TRAVEL: Berkeley Students take Rickshaw across India

Ah, the auto rickshaw. India’s trusty three-wheeled taxi is usually seen swerving through the streets with a honk like a goose and five children packed into a two-person seat.

Not exactly the first choice for a cross country, all-terrain vehicle, but try telling that to University of California Berkeley students Brian Wong, Sonny Sabhlok and Allen Rodriguez, aka “Team Korma Police.”

With inspiration from Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, the team embarked on a 2,400 mile trip from Nepal to Pondicherry, India in June as part of a race called “Rickshaw Run,” organized by a British group the Adventurists.

To be eligible to enter, the team had to raise $2000 for charity. They chose to raise money for Mercy Corps India and the Frank Water Project. The team name was a combination of a Radiohead song and Indian cuisine.

Korma Police updated a blog during their trip with tales of Buddhist temples, scenery and fellow rickshaw racers as they make stops in cities such as Varanasi and Hyderabad. It wasn't all smooth sailing either. The team encountered a skidding auto accident, mechanical difficulties, injuries and plenty of bug bites.

“We already miss our rickshaw,” Wong writes in the blog, post-race. “Everytime I get in one here I'm tempted to kick the driver out and take over.”

There was no prize for crossing the finish line, but here's hoping the memories sufficed.