Day 15: The Zen of the road and the beauty of simple machines

Catbus likes Udaipurrrrrr 

 

Udaipur is described as the Venice of the East.  It's made up of several artificial lakes constructed a few hundred years ago and full of palaces and forts.  It's old, romantic, and beautiful, and the site of many a movie.  It's pretty touristy too, by the same measure. 

Godhra, yesterday, was a world apart.  The roads in the south of the city were more potholes than actual road.  By road we didn't don't mean tarmac, but any semblance of flat ground.  There was a clear sense of religiosity in the air and, in the southern parts, Arabic script on the walls.  It looked almost as though we were teleported into the Middle East.  Whoa.  

 

Entering Godhra with glee 

We would believe that nary a tourist has ever stepped into the town as we sparked quite a commotion rolling in with Catbus and stayed in one of only two hotels in town.  It was pretty crazy as the locals swarmed whenever we spent any time at all around the Catbus.  They spoke fairly little English so it was fairly intimidating initially but they were all well meaning.  

 

Kids on the street

The morning we left Catbus couldn't start well due to a cold engine and something like twenty people were around us all in a hubbub of enthusiasm.  A local Tuktuk driver jumped into the front seat and showed his magic cold start mojo while everyone milled around trying to help.  Someone even wiped the windscreen.  How about that? 

 

Friendly but...slightly overwhelming

Our valiant team made a concerted effort to avoid major highways moving to Udaipur, choosing instead some of the B roads for the better scenery.  Droning along on the highway gets a bit old at times.   Catbus was fairly well behaved after her tuneups so all was good.  Top speed after an inspired morning spark plug change yesterday has hit an all time high of around 48km/h.

 

Downstream of a hydroelectric dam!

Entering Udaipur central itself was a bit of a driving horror story though.  We read earlier that the alleyways would not permit car parking but did not realise that by that, it meant that the alleyways would be scooter lined on each side, potholed, and with space just barely not enough for a Tuktuk to pass.  So we sideswiped someone's scooter mirror with a water bottle hanging out of the vehicle, 3 point u-turned through dense scooter traffic in a one way steep sloped alley, tried to get into a narrow parking space that required emergency repositioning of scooters all around to avoid vehicular carnage, had some scam artist almost dunk Catbus in the river, and stalled Catbus on a 30 degree slope that first gear was unable to power through.  During the process, I learnt that in a hard right turn the clutch lever ends up pressed against the window so that it's half disengaged.  Very hairy indeed.  Enough white knuckled clutch wrangling, braking, and overreving.  We hightail to somewhere with better parking.  Like Jik said, this is possibly the only time we've chosen a place to stay based on parking availability, and I've never been more relieved to park and step out of a vehicle.  Another team who happened to be passing by said that they crashed 3 times inside.  Wowzilla.  

Racing through the roads.  Notice the newest modification to Catbus - the clothesline.

 

Being Chief Motorcyclist also makes me Chief Driver.  I tell everyone who cares to listen that Jik the money man is the big boss and I'm hired help from Nagaland which is completely believable since north eastern Indians look rather...Chinese.  Considering the rather un-fast pace that is our top speed, we make up the distance by driving for 10 hours a day, stopping only to rest the engine and buy fruits.  

 

One to top the ox-cart...a camel-cart

 

Driving endlessly isn't as tiring as one would think.  There is a sense of calm and peace that permeates.  Shift gears, throttle and throttle, look for bumps, avoid cows (yes this is a big feature in India) and rocket over potholes.  It isn't really hard to do, almost mechanical, freeing the mind to wander freely and ruminate.  There's a certain satisfaction conferred in moving through gears smoothly and navigating through the perils of the roads without incident.  At the same time, being captive to the vehicle until the last 200km for the day is done is at the same time liberating, strangely.  All other worries and burdens are cast aside until this simple mission is complete, and one is free to ruminate until then.  It's the Zen of the roads.  

 

Just a man casually riding an elephant.  Another bizarre Indian road phenomenon.

Jik is a firm proponent of high tech but I've always had a soft spot for simple mechanical devices.  This, a Tuktuk is.  The motorcycle that I rode up to Krabi a few years was scarcely more complicated but was similarly beautiful in its simplicity.  In our trip up north in 2014, it fried a fuse, melted the entire electrical system but was patched back without fuss and slogged tirelessly back to Singapore.  

 

 The Honda Phantom named Turtle circa 2014

Catbus is perhaps even more primitive.  It's carburettored (vs fuel injection) and has a hand cranked starter.  Its clutch and throttle systems are simple metal wires that connect the handgrips to the transmission and carburettor.  Suspension does not exist.  There is one cylinder and one spark plug, and there are exactly two pieces of electronics on board.  The CDI at the back, and my watch strapped onto the handlebar.  It's truly best described as nothing better than lawnmower attach to a gear box and 3 wheels.

Trying to eat while double wielding veg pulav may require fracturing the space-time continuum 

 

Its beauty is precisely in its simplicity.  The clutch takes a spanner and 30 seconds to adjust, the throttle wire is similarly accessible.  If fuelling is a problem, fuel tubings can be changed with a general store PVC pipe, fuel filter an instant swap in, and carburettor can be disassembled and cleaned in minutes.  In a world where the profligation of electronics and transistors turn car and motorcycle repair into a 3 day wait for replacement parts from Japan, it's really nice that Catbus can be stripped down and repaired, roadside, with just a screwdriver, a spanner or two, and basic mechanical knowledge.   

 

16 happy children going home in the school bus 

We couldn't finish counting how many

It's nearing the end of our journey now and we're over 2000km in.  I'm extremely optimistic that Catbus should make it without too much of a fuss since she's purring ... well, like a cat.  I'm going to miss her when it's time to part.  

 

Our heroine!

Next stop Jodhpur and then finally, Jaisalmer!

Yinghao

https://give.asia/movement/rickshaw_run_-_driving_for_charity

 

Better than a sunset - a moon rise!