An auto-rickshaw is basically a lawn-mower engine encased in a cut-rate gazebo. It’s a three-wheeler intended for short journeys, which is why my three friends and I had some trouble driving one from the top to the bottom of India, a country famous for its road fatalities. With only a month to make the journey, we soon abandoned our scenic route (the burning ghats, the Taj Mahal) and instead pointed south.

Wind whistled through our tuk-tuk’s open sides, so we wore all our clothes, thus also saving on luggage space. As we took turns driving, I discovered that, in high-stress situations, my right hand involuntarily gripped whatever it was holding. On a roller coaster, that would be the safety bar. On an auto-rickshaw, which has controls like a motorbike, it was the accelerator. If I was unnerved by cars driving on the wrong side of the road toward us, my right hand involuntarily revved. So when I most wanted to slow down, I sped up. That’s an important detail, as far as this story goes.

We’d been driving all day on a huge, unfinished motorway of unlighted, unmarked gravel. As daylight faded, we learned that a single light approaching us could sometimes represent two highly decorated trucks, side by side, sharing one headlight. We promised ourselves we would not drive at night, and we pulled off the motorway when we saw, on the far side of the road, the word HOTEL in large capitals.

Image Credit... Illustration by Holly Wales

This was the province of Bihar. The Lonely Planet guide, which usually tries to put a positive spin on things, said Bihar’s “frequent kidnappings, murders and acts of banditry” ensure that “few travelers spend much time here.” But we were hungry and tired. All we had to do was cross the traffic, potholes and mist, and then we could sleep. While waiting for a gap between trucks, I let the nose of our auto-rickshaw peek out into the motorway. As the vehicles rattled past, I started to get nervous. As I got nervous, I gripped the handlebars, and as I gripped them, I involuntarily revved and we moved out a little more.