I’ve just returned to the glorious new grounds of the Queen Street Deloitte Building from a 5 week epic adventure to India. It seems like the interns have covered all that is exciting about the new building so we thought it better if I shared some of what I did in India. So here’s a taste of what Deloitters get up to in their down time!

The main purpose behind the trip was to take-part in a 1200km autorickshaw race (think tuk-tuk) down the South-Eastern coast on India. Aside from the obvious adventure, the major purpose was to fundraise to help build new schools and facilities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. So prepare yourselves for a three-piece series! Here I’ll talk about the race itself:

The race delivered on every bit of insanity that was promised and at times bordered on reckless endangerment. The only rule on Indian roads is that size is right so when you’re not flying over potholes or dodging roadside animals, you’re avoiding rogue buses. The rickshaws themselves aren’t made for long distance and we found ourselves driving at night without headlights. At various times we also lost our clutch, muffler and even a whole wheel. This is better off than some of the other teams which flipped their rickshaws, drove through buildings, and had total engine meltdowns.

The real highlight was the people. We were navigating by word of mouth as we had no map (the people are your map!) meaning that we were constantly pulling over in small villages asking puzzled and excitable locals for directions. Three kiwis travelling in an autorickshaw is massive news and this was compounded by the huge local media coverage we got along the way. We never got sick of people chasing the rickshaw screaming ‘Daniel Vettori, Daniel Vettori!’.

More on our charitable contribution and interaction with school kids in the next blog!