Team Tuk and Roll Rickshaw Rally

Once upon a time, four men living in Seattle, Washington decided to enter an autorickshaw challenge taking place along the southeastern coast of India over a ten day period.  The rickshaw rally would entail driving a glorified golf cart… a monster version of a riding lawn mower… a happy meal sized micro bus 500+ miles all the while dodging locals, cows, pot holes, head on collisions with all manner of motorized vehicles, and mechanical breakdowns, all in the name of adventure and enlightenment. Once upon a time…

We are not upon that time yet but from the first “Flags Down” in Chennai on December 30, 2011 to the last “Flags Up” on January 7, 2012 two teams consisting of:  Dave Alefaio, Niranjan Bose, Udayan Deshpande, and Jeremy Fallt will hang on for dear life as they hurtle across the southern reaches of India.  It will be an interactive, and eye opening experience like nothing else that these four brave souls have ever experienced.  The thrill and spectacle of the race are really only the special effects in this sure-to-be blockbuster.  The plot?  That’s the important part.

The true goal of our adventure is to in a brief few days become immersed and acquainted with the people and places of India.  In order to do this and to maximize the positive experience not only for the four of us but for those that we come in contact with along the way, we are embarking on our trip on behalf of a charitable cause that will benefit the people of India.  And so our rally will be a rally around the faces, places, problems, and solutions that we encounter in the villages and towns that we pass through along our route.  We hope to take make a site visit of a project being conducted by the organization(s) that we partner with.  We hope to shake as many hands, hug as many kids, high five, laugh, and possibly cry with as many people as we can cram into our busy days.

The four of us decided to take this trip together, kind of on a dare.  We’ve all had dares before, turned down many, and most did not take the financial resources, and time away from our homes and lives in the way that this dare will.  I can say that as a group, we all accepted this dare in a heart beat… or maybe two.  I think that we each did it because we knew that the rewards and enriching life experiences would make us all better friends than we already are, and hopefully would bring us some new friends and memories that will last us a lifetime.  And so, we invite you, our friends, family, and anyone else who would like to tag along on for what is sure to be a bumpy joyous ride through southern India.

Once upon a time is right around the corner.

– TEAM TUK and ROLL

Update:  December 15, 2011

It’s official!  We have sponsors for the autorickshaws!

Chennai Super Kings and Kingfisher.