All the Gear No Idea: A Woman’s Solo Motorcycle Journey Around the Indian Sub-Continent

After a friend makes a suggestion about traveling in India, Michele Harrison quits the job she wanted to leave for years, says goodbye to her boyfriend, and heads off with a plan to motorcycle around the Indian subcontinent–with no prior experience on a motorcycle. What follows is a well narrated travelogue suffused with wry humor; if Bridget Jones took such a road trip, I imagine her diary would look similar. Harrison chronicles the traffic, the auto-rickshaw drivers, the cattle in the road, the civil unrest in certain areas, the history of the land, and the people who are the lifeblood of the country. Through her we meet the villagers on any of the numerous roads on which her bike breaks down, who are always willing to help and question her gender, the omnipresent mechanics always necessary for her bike Big Thumper, the beggars, the persistent hecklers, and the little children in Mother Theresa’s orphanage who decline playtime in favor of just being held. The only drawback to this story is the editing; there are some major issues with typos and misspellings that can detract from the reading. Nevertheless, it is worth the read; for such a short little story, it is packed with a lot of heart and laughs.