Korma Police's blog

this is the end

Brian and I made our way to the Taj Mahal today. It was honestly the best way to end India for us and we only wish Allen could have joined us. And honestly, I encourage all of you to make a trip out to Agra to see this crazy monument. Built 360 years ago, its just so beautiful. Huge, pure, and peaceful, it truly is an astonishing work of art. It overlooks the Yamuna River, another holy river in India that meets the Ganga in central India. We tried to get some artsy photos, but many of those we asked to take pictures struggled to take our picture. Sometimes they didn't even get our faces in the pictures. This happened multiple times throughout our trip.

And so our trip to India has come to an end. Its amazing how i was able to only use 3 pairs of shirts, boxers, and shorts for 30 straight days. And no iPod. here are some interesting stats from our trip:

 

# of mosquito bites at the end of day 3 (Sonny): 81

# of days with shiva's revenge (Sonny): 4

# of head nods received: >>>25000

# of times my scabs was coated with iodine: 7

# of people that came up to me, saw my wounds, and told me I should take care of it: 9

Cost of getting all my meds: $24

Cost of getting my bandages changed: 75 cents

Cost of a full shave and head massage: 75 cents

 

there are many more stats to share with you all, but its 4am and im a bit tired from our trip to Agra. The others will be updating soon.

 

-Sonny

and half-way across the globe...

As I've been spending my days picking the dead skin off, I can hear the difficulties Brian has in communicating with my grandma. But, despite the communication barrier he has come across, I can tell he's enjoying himself. And I'm starting to enjoy the gradual reactivation of limb function. And on Thursday, we will be ready to head over to see the great Taj Mahal.

Lately, I've just been relaxing and reading (3 Different Books: 3 Cups of Tea, Kim, and Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance).  Besides that, time passes quickly when you start picking the scabs. My skin is really itchy. But for the first time in 2 weeks, I can fully extend my right arm.  Brian has now completed his 1 week course in Ayurvedic Medicinal Massage and comes back to our apartment smelling like oil. But, according to my cousin, he gives really amazing massages (attn: ladies). 

Last night, we went over to an area called Koliwara that cooks Indian style BBQ. Just about the best tandoori chicken and fish we've ever had. Our waiter told us that we were getting Grade B fish, as its not the season for Grade A, but it was great. If we could bring back a batch, we would.  And in just half an hour, we are off to watch a movie in the theatre where popcorn doesn't even cost a dollar...and they deliver food to your seat.  Too bad Brian won't understand a word.

And as its our last week of India, we are ready to head back to the states, but will miss this country greatly. From the 5 dollar 1-hour long full body massages to the amazing Indian food to humorous sex columns in the Mumbai Mirror (to be posted soon). And an update on pictures, we have decided to post from our own computers, which are in Delhi currently. The reason for this is that we get rushed at internet cafes and the speed is slow to upload. But no worries, much will be shared soon. As we have learned on this trip, patience is a virtue.

Our flight arrives at 1230pm next Monday at SFO, so if anyone wants to share dinner with a couple jet-lagged idiots next Monday, let us know. See you all soon.

-Sonny

back on american soil

so i chilled in delhi for four nights where i mostly just relaxed, read, wrote, and watched hindi TV and sports, and then caught a flight back to SF on friday, stopping over in Tapei.  couldnt get a good seat and the 73 year old indian man next to me, former wrestling coach for the national team, wouldnt keep his legs off of me.  longest flight of my life.  as soon as the plane landed i got a huge smile on my face and it hasnt left yet.  my good friend tren picked me up at the airport and it was awesome to see him.  its really great to be back home.

went to the hospital where they cleaned me up nicely.  they infused me IV with some strong antibiotics as all of my wounds were infected and i had had a fever.  they xrayed my foot because it was swollen and sensitive and they thought something may have been broken, but luckily that was not the case.  they prescribed me painkillers and i have to change my bandages daily, as well as take antibiotics 4x daily.  it felt great to be in a clean modern hospital where they were gentle with me, there were no language barriers, and no more confusion about the state of my body.  my wounds have been healing very quickly since then as now i have nothing but clean air and water, tons of antibiotics, good nutrition, and i'm able to get a good night's sleep.  its so nice to be back.

i've been eating awesome food since being back.  first stop was in and out where i got a 3x3 animal style with animal style fries.  it was so orgasmic after dreaming about the first bite for almost a month.  today i went to mario's for lunch where we had a great fiesta.  i missed mexican food greatly.  i'm headed back to so cal this weekend so i'll hit up some real legit burritos for sure.  tonight we went to house of chicken and waffles in oakland and had another amazing meal.  its so great to be back.

tomorrow i start full time work doing bioengineering research on campus and my summer school classes.  its very weird being immersed in indian life for an extended time and jumping right back in to berkeley life.  hopefully i will not forget all the amazing things i saw and experienced in india and i'm always aware of how lucky i am to be where i'm at.

can't wait to catch up with all my friends now that i'm back and to enjoy this beautiful summer in Btown.  hit me up because its time to party hardy.

allen

Days 16-20: Pondicherry and Bombay

I apologize for the lack of updates. It's totally my fault and being too lazy in the aftermath of the race.  Hope none of you have been too worried.

