Pokhara:

We have seen the Beetle rally, a swarm of Bullets roaring away into the sunset, vintage cars rolling down the streets, but perhaps this is the first time that Pokhara has welcomed a rally (run) of auto-rickshaws.

Yes, the participants of the Monsoon Rickshaw Run made it to Pokhara on June 29. Their arrival has lent greater meaning to the new slogan that Pokhara tourism entrepreneurs have recently adopted — ‘Pokhara for All Seasons’. They consider rainy season the off-season.

The Monsoon Rickshaw Run was flagged off in Kolkata on June 24. Twenty-two teams from the UK, the US, Wales, India and Italy started on a two-week journey over rough terrain. Their destination is Manali, India.

However, five of the rickshaws have landed in Pokhara.

“There are 10 persons in five auto-rickshaws — two in each rickshaw,” a participant from the UK Philip Adi said, adding that they will be here for two days.

“We will return to Kolkata via Butwal, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Varanasi,” said Adi. “The race is quite interesting and a challenging one.”

The Rickshaw Run happens twice a year, once in the summer and once in the winter. It is all

about raising fund for a great cause or two, so each team has to raise a £1000 for charity.

“The race is organised by The Adventurists and we have given £440 as charity to the organiser, and deposited £200 for the auto-rickshaw,” Adi informed.

Another participant from the UK Collin said, “The fund that will be given by some five sponsoring organisations and that collected from the participants will be provided to Marci Corpus.”

Marci Corpus, an Indian organisation, has been working in the sectors of community health, drinking water, sanitation and empowerment of youth.

The Rickshaw Run follows no particular route and participants follow their wishes. And so far they have encountered nothing very dangerous or bad, “just punctured tyres”, according to Collin.