Its been a more relaxing couple of weeks…The XT was released from the docks and the good Lord has continued to watch over us. We left the mean streets of Mumbai behind and headed to Pune to visit an Aussie chrisitian family and fellow bikers who are full time serving the Lord in India. From there we headed to Goa, the holiday state of India for a bit of r&r and reflection. After that we headed south to Ooty to visit a christian school tucked away on a hill at 2200m, they say one of the best kept education secrets in India  

We’ve ridden some amazing coast road, crossed lush mountain passes,  passed through villages tucked away from civilisation and marvelled at tea fields that stretch further than the eye can see.  We have met many more locals, motorbiking brothers, and chatted to a few more Muslim brothers as we have travelled - 6 states in 2 weeks - and we now find ourselves headed back to the schoolyard…

Pune & Monsoon Motorcycle Madness

Pune was our first stop after Mumbai. This was the home town of the man who in 2002 embarked on the Monsoon Motorcycle Madness Tour of India - 7000km in 35 days, 2 men, 1 Enfield, 1 Yamaha XT from Australia (seeing any resemblance yet?).  John and his family (originally from Victoria) are currently in Pune working with an organisation and serving in various capacities. John’s many roles include assisting in teacher education programs with another NGO to improve the quality of education in Indian schools. His other main role is assisting missionary families on the field when they are having difficulties (he’d just returned from Kyrghistan after assisting many families doing field work there). John’s wife works at a local chrisitan school that is different to many local schools. Local schooling is a very different game here- kids are generally put down and humiliated as a way of being taught. This occurs right from the early ages.

One of Johns most interesting roles is his one helping missionary kids (mks) make transitions, whether they be to boarding school far from where their parents are, or moving back ‘home’ after their parents have finished their tenure overseas. He introduced to us the term ‘Third culture kid’ - basically a child who is born in a country that is not their parents country. They look different from the local kids but act somewhat the same. They synthesise the culture of their parents with the culture of their surroundsings to create a third culture of their own. These kids usually have specific traits, can be quite well adjusted, but often have difficulty moving back to their parents home, a home they do not know. There they look like everyone else but they act different. This third culture kid or TCK hasn’t been identified for very long. John is working on a collaborative effort to assist these kids with transitions, including just gathering all these kids from all over the country to hang out together so they realise they’re not the only one out there that ‘feels like this’. It’s a full on thing to pack up + move country for the work of the good Lord and these guys do good work in helping families adjust and cope with new cultures and settings.

Its been real nice staying with these guys-while we waited for the XT. We played cricket at the school with some local orphan kids. We got a chance to help out at the school though Julian found some kids weren’t massively impressed with his engineering skills. They thought the cars he manufactured out of cardboard boxes left something to be desired. Tough crowd! It was also cool playing a bit of lounge cricket and hanging out with young Aidan - who is missing his big bro + sis back in Australia. Hey, and thanks for letting us stay in your room :o)

Caught by the fuzz…

The XT seems to attract a fair bit of attention here - particularly from the general public who are keen to know where it is from, how many km’s per litre it gets, how much it cost and to let us know the headlight is on. They are very concerned we are driving during the day with the headlight on, so we regularly get chased by frantic people highlighting this fact by waving and making blinking gestures with their hands. ‘It’s wired into the ignition as a safety feature’ isn’t a phrase we have learnt in the local dialects yet :)

The XT, different to any bike on the Indian roads, also seems to spell ‘rich foreigners’ to the local plod, border guards and anyone else that gives fines…  The first day Julian rode from the docks to Pune where we were staying he encountered local police twice - once to fine him for parking at a lookout point on the side of the highway and the second (perhapes a little more deserved) for driving up a one way street. But at the same time the attending officer manufactured a number of other illegitimate claims.  Police work very differently here - unlike the rest of India there is no paperwork, tickets or official documentation. They make up a price and how low you get it depends on your bargining skills…  Jlow did pretty well getting 500 rupees downgraded to 100 and secondly 900 down to 200 - turns out he’s not the cashed up westener they thought!

Crusty Demons

Nato had a bit of experience on the other side of the law… cruising to visit a friend he had met in Pune he came across a blocked road…The first thought was that it was another fatality - they reckon that an average of 5 people a week die in bus crashes alone. But suddnely a dude on a bajaj pulsar 150cc motorbike burned past pulling a wheelie. These guys had blocked the traffic on a reasonably major road and were filming themselves doing some pretty hectic tricks - mono’s, standing on seats while riding, even flips on their small Indian bikes and scooters… It was like that movie - the fast and the furious, Indian style! One guy told me they were doing try-outs for the crusty demons of dirt - American dirt bike riders - however these dudes had no pads or protective gear - they wore helmets at best! It’s a testiment to some of the idolisation of the West that goes on here.

Some R+R

We’ve been on the road for about two months now and haven’t made it out of India yet!  The time for a bit of rest and relaxation coincided nicely with our riding through the beachside state of Goa - kind of like India’s answer to Bali. It was a blessing just to lie on the beach, eat some fresh fish, fruit, drink from coconuts and just chill out…  We stayed at Benaulim in a nice joint 2 mins from the beach. It cost the equivalent of $6 a night. Lined with palm trees, the beach is well set up for relaxing. It’s littered with beach shacks offering sun lounges, fresh delicacies and even a massage. It was good to spend some time reading the word and chilling in the creation..

A re-education…

Currently we write from the Hebron school - in the mountain community of Ooty in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.  Ooty is a very realxed Indian town and a great ‘first point of call’ for people wanting to experience India.

Hebron is a boarding school run on an english model which primarly exists to educate kids whose parents are in India and surrounding countries working for Christian NGO’s. Our contacts here were the parents of some friends from Julian’s church. These guys didn’t quite know we were coming but none the less we’ve received a very warm welcome. It’s a busy time of year. Yesterday we caught the annual Christmas play performed by the the junior school kids - it was some seriously cute stuff to see these little kids, from cultures all around the world tell the story of Jesus’ birth. Today they have invited kids from all the local orphanages to come and listen to the play and hang out with the kids afterward. We’ve spent our time doing a bit of arts and crafts, hanging with the kids from the dorms and checking out the local town.
There is a really good sense of community here. They advertise jobs on their website or they have a program where you can come here and help out as a volunteer for six months - if anyone is keen…

Keep us in your prayers

nb + jp