So we made it to the finish line party and were greeted with loads of respect. Allen and Sonny's wounds were the talk of the night. They maybe recounted the accident 50 times that night. We heard some wild stories from other teams. One team was chased by an elephant rider and his elephant for not paying the guy enough money. Our American friends in team Wrong turn were stoned during a riot, then later arrested in Pondicherry for drunken drag racing along the beach. Our Spanish friends the Blackbirds had to have their rickshaws loaded on the back of a truck and driven out of Nepal to a repair shop, which may be considered cheating. We were saddened to hear our friends from Seattle who were shooting a documentary on the race quit after what has been described as a "minor" accident during the first week. We were however thrilled to hear that the team consisting of one woman made it through.

Allen left the next day and made it safely to Delhi. After that we're just not sure. He was supposed to change his flight to leave earlier as he's incapable of exploring India with his injured legs. The last we heard, he was rejected entrance onto the flight without a doctor's note for his wounds. That was two days ago, so hopefully he's resolved things and has arrived safely in the US.

The past few days Sonny and I have just been relaxing at Sonny's relative's homes. They're feeding me like crazy, which is good given all the weight I lost during the race.

We saw in the paper yesterday that Balasore (where we stayed after the accident) and surrounding areas are completely flooded. The timing of the race couldn't have been better. As much as I've wanted to turn our rickshaw into a canoe, I'm sure we would've certainly quit in the face of flash floods and open wounds.

We already miss our rickshaw. Everytime I get in one here I'm tempted to kick the driver out and take over. Hope everyone at home is doing well. We miss you all.

-Brian

Day 14-15: We Made It!!

We took off from Chennai this morning, happy to be reunited with Sonny. Chennai was no joy ride to get out of. Being one of the four largest cities in India during the mid-day, we skirted plenty of near-accidents with maniacal bus drivers and motorcyclists doing anything they could to squeeze in two inches in front of us. That and having two cripples in the back put me on high alert as we inched our way out of the busy city. The rest of the drive was a breeze, lined with palm trees and red and black Tamil Nadu flags, inviting us to the beautiful beach resort town of Pondicherry. We got into town to discover there was a huge political rally going on. Propaganda and patriotism for the politicians coming to Pondicherry was pretty excessive. This also led to problems finding a hotel, as many had been booked full for the weekend. We finally came across a French villa where we got a four bedroom suite on the beach for only $75! The most expensive room we've had for sure, but hey, it's like a Best Western price in America. We wish you could all see the place we're staying in as we could easily throw an epic party here. Actually we were pretty lame last night, didn't take full advantage of the place and crashed at 10. Pitfall of getting drunk too early.

Today we just lounged around, enjoying the peace and quiet of Pondicherry's French Quarter. It's almost too quiet, like we're not really in India anymore. Certainly a nice change and the perfect way of ending our journey. For the first time though, we got hassled by the police for having "POLICE" written on our rickshaw. They threatened us with a court case if we didn't remove it. Meh.

Tonight we will be attending the finish line party and share stories along with fellow Rickshaw Runners. We've already been told that quite a few times had to drop out throughout the past weeks. I think we'll win some award for being the most injured team.

I can't believe we finally made it! It's definately been a stressful vacation. But we've grown a lot from it as well. We have plenty of stories to tell you all back home that we haven't recorded in this blog. We hope to have pictures and videos up by the end of the week once we get out of Pondicherry. Allen is unsure what he will be doing for the next week as his injuries keep him from moving much. Sonny and I will be heading to Bombay and Delhi for the rest of June, and we will be continuing to blog about our experiences there. We have realized just how hard it is to explain what we've seen  in India. Our blog and media could only give you all a glimpse of what we've experienced. So I feel the only way for you all to get the full picture is to do the Rickshaw Run yourselves! There's a winter, summer, and now a new Spring run, and we highly encourage those of you brave enough to enlist in an upcoming race! We thank all of you who have been keeping updated with us and have sent us emails and messages filled with worry, laughter, and encouragement. We can't wait to see everyone back in the states!

