Bicycles now purchased

We made a quick dash through Mumbai on our way to the Konkan coast simply to purchase two brand new "gear bikes." Monica and I had built touring mountain bikes in the USA which we intended to bring to India. As luck would have it, someone took the door off our storage closet in our Portland apartment and lifted the bikes. Bye bye bikes.

We decided to buy new ones in India. Indians love bicycles; bicycles are everywhere. They are all made by two Indian brands, Atlas and Hero. The design has not changed since 1937 and none have more than one gear. Well, almost none. We had to look pretty long and hard to find a store which sold "gear bikes" because we knew we would be going up and down hills on the coastal ride.

The image you see was taken at the railway station in Mumbai. Krishna (the railway luggage office guard) is marking our bikes for shipment to Kudal where we get off the train in the morning and start our bicycle journey. Notice the figure on the right. He was helping? He was just standing there? In the process of dropping off or bikes as luggage, we met about eighteen men who were directly or indirectly connected with the railway luggage system. First there is a form to fill. Then you take it to the man behind the counter. Then you go and have the burlap-walla apply some amount of burlap to the luggage. Then you pay him. Then you pay a different guy behind the same counter. Then you go and show a receipt to the guard and he marks the burlap with your train information and destination and reservation number and date and oh-so-many other things. Then you go and sign for something and they sign something and then about five signatures and two counters later you are done and my goodness, if these bikes don't make it to Kudal then I don't know what.

They have a system. It's totally insane, but it is a system none-the-less. Welcome to India.