You're Never Stranded In India

&ldquoWhat&rsquos it like to travel on a motorcycle in India&rdquo he asked. &ldquoDo you need to be highly prepared I imagine you&rsquore likely to be far away from help quite often.&rdquo These questions came to me from an experienced adventure motorcyclist I met in Northern England. Seated across a table, enjoying a lovely home cooked meal, we exchanged stories from our travels in different parts of the world. A few weeks before, I would have assumed that everyone across the world knew that with India&rsquos population and density, finding any distance from inhabitation is nearly impossible. But, having spent some time travelling through the English countryside, it was easy to see why someone who hadn&rsquot yet &ldquoexperienced&rdquo India could not fathom such realities.

Even though the UK is a comparatively small land mass with a sizeable population, leaving the &ldquopeople&rdquo behind is very easy. As long as you keep a safe distance from the big cities, you are far more likely to come across sheep and automated speed cameras than any other living person. And while it is clear that humans have staked claim to nearly every part of the island, the people who may have done so are seldom seen&mdasha stark contrast to the Indian reality.

Since our conversation was about motorcycling, it made sense for me to answer his questions contextually. If my motorcycle had broken down on some of the routes I was riding in the UK, I might have had to wait a few hours before seeing another person or vehicle. If I couldn&rsquot fix it myself, I would have had to call upon a recovery specialist from the nearest town. The service would have cost an arm and a leg and taken time to find its way to me. Yes, it&rsquos all extremely organised and impressive, but that somehow makes it rigid. This can make you feel stranded and helpless.

If I had a similar problem in India, on the other hand, the possibilities would be limitless. Based on past experience, in most parts of the country, it usually only takes a few minutes before news travels about the newest spectacle in the area&mdasha stuttering motorcycle and its alien-like owner. Most people are keen to offer assistance, even when they don&rsquot know the problem, or how to solve it. You&rsquoll definitely be offered food, water and hospitality. And while any kind of formal recovery service may be hard to call upon, you have free rein to conjure up your own. A case in point is when we pulled the rear seats out of an auto-rickshaw and loaded a 200-kilo motorcycle and luggage into it.

The reality is that it&rsquos effortless to travel across India because, in this country, you always have more solutions than problems

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