-Brian

Day 9-13 (Sonny's POV): "There are no Accidents"

While on BART en route to SFO, we came across a guy named Eddie. We shared a few laughs and he was intrigued at the fact that we were taking a rickshaw through India. Brian handed him $20, the only cash he had, so he could get a bus home to the Vallejo area, and in return he gave us a book titled "Mental Health and Nutrition." This couldn't just be coincidence that the one man to talk to us on the BART that night gave us a book on a subject of our interest. As he left, we said, "We hope we dont have any accidents on our trip."

He responded, "You know there is a Buddhist saying 'There are no accidents.'"

I wrote it down in my journal, but not really taking it to heart. But after our Buddhist "pilgrimage" through Nepal and India, things were relatively smooth sailing. Then we got into an accident. Or maybe it happened for a reason.

It was scary. The most scared I've ever felt. Our Rickshaw skid on its right side for a good 100m and my heart was racing. After seeing some gruesome wounds on my right leg and arm, I freaked out. I kept hoping that I wouldn't need an amputation simultaneously with thoughts of how thankful I was to be alive.  I don't want to gross all of you out with details of the wounds, but if you are curious, I do have pictures.

Anyways, as from the previous post, Brian was a lifesaver. He put in 200% effort to make sure we got out of West Bengal safely and that his buddies would not have to endure terrible pain. He did more than we could ask for. Once we reached Balasore, flies scattered over our bandages. Later that night, I went to Balasore Govt. Hospital. And an adventure like this wouldnt be complete without a trip to such a hospital. No gloves. People staring, so No privacy. And pain like no other. Once the iodine touched the wounds, I screamed many expletives. How did this happen? The introspection piled up. But I told myself to keep in mind, life is suffering. This pain was minute in comparison to some of the other problems in this hospital. 

I came down with a fever that night and fearing infection, not enough rest, and rough Indian terrain, I pulled myself out for a few days. I felt bad but knew that it was time to focus on my health. Something told me that Allen and Brian would do just fine and I wouldn't if I continued. The fact that these hospitals didnt use gloves freaked me out. I decided that I would take a train to Calcutta and get good physician care.

Now I'm in Calcutta and boarding a plane in 12 housr to Chennai to rejoin Korma Police. To finish whole, as  we started, but with several bandages.  The doctor I got was excellent and my family here took good care of me. But at the same time, I missed the road and BMG (rickshaw). My skin is rapidly healing but still looks disgusting.  I got enough rest and do not regret this "accident" at all. Whenever you feel down, all you have to do is be optimistic. It allowed me time to continue to establish a connection with part of my family I've lost touch with. I feel more complete with the wounds, as weird as that sounds.  I needed  Calcutta, and I got it. But now I need Pondicherry.

And I'd also like to thank all of you for your concern. I feel more pumped than ever. I cant wait to join A&B.

 

-Sonny

Day 9-13 (Sonny"There are no Accidents"

While on BART en route to SFO, we came across a guy named Eddie. We shared a few laughs and he was intrigued at the fact that we were taking a rickshaw through India. Brian handed him $20, the only cash he had, so he could get a bus home to the Vallejo area, and in return he gave us a book titled "Mental Health and Nutrition." This couldn't just be coincidence that the one man to talk to us on the BART that night gave us a book on a subject of our interest. As he left, we said, "We hope we dont have any accidents on our trip."

He responded, "You know there is a Buddhist saying 'There are no accidents.'"

I wrote it down in my journal, but not really taking it to heart. But after our Buddhist "pilgrimage" through Nepal and India, things were relatively smooth sailing. Then we got into an accident. Or maybe it happened for a reason.

It was scary. The most scared I've ever felt. Our Rickshaw skid on its right side for a good 100m and my heart was racing. After seeing some gruesome wounds on my right leg and arm, I freaked out. I kept hoping that I wouldn't need an amputation simultaneously with thoughts of how thankful I was to be alive.  I don't want to gross all of you out with details of the wounds, but if you are curious, I do have pictures.

Anyways, as from the previous post, Brian was a lifesaver. He put in 200% effort to make sure we got out of West Bengal safely and that his buddies would not have to endure terrible pain. He did more than we could ask for. Once we reached Balasore, flies scattered over our bandages. Later that night, I went to Balasore Govt. Hospital. And an adventure like this wouldnt be complete without a trip to such a hospital. No gloves. People staring, so No privacy. And pain like no other. Once the iodine touched the wounds, I screamed many expletives. How did this happen? The introspection piled up. But I told myself to keep in mind, life is suffering. This pain was minute in comparison to some of the other problems in this hospital. 

