Looking back at India

This year after our tour wrapped up, I took a ferry out to the monument of a Tamil poet that sits offshore and marks the end point of our cycling journey. From this spot I looked back on Kanyakumari… on India really. With a vague outline of a map of India in my mind, and the land in front of me, it was as if I was looking at all of India, stretching north away from me. It was impressive to think of the territory we had covered in two months. India was vast and wide when we began in Agra, and we have cycled plenty of it, to reach the tip where the two coasts meet, where the country narrows to the point of an arrowhead.  It is from here that we all have a chance to stop, look back, and reflect on what we have accomplished. 

It was no small feat to cover the distance between Agra and Kanyakumari by bicycle. Some days, when your legs feel strong, when you have had a solid sleep, it almost feels routine. A manageable daily activity pushing you further on your greater goal. There are other days of course. The days when the plan doesn’t come together as well.  When the power at the hotel goes out, when the beer is warm, or when the pedals turn with the sluggishness of an elephant lumbering down the street. These days remind you that it’s not a packaged experience, and that you can’t make assumptions about what comes next and nor can you assume there will be western comforts at every turn. Instead it is an adventure. A test of strength and endurance – both physical and mental. An eye opening, jaw dropping, teeth-gritting, forehead wrinkling experience. 

Congratulations to all the participants in the 2012 Indian Adventure. Thank you to all the staff (both in India and at our offices in Canada) for bringing it all together.