Thanks so much for your patience. I hope you've enjoyed reading this account of our adventure in India so far. This is the final instalment - will we make it?
Passing through the Thar Desert a procession we saw
Marching, singing, laughing people galore.
They waved their flags and they waved their hands
Encouraging us as we sped through the sands.
We saw other Runners in states of disrepair.
Their engines were shattered, they waited for spare (s).
As night fell, we prayed for no trouble
As the miles left to go dropped to figures double,
Then down to single, we were almost there
“Watch out for that camel!” a last minute scare.
Six miles from the city and our headlight went out.
And we followed the roads, souls riddled with doubt.
We roared with elation when the end was in sight
The Maharaja’s palace was a beacon of light.
But elation was tempered with sadness somehow.
With the Run just completed what would we do now?
As we sat by the pool, Kingfishers in hand
We thought back on our journey through this far, distant
land.
Few people know just how it feels
To drive so far on only three wheels
Through flooded streets and dented roads,
Past truckers with no driving codes,
Around the cows lying everywhere,
Alongside drivers who slowed down to stare,
Stuck in traffic, inhaling fumes
Or bouncing halfway down some dunes,
Getting towed by another shaw
“This is a main road?!” “Are you sure?!”
Sleeping in gaol cells, driving astray
Asking the locals if we’d gone the wrong way.
The landscape, the people, the weather we saw
Was so varied, so tricky, but filled us with awe.
There was a huge party on the very last night
With fire-breathers and dancers for our delight.
Dressed in our finery, we spent the last of our notes
Competing with others as we shared anecdotes,
We danced through the night and the fireworks show.
Almost everyone there was determined to go
On another Adventure. It had to be done
Just as soon as we’d recovered ourselves from this one!
We stayed up for ages, me, Clio and Alice
And then we all slept in the Maharaja’s Palace!
The following morning, blear-eyed and hungover
We were driven to Dehli in our cabbie’s Land Rover.
Sixteen hours later and we still weren’t there.
While Clio’s intestines gave her quite a scare.
When we got to the hotel, her resistance was spent.
And the following morning to the airport we went,
Carrying our ill friend whose legs turned to jelly.
She’d travelled so far, but now had Dehli Belly.
We got back to Blighty, our mission complete.
It was time to relax and put up our feet,
And bask in the glory of our achievement
And relive the moments that we underwent.
It had been hard and it had been tiring
And there had been moments when we’d felt like expiring.
But at the end of the day, when all’s said and done
We had many experiences and we loved every one.
So here is to Rita, the best Rickshaw bar none
And to the Adventurists and their fine Rickshaw Run!
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