I came down with a fever that night and fearing infection, not enough rest, and rough Indian terrain, I pulled myself out for a few days. I felt bad but knew that it was time to focus on my health. Something told me that Allen and Brian would do just fine and I wouldn't if I continued. The fact that these hospitals didnt use gloves freaked me out. I decided that I would take a train to Calcutta and get good physician care.

Now I'm in Calcutta and boarding a plane in 12 housr to Chennai to rejoin Korma Police. To finish whole, as  we started, but with several bandages.  The doctor I got was excellent and my family here took good care of me. But at the same time, I missed the road and BMG (rickshaw). My skin is rapidly healing but still looks disgusting.  I got enough rest and do not regret this "accident" at all. It allowed me time to continue to establish a connection with part of my family I've lost touch with. I feel more complete with the wounds, as weird as that sounds.  I needed  Calcutta, and I got it. But now I need Pondicherry.

 

And I'd also like to thank all of you for your concern. I feel more pumped than ever. I cant wait to join A&B.

 

-Sonny

Day 13: We're So Close!

Had a grand 9 hours of driving from Vijayawada to Chennai today on very little sleep. Hotel room had tons of bugs ceaselessly sucking our blood and we were also afraid there was a rat rustling around in the air conditioner. Gotta love this place. Drive wasn't too bad, only our windshield wipers didn't work. We came into Chennai a little uneasy, having literally about $4 USD between the two of us. Luckily Allen's ATM works here. Tomorrow we meet up with Sonny and take only a short ride to Pondicherry! Wish us luck!

-Brian

Day 9-12: Important Update

I'm going to put this as lightly as possible. It's going to sound bad, but it isn't terrible and could be much worse. On Monday upon exiting Kolkata, we had an accident. Our car flipped on its right side at full speed and skidded down the highway. Sonny and Allen were on the right side and sustained large surface skin wounds. Nothing internal was injured. The skin wounds were properly treated and they are both going to be ok. I got away with a minor cut on my head, nothing else. However, Sonny (who had greater wounds than Allen) had to drop out for awhile as he feared infection. He is resting in Kolkata where his family members can take care of him. This has been a huge blow to our team, but nevertheless, Allen and I intend to finish the race. There are many teams racing that have only two team members and no one who speaks Hindi. Yes it will be harder from here on out, but our main intention now is to just get to the finish line as quickly (and safely) as possible. We are done sight seeing as it is raining buckets anyways. I know many of you may be worried, but fear not. Allen and I are both in high spirits and are ever eager to finish this things with a more heightened sense of safety. Also, Sonny plans on flying down to Chennai where we will pick him up and drive to the finish line.

To continue on the rest of that day...well, it sucked. We got our first glimpse of a rural hospital in India...not pretty. More like a prison again. After Sonny and Allen were treated we had to get out because soon the hospital would call the West Bengal police and we'd have to report an accident, possibly ending our race. Great, now we're on the run from the cops. So we drove our way to Balasore without a windshield, as it got destroyed in the crash. As luck would have it, as soon as we leave the hospital, I hit the wheel of a cycle rickshaw. Townspeople start yelling and chasing the car as we dash away. We make an escape, and then it starts pouring. The monsoon's come to West Bengal in full force. I tied a bedsheet to the side of the rickshaw to protect the guy's wounds from getting wet and bared stabbing raindrops for 200 km to our destination. For the first time in India I feared hypothermia. We got to a hotel, lodged in their best suite they had, and just relaxed.

The following day we were stuck in Balasore. The windshield would take longer than we thought to repair. We had our first experiences of trying to communicate with people without Sonny. It wasn't pretty. For instance, going to the bank to exchange money was a 1 1/2 hour ordeal, which should've been 5 minutes. Don't go to banks in India. They're 10 times worse than the DMV. Aside from getting a repair, we just stayed in and ordered room service while bearing continuous blackouts.

Yesterday and today have just been me and Allen driving to Chennai. It's been pretty uneventful, which at this time we don't mind. We've had our fill for adventure. We're passing through the state of Andrah Pradesh, which is known to have high Naxalite terrorist activity, so we've been kind of freaked out about that. At least the scenery is nice. We're driving close to the coast so the region is very tropical and lush. No elephant or tiger sightings yet, but we're crossing our fingers to encounter at least one before we get out of here. We've also met some of the more indigenous people of India in this region. I cant even begin to explain the crazy piercings they have. But the people here and the way they live is very picturesque. We've noticed the more south we go that the people get darker. The sun must be more harsh here. Allen and I ares still creating crowds, and it's getting pretty annoying. We try to be as polite and cordial as possible, but we're just getting so sick of telling our story over and over again. Also, people here stare more. And it would be nice if they stared with a smile, or even a blank and confused face. But instead we're stared at with scowls. Naxalites?

