It’s 5.30 pm and we sit outside our government guest house right next to the beach at the tiny island by the name of Diu. It’s bordering with Gujarat and at the Arabian Sea, it’s Union Territory (most importantly, that means that they sell beer and liquor here) and it’s one of the few former Portuguese colonies here in Indi...

It’s 10.23 am, we already rode 41,3 km in 2,55 hrs starting from Baroda (or more correctly, Varodara) in Gujarat. Mukesh from Anubhuti Leadership who started a local cycling community rode with us for the first 15 km, coffee in a thermos for all of us was packed as well. With only meal replacement and aminos for breakfast we now enjoy the fr...

After five days in the Dangs of Gujarat, much more time than planned, we finally move on. The “culprit”, Anil Patel or as most people call him lovingly Anil bhai (brother) had warned us. Stage 1 would be that we’d find it hard to leave, stage 2 when it’s simply impossible. What can possibly happen within a few days to c...

The wrestling matches amongst competitors from both gujarat and maharashtra, were part of the shiv rathri celebrations at Mulhare fort! Mr Dhiraj is the local hero who’s fighting to revive traditions that unite the current residents of the erstwhile kingdom of Baglan! On this day every year, people including musicians, dancers, wrestlers and...

Today’s route: Arrived at 8 am in the morning back in town and stayed nicely put after the long bus journey through the night. Didn’t get much chance for rest but at least time for shower, change and a hot lunch at the hotel as our new team member Vishakha had already organised a whole host of meetings for us including an interview and p...

Today’s route: Let go of our train tickets in favor of a sleeper bus leaving later as we wanted to make best use of our time at the conference and in Mumbai. There was things like Biotique Aloe Vera Sunscreen & Body Lotion to be stocked up on (we’re both addicted to it), a side stand for Kalyan to replace the broken one and more tubes...

Today’s route: Enjoying a couple of days back in the big town. Came for the annual meeting of the Caring Friends at Tata Institute, which also hosted a major social entrepreneurship conference at the same time. We were able to meet the founders and representatives of some of the finest NGO’s and social entrepreneurs and were very moved by...

Today’s route: Aurangabad – Mumbai. We got invited by Dr. Girish to attend the annual conference of the support structure they put together for some of the best Indian NGO’s. Caring Friends is their name, caring for one another their program. Weather: too hot for someone on the team Cycled: Not cycling back to Mumbai, no worries! W...

Today’s route: staying in Aurangabad Weather: hot Cycled: 0km Didn’t cycle: Switch between autos and private cars to do our shopping (finally find the right USB hub to work on the Macbook Air we carry), get Wiebke’s gear shifts fixed at a cycling workshop and visit the Arshak Kranti Institute to hear about their theory of economic ch...

Today’s route: Ahmednagar-Aurangabad. Weather: Sunny, no wind. Cycled: Left 11am from the city office of Snehalaya, accompanied to the highway by 2 of Girish’s staff. After some 20km of a very nice, flat and relatively new road we stop for lunch at a dhaba and quickly make friends with its owner and his family. As always, the questions ar...