eventually received a great thumps up from them.

Finally at Tanjavur the town was preparing for the Diwali. The artillery road from the old bus stand to the hotel was closed and there was a sea of people who were busy shopping for the auspicious day. Every team had their own story on paving the way to the base hotel. Team 10 who had a shopping spree in various places got delayed and their last 10km was guided. Finally at the base hotel, teams had dip in the swimming pool, beer, food and loads and loads of fun stories to end the day. Thus the grueling day of Tamilnadu Run came to end.

Chennai

 
Chennai, which is also the final stop of the event, is by far the largest city in Tamilnadu. The state’s capital, and one of the country’s largest cities, Chennai makes a great first stop when visiting India. While not as showy as other comparable metropolises, there are plenty sites to keep you occupied. Popular activities include a stroll along Marina Beach (pictured above), India’s longest natural urban beach, and visiting Fort St George, the impressive English fortress built in  the 17th Century.
 

Pondicherry

 
The second stop on the Tamilnadu Run offers a very different experience of India. Pondicherry (now officially known as Puducherry) was a French colony until the mid 20th century, and their influence is still felt by the architecture, cuisine, and general vibe of the place. Though relatively small, the city offers a great chance to compare the effects of various cultural influences: visit the Tamil and French quarters, see the traditional Indian temples and colonial Roman Catholic Churches, and of course, taste how Tamil and French cooking (and excellent seafood) combine! There are also many fabulous beaches.
 

Thanjavur

 
The next stop, Thanjavur, is one of India’s oldest cities, and Tamil Nadu’s religious and cultural heart. Here you’ll find many important temples alongside ruins of ancient empires. The Brihadeeswara Temple, pictured above, is over a thousand years old and one of India’s architectural treasures. The city is also home to Saraswathi Mahal Library, one of the oldest libraries in Asia. Famous for its painting, music, and dance, its impossible to get bored in Thanjavur.
 

Yercaud

 
In Yercaud, a picturesque hill station, you can get away from the searing heat and constant rush of Indian cities. Once popular among the British, who were attracted by its cool climate, Yercaud is a natural paradise, and the perfect place to relax. Its name means Lake Forest, referring to the glorious lake (surrounded by, predictably, forest) around which Yercaud is centered. Plentiful coffee and citrus fruits, amongst other crops, are grown here, and its no surprise Yercaud earned the nickname the Jewel of the South.
 

Thiruvannamalai

 
The penultimate stop of the Tamilnadu Run is Thiruvannamalai, often known as Moon City, which has attracted pilgrims for several millennia. Every month at full moon, the town attracts thousands of religious devotees, who gather at the base of Arunchala mountain. Located here is Annamalaiyar Temple, an important religious site, with a structure dating back to the 9th Century. Dedicated to Shiva, this is one of India’s largest and most impressive temples.
 

 

Red Earth Riding School

 

 
The Red Earth Riding School of Auroville has been around since the beginning of the millennium, training young riders and working towards the goal of raising the quality of riding in India. Despite starting off with only two horses there are now almost thirty, including some of the finest specimens in the entire sub-continent, and expert trainers from around the world. The facilities are excellent: amid gorgeous flower gardens you can find multiple venues dedicated to dressage, jumping, and cross-country, all of the highest quality. Red Earth is a regular location for prestigious equestrian events in addition to the Pondicherry Equestrian Championship, some attracting thousands of spectators; these include the South Indian Equestrian Championship, the International Dressage Development League, and the Junior National Equestrian Championship.
 
 

The Events!

 

 
The four days of the Pondicherry Equestrian Challenge will be packed with events, taking place in both the morning (6:30am till 9am) and afternoon (4pm to 6:30pm). Between events, spectators can enjoy the snack bar, Roma’s Kitchen, and Dhiya’s Kitchen for drinks and refreshments. Starting Thursday morning, there will be a mix of dressage, which showcases impressive precision and finesse, and show jumping events, with riders facing obstacles of up to 140cm. The challenge will culminate on Sunday with a series of Grand Prix show jumping, the highest possible level, presenting the greatest technical challenge with the tallest jumps.
 
