May Day May Day

Dear Friends:
I appreciate you clicking on this link to this blog. It's taken me some time to officially announce my race... not for presidency or congressional office but a race across India. I know you're saying uh?

A few months ago, my friend Jen was searching on the internet trying to locate sites on Indian scooters. This lead to the discovery of an autorickshaw charity race starting in Chennai and ending Mumbai. This charity raises funds to keep children in school and out of sweatshops and help villages in need. Jen immediately called and woke me from a dead sleep. Her reasoning this would be a great way to see India and, most importantly, to help. You know me. I'm not the type of person that sits on her hands. I told Jen drowsily, "Let's do it." Hence, Team RickshawGrrlz was formed! Of course, much later, Jen mentions the race is in August during monsoon season. HOT!

Each team from the race is assigned a village. It is our responsibility to help with the purchasing, delivering and dispersing of medical supplies, books and other items in the village. Along our journey, we will be stopping at each team's sponsored village to delivery the necessary supplies. This journey will take two weeks in the hot, humid climate. However, it will be an incredible and emotional adventure.

We would appreciate any help from you, our friend.

1. Change for change -- You know you have a jar of Penny's on top of fridge.
2. Dollars per Kilometer -- A total of 1921 km. 1191 Miles.
3. Words of Wisdom -- We'll be setting up a guest book but also feel free to leave comments on this blog.
4. A GPS device -- It's a girl's best friend. If you have one, could we borrow it?
   

Whatever you can contribute, will graciously be accepted and appreciated.

But what do you get out of all of this:

1. The knowledge that you are helping make a change in this world.
   
2. Your name on the Hall of Fame Donors List located on the left side of this blog.
3. Stories, images and, hopefully, video from the road on this blog.
4. Jen's heartfelt thanks.
   
5. My heartfelt thanks.

How do you get in touch with me? Well, some of you I work with. Others, please contact me via my email address.

I hope that I can arrange an online collection. But I'm not sure of the setup.

Please stay tune to this blog for further postings.
You can also read more about the trip or previous autorickshaw races on www.indianarc.com and click on Mumbai X-press!

Thank you very much!

All the best,
Raj & Jen
Team RickshawGrrlz

Autorickshaw

Hi all,
I'm excited about the new blog here. This is where I'll be posting my thoughts, stories and comments while on the road from Chennai to Mumbai. Of course, whenever I get a chance.

If you have not checked out the route, go to indianarc.com and click onto Mumbai X-press.

Some folks were asking what an autorickshaw is. Well, here is a pretty good definition of autorickshaw, which was not found on the Wiki!

"An autorickshaw (auto or rickshaw or tempo in popular parlance) is a vehicle usually for hire and is one of the chief modes of transport in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka it is also popular in many other countries. It is a motorized version of the traditional rickshaw, a small two- or three-wheeled cart pulled by a person, and the velotaxi. The autorickshaw is also related to its Thai cousin, the tuk-tuk and the Bajaj in Indonesia. Some more ways this is called are auto rickshaw, auto-rickshaw, autorikshaw, auto rikshaw, auto-rikshaw. Motorized rickshaw, Motorized rikshaw, Tuktuk, Three wheeler and in many parts of India simply as AUTO."

Sad news, Jen, my partner in this autorickshaw race, has left for CT this past Thursday. Jen is taking a job at a scooter shop that has an Indian rickshaw. I hope that we can practice over the months to come.

In other news, I would just like to give a shout out to Josh for starting the fund drive in the south. Thank you. Thank you. Thank