Author: Sonia Lotay – Guest Writer, Desi Globetrotter.

Travel is fun. Travel stories, even better. And trailblazers are the proverbial cherry on top. And if these path breakers constitute adventurists on a glorified lawnmower, they sure make it newsworthy.

The Rickshaw Run is organized three times every year in India by a global ensemble of adventure seekers in the UK called The Adventurists. Its website, www.theadventurists.com, says the organization, is “not just hell bent on fighting to make the world less boring but also raising massive buckets of cash for charities.”

Teams from around the world gear up for this crazy pan-Indian adventure race covering 3500 km from North to South India in a self-driven “glorified lawnmower” (read three-wheeled, garishly painted auto rickshaw) over a period of two weeks for fun and charity. The September Run, the second run of 2013 and 14th overall, has nearly 79 teams, over 200 non-Indian participants and just one Indian (cheers for Mr. Vatsal Patel!) traveling from Shillong to Jaisalmer in multicoloured tuk-tuks.

Each Rickshaw Run team of four pays a fee of £1395 which covers the cost for hiring a rickshaw. Besides that, the entire travel cost, including repair, security deposit and so forth, is also required. Teams are also expected to raise a minimum of £1000 for charity, out of which half of it goes to Cool Earth — the official charity of The Adventurists. Participants are free to donate the rest of the funds to individual charities that they support.

The next Rickshaw run starts from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan on January 1, 2014, and will reach Cochin, Kerala on January 14.

In other words, for all you curious travelers and social cause engagers – here’s your chance to show just how adventurous your palate can be!

For more information: www.theadventurists.com.

Author: Guest Writer Sonia Lotay.
Photo Credit: Sudhamshu