Anyways, Allen and I are now in Vijayawada, about 600 km from Pondicherry! We got one more long day driving to Chennai tomorrow, then we head to Pondicherry with Sonny on Saturday morning. Then we can kiss this piece of crap goodbye! Again, don't worry about us. You'll hear from us at the finish line!

- Brian

Day 6-7: Better Be Mr. Late Than Late Mr.

Trucks all over India have these great sayings, like "Better to be Late than Mr Late" or "Do good and then forget it." The former was quite representative of our trip from Bodhgaya to Calcutta. A 470 km journey and the longest one on our trip. Between these 2 cities is absolutely no place to my stay and my aunt was eagerly awaiting my arrival in Calcutta.  Our goal was to leave Bodhgaya by 8am, and make it to Calcutta by 7pm. It seemed pretty doable considering that the highway we're on allows us to maintain 60 km/hr quite easily. But of course, this isnt meant to be that simple.

 

After morning prayer at the Japanese Buddhist temple, we got ourselves over to a repair shop for a good greasing. But, apparently, this was gonna take 2 hours, delaying our trip til 10am at the earliest. Not a bad thing since we got some extra time to enjoy Bodhgaya. Meditations under the Bodhi tree where Buddha became enlightened and communicating with him inside the Mahabodhi temple put us in high spirits and energized for the long haul. 

 

We said bye to our friends Shiva and Anut and left the town eager to beat the sunset. I popped a caffeine pill and got on the road. Things were smooth for the first couple hours but then we hit a railway crossing. Now, India has some of the worst constructed railway crossing. Good-carrying trucks piled up in a line that was at least a mile long. I had to weave through this single line of 150-200 trucks in order to get to the front. Frustration kicked in. We got through it and then with 210 km to go we took a stop at a gas station to share our adventures with the locals. The owner took some video that should be on youtube by now. Allen and Brian got food at a restaurant nearby with a truck driver, Erfan. He downed some whisky and then hopped in his goods truck.  Heres another fact of India - many truck drivers drink and drive at night, so roads are extremely dangerous. And with an hour to go before the sunset and such a long distance to cover, I became filled with paranoia. I just told myself to pray for the best.

 

And I thought we were gonna die at one point. Allen weaved in between two trucks at 60km/hr and barely avoided both of them. Scary as hell. I really dont know how else to put it except just try to put urself in a golfcart and tightly avoiding 2 18-wheelers. Then we got to Calcutta and finally hit one of the toughest parts of the trip thus far.

 

Around 11 pm, Allen was driving on a major road and then part of our engine just fell out. We didnt realize that something fell, but our engine started making an extremely loud noise. We checked our engine and knew that something big had definitely fell and that there was no point in carrying on for 45 minutes to my aunts place. Later on, we found out that this piece was the silencer/muffler. Allen and Brian went back to find it on the road, and some Indian guy with a mullet had taken it. Language barriers prevented them from getting the part back, so we needed to tow our auto to our destination somehow. Too bad that tow trucks dont tow rickshaws and everything was closed at this time. I salvaged some rope that was tying down a tree and a nice taxi driver was willing to haul our rickshaw to my aunts. But being in India, its not so simple.

 

Fact 3 of India: Bribes are extremely common. After hauling for about 3 minutes, a police man stopped us. Observing our surroundings, we were stuck in a communist state. And now Brian was dealing with a violent case of Shiva's revenge. I just wanted to get to a bed. The cop mentions how hauling a rickshaw is a "big offense," but then turns to me and says, "Give me some spot change and i'll let you go." I offer him 200 INR, and he says "No 500. 500 or I won't let you go." I handed to him, shakde my head in disapproval, and moved on. What else can you do but just give in? Surrender to the country. We moved slowly through teh city and the rope connecting the two vehicles kept getting undone. With only 5 km to go, our rope got cut right in front of a police stop. For 10 minutes, we were yelled at and pestered for hauling our vehicle. We showed them some documents and they eventually let us go.

 

I had stayed up for 23 hours before getting to bed that night and woke up at noon the next day. Thank god we were in my family's presence. Day 7 allowed us to get our rickshaw fixed. Now our rickshaw is in better condition than they way we originally have it. Wipers are working, lights are brighter, and the drive feels smooth. We even got to enjoy a couple of beers at a local lounge. As of now, we're in Calcutta and heading out tomorrow. Long 350 km haul to Puri.  What a trip. And only 1 week to Pondicherry.

 

-Sonny