Diksha had some friends over last week. As she introduced me to Max, she said "he's cycling through Nepal and India.........and he's going for Vipasanna next week."
By sheer chance I got to spend a whole thirty minutes with just him, and that gave opportunity for a conversation worth capturing.
That's Max, Maxmillan Richter
Me: So, tell me a little about it....tell me about what brought you to cycling in India.
Max: It's a long story, we started in Nepal and it's been an intense experience, parts wonderful and parts really tough. We don't have a planned itinerary, we kind of just go from one place to another, as we find out about new places. In fact Diksha told me about Dhanushkodi, and I'm thinking I'll next do that, or Kanyakumari.
Me: Who's 'we', how many of you?
Max: There's this other couple...and I got to know them by chance, and then we got really close, they've now become almost like foster parents to me. It's the three of us who've been on this cycling trip so far...... they're now taking a break, and have gone to Srilanka. After the vipassana, I'm continuing on my own.
Me: So, from now on you're cycling by yourself ? How do you feel about that?
Max: It's a whole new thing, and I'm excited and also a little nervous about going solo. The whole experience is about stretching ones own boundaries, up until now I did it with these two friends.....so this is my next barrier I'm breaking.
Me: I'm going to take you back a little, to how this story started.....tell me a little about what inspired you to take on something so challenging, what made you choose to push beyond the usual? What's your background?
Max: Well....it all started a couple of years back. I'm from Berlin, I'd done my business management program, had a good job, and then I met this really interesting woman. She influenced me a great deal, and I somehow started to feel that if I really wanted to live life, I wouldn't be able to do it through a job. The thought began there.
Me: What made you pick India as against anywhere else in the world?
Max: I initially didn't quit, I took a sabbatical of sorts and first thought of trekking the Himalayas...I did that with a group of six, and that's where my attachment to India began.
It's later that I met this couple who were into cycling, and were going to Nepal, and I really liked them, I liked the idea of cross country cycling.
Me: Did you have to prepare a lot for the trip?
Max: Yes, I needed to get to a whole different level of fitness. I sold my car, bought a cycle and began cycling to work. It was interesting. I'd cycle to work, have a shower in office and then get into my suit and tie. It's quite conventional in Germany.
Me: What did your parents have to say? How old are you? Were they anxious, do they worry about where you are, how you are? How often do you keep in touch? That's the mom in me asking, so tell.
Max: My dad doesn't as