 

Participants and Attendees

 

The Pondicherry Equestrian Challenge will attract competitors, judges, and spectators from far and wide! Competing teams will arrive from all over South India: entrants include the International Riding Academy of Tiruppur, the Ambur Equestrian Club, the Japalouppe Equestrian Centre, and several teams from Bengaluru, Chennai, and Pondicherry. The judge for dressage events will be the very experienced Natallia Rubashko, coming all the way from Belarus. Show jumping will be judged by international judge Lt. Gen Ravi Swamy. Finally, there are many notable VIPs attending the challenge. These include Kapil Modi, of the Modi Foundation, Jitendra Virwani of the Embassy Group, and Jacqueline Kapur of Ayesha Accessories. Also in attendance will be Dr Kartikeyan, President of the Equine Council of India, and Grand Prix riders Kaevaan Setalvad and Guillaume Marcotte, of India and France respectively.
 
 

 
 

The Classic Run Gives Back

 

 
Morning with a visit to a school for hearing impaired children in Pondicherry, which is supported by our charity partner Round Table India. The teams gave presents to the kids of all ages, but they were actually more excited about letting everybody point out their country of origin on a big map in one of the classrooms, which brought a big smile on their faces.Team The Cock and Pullet are still going strong in their full body chicken costumes: we are sincerely impressed! There are several other teams who are still putting in the effort, despite seeming to be glued with sweat to their costumes by now!
 

Beaches and Bling

 

 
Today’s schedule planned a temple visit for the teams, but before getting all spiritual, first a quick visit to Silver Sand Beach in Cuddalore, where the teams could watch fishermen at work. Then we headed to Airvatesvara Temple, dating back to the 12th century, a small detour from the route, but definitely worth it. The temple is entered through a small basin filled with water and as the complex has been compared temples of Angkor it’s certainly a worthwhile sight to see. The evening was either spent shopping for sarees or in the hotel pool – a tough decision to make!
 

Television and Temples

 

 
The next day, the Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run was featured on the local TV and the teams used the opportunity to deliver an important message: If you see us on the street, stay away from us, because we don’t know what we are doing! Despite this little handicap, the teams managed to visit the Brihadeeshwara Temple in Thanjavur, one of the 3 great living Chola temples and a UNESCO world heritage site, rather impressive in its size and details. Team Shark Attack had the luck of breaking down in about 50 m distance from a local garage, and thanks to the talented locals were sent back on the road in no time for an incredibly low price.
 

Goodbye 2016!

 

At Thirumayam Fort one of the toughest challenges till now was waiting for the teams: climbing to the top and counting all the cannon balls they could find there! (We’re gonna tell you a secret: there are none. Some of the guys are probably still there, looking, searching…).  New Year’s Eve meant a sumptuous party at the Taj Hotel in Madurai – as far as we can remember…
 
Happy new year to everybody! Stay tuned for the first adventures of 2017!
 

The All-Important Briefing

 

 
Aravind Bremanandam, Chief Scientist and founder of the Travel Scientists, made sure to brief the teams explicitly on the special ways of driving in India, whose traffic chaos is an immense challenge for every foreigner. Aravind’s pre-rally briefings are legendary, with many essential tips for navigating the days the ahead.
 

And on to Training!

 

Soon all teams rushed to the training ground, where they met their new travel companions, the rickshaws, for the first time. Just a couple of hours later, after all of them had more or less successfully passed the 9-seconds start-stop test, they were sent off into the real Indian traffic to fulfill their first challenge: getting petrol at the next gas station. On a straight line only one team managed to get lost and we were very proud of them. The day’s success, of course, had to be celebrated with some well deserved beers.

 
 
Things were getting serious the next morning: the first stop of the Classic Run, about 150 km from Chennai to Madurai demanded to be mastered. The distance was not too far, but the temptation to get lost in the dozens of sights and just in the Indian life was big. Many teams also experienced already the limitations of their rickshaws hardly out of Chennai, and the Service Van had to come to rescue and exchange a blown engine. But the number of breakdowns is what the Rickshaw Challenge’s stripes of honour are made of and thanks to our talented mechanics, all teams were sent back on the road in no time.
 

The First Day on the Road!

 

 
Today’s first point of interest was Mahabalipuram, where dozens of temples and monuments were carved directly out of the stone in perfection between the 7th and the 9th century. Also the Dutch Fortress at Sadras and the Fort at Alambarai challenged the teams firstly to find them without sufficient signs and secondly to dig into Tamil history to answer the quiz questions.
 

 
All teams arrived with so much time to spare before flag-off time that we are seriously considering building in some traps and delays for next year’s Classic Run, as it seemed just to be too easy. Team Rusty Couple had already arrived at 1 pm and we are working intensively on making their life a bit harder on the road! Tomorrow will lead our teams from Pondicherry over 200 km to Thanjavur and we will be sure to keep you updated about their successes and their failures!
 

