|
Saturday, 29 August 2009 05:56 |
"As A Child I Was Fascinated By Flying Machines..."
|
As a child I’d always been fascinated with things that flew or sailed; engines, machines, electricity and things mechanical.
I studied, trained and worked in the aero-industry with Rolls-Royce in Bristol, SW England for 8 years, but Rolls-Royce was a place where one had to wait to fill a dead man’s shoes. I had more important things to get done. It was time to climb another rung of the ladder.
Postgraduate studies at Cranfield followed 7 years of sharp edged aeronautics - forecasting, statistics, mathematics, computers; I started all over again.
In the late 1980's Total Quality Management was the buzzword; my Cranfield Masters set me up for a series of jobs in the City of London, though Banking and Insurance, I was to discover, were not for me.
Late 1991, I quit my job, packed-up in London and headed north to my home town of Stamford in Lincolnshire. |
 |
I had it in mind to start working for myself in business.
Computers, software training, web technologies, application design and build - those sorts of subjects turned out to be a suitably interesting field and held my attention for the next 12 or so years. I did play too and had time to fly learn to fly gliders and soar above the England's green fields.
The millennium seemed as good as any to start a new venture and with a desire to get away and explore something new, friends suggested I go to India.
In 2001 I set off for south India. Though the trip was to be only 3 weeks, I soon realised I wouldn’t have enough time to see even a tiny part of India. I left my return ticket under my pillow and headed to the ‘interior’. I did found my way back to England, but with only one thought in mind. Pack-up and get back to India as soon as possible. ...too much to explore in the sub-continent to remain in England.
In 2002 I returned to India - purchased a '98 Royal Enfield and after some months discovered Nepal. Indian visa expired, I headed to Kathmandu, to both explore and renew the visa. Totally unprepared for what I’d find, I was enthralled by Nepal, never did I imagine the country to be such an exotic place.
As fate would have it I broke my ankle that first trip and decided language school would be a good option and started to learn Nepali. In short, I fell in love with the place and stayed.
I did return to India and have done many times since; principally road touring, exploring with the adventure that comes with unfettered weeks and weeks (often months) of road touring. All these touring experiences lead to a natural progression in my leading groups and tours in India's Himalaya and south India.
After several long tours of India - all on my standard ’98 500cc, I returned to Kathmandu.where I settled for 8 years. I relocated to Delhi in 2010 to set up shop in India's thriving capital.
I returned to England in October 2008 for my first visit since I departed in '02 and noted that my motorcycle touring log book recorded just short of 60,000kms covered on India's roads over the past 6 years, spanning all but a few of India's states and all on the same '98 500cc Bullet. |
|
|
|
|
Blog 
