June 4th, 2008 Part 2: Lucknow Be a Lady

2200 kilometers to Pondicherry: This was our first full day in India and we were very excited! Excited that we had finally arrived in a place where Rickshaw mechanics were never more than 6 headbobbles and 20 rupees away. I have to hand it to the Taj, not only did they care for our Rickshaws, when it started raining cats and dogs in the middle of the night, the MOVED them under the awning of the entrance so as to keep them dry. OE and I, minus a windshield for the past day and a half, were very grateful. As 8am came upon us, we wasted no time in assigning tasks. Flynn and I would seek out mechanical assistance for our tuk-tuks while OE and Nate "worked" for a few hours with the Dubai office. Yes, even on the Rickshaw Run some of us had responsibilities, and the work had to be done! Flynn and I were going to hire a driver to take us to the nearest mechanic. We had a list:

Re-install windshield on WWCD #1, fix wiring on WWCD #s 1 & 2 as the PA system, headlights, auxillary lights, and cd players were acting up in some sort of fashion. Fix or discard both roof racks, weld WWCD #1's frame back together, and engage the local police in a brief chase followed by friendly banter.

But first, BREAKFAST. Not having a real meal since leaving Kathmandu, we chowed hard. Not sure of some of the items on my plate, but it was a nice change of pace from beef jerkey, slim jims, trail mix, and prolyte. Afterwards, we found a Taj driver who passivley spoke english and understood what we needed accomplished. As we pulled out of the Taj in caravan form, we quickly pulled over and enlisted the service of an off duty rickshaw taxi driver. Not sure where he came from, he just appeared from behind a bush. This magical act of "materializing" out of nowhere is a superpower shared by many Indians of this I am certain..."I coulda SWORN noone was there a second ago..." The cabbie quickly kicked me out of my ride and sped off towards the horizon. We hastily followed suit and 10 minutes later were pulling onto a side street just off a major roundabout where mechanic after mechanic had set up their specified trade for business. We passed the muffler man, the brake man, the suspension man, and ended at the welder. Seeing us for who we were, a couple of easy marks, he dropped everything he was doing to come and help us. The driver spoke to him, explaining what needed to happen. The Driver then turned and said: "Fix dents, fix top. Then we go fix windshield, then lights." I could hardly turn around before the welding torch was lit and sparks were flying everywhere. Nate and Flynn's tuk tuk had sheered off three of the four bolts holding the roof rack to the frame. Our tuk tuk not only had a broken frame but a piece of the roof literally fell off the day before. Within no time the ace welder had custom formed a new piece for our rack, fixed all the cracks, installed new bolts, and hammered out the dents from the crash in Nepal so the windshield could be affixed. Much discussion then ensued with the driver and the welder. While I am no expert in hindi, the universal "C'mon brotha from anotha motha, let me take these guys to the cleaners," was not hard to figure out. Our trusty driver, we shall call him Mogli, who by this time had taken off his Taj uniform under the glaring heat, did not back down. In the end, we paid $2.40 for the everything. I think he was trying to charge us $7.50, the nerve!

Mogli pointed down the road and said, "Now windshield"...