Day 3

 
On the morning of the 17th when I reached hotel around 7 am, Team 8, 9 and 10 were already waiting at the hotel lobby. As usual the luggage tags were distributed and they tagged their bags and went for breakfast. All the teams had arrived by 7.30 am. The roundtable members joined us at 7.45 am to do the flag off. The briefing was given at 8 am and all the teams were briefed about the road condition, day’s activity and about the base hotel. Then the Roundtablers introduced themselves and spoke about their projects. Finally the teams were flagged off at 8.30 am. Whaav! Most of the teams had nice costumes and some of the teams had done nice makeovers for the vehicle. A special mention to Team 4 (Neruppu Da) for their makeover in honour of recent hit Tamil movie Kabali. The Luggage truck left immediately and the support waited for an hour before they left. I managed to start around the same time when the support team started. When I closed in for the first activity challenge at Sadras Dutch fort I could see 4 to 5 teams either leaving plus some on their way to the fort.
 

 
When I was closing in for the second activity challenge, I received a call from Team 5 who had run out of petrol.  I helped them organize and they got back on road.  The rest of the day went by without any calls and all the teams arrived in the hotel well on time. Team 8 came and told us about the their experience of flat tires and how locals had helped them. Most of the teams planned their own evenings and I met few of them in the beach walking. The day was almost full moon and the moon was rising on the horizon at around 7.30 pm: it was a beautiful sight for an enjoyable walk in the beach side.
 

 

Day 4

 
The early birds of team 10 – the Contemporary nomads – were there before I came to lobby at 7 am. Well within half an hour all the teams dropped their bags and went for breakfast. Being a long day with narrow roads, I had warned the teams to keep up their time on an activity packed day. The first call came from Team 10 at around 12.30 am and they were closing in on the Vaitheeswaran Koil activity. The service team took no time as they were close and the problem was sorted out. At Vaitheeswaran Koil I met Team 7 and Team 5. The rest of the day went without any problem. All teams came to Tanjavur right on time and most of them jumped in to the pool of the base hotel Parisutham. Team 6 Rayan went on a drinking spree and had to sleep out of their room as it got locked. This he told me when I met him the next morning…
 

 

Day 5

 
Driving to a small hill station, Yercaud, was the agenda for the day. The teams were tasked with a photo challenge. Team 4 and Team 10 left early to avoid excess heat and traffic. But things did not go according to the plan. Team 4 had a break down just before Tiruchi. They lost lot of time but got back on road before the service team could reach them. Rest was all smooth until I got the call from the luggage truck. We realised we had given a wrong address for the hotel. They we took some correction measure through message and facebook.  Team 2 had some break down before a place called Musuri and it was set right by our service team.  The first team to arrive in the base hotel was Team 4 and one by one all of them came with the last team arriving at 6.30 pm.  Few of them claimed the different road (Google mistake). Team 11 missed the hotel and went to the wrong address, but came back to the right address eventually. This meant everyone was accounted for and ready to continue the Tamilnadu Run the next morning!
 
 
 

Beaches

The Promenade

The Cuisine

The French and Tamil Quarters

 

One of the greatest joys of Pondichery is to explore the French quarter, formerly known as “White Town”, with its French street names and colonial architecture. Like a proper European city it’s laid out in a grid system. It even has a Notre Dame (des Anges) which offers mass in French, Tamil, and English. Many locals still speak French, and the unusual laid-back attitude here attracts many bohemian types away from the high-paced cities. The Tamil Quarter, previously called “Black Town”, is an interesting comparison though it too retains French influence. However, the difference is clear to see: the streets are narrower and more disordered, the area dotted with temples and the occasional grand colonial mansion.
 

Cathedrals and Temples

Auroville

Visit Pondicherry with a Rickshaw Challenge!

 
If you like the sound of Pondicherry (and rickshaws!) then come along for a rickshaw challenge adventure rally! The Tamilnadu run leaves in two days time, with participants racing for a week including a night’s stop in Pondicherry. If that’s too soon, consider the Classic Run, beginning December 28th from Chennai. Over ten days the auto tuk tuk race will make its way South to Trivandrum, and there’ll be a chance to explore Pondi on the way. It’s a wacky way to explore the South of India, and you’re guaranteed to have a laugh, as well as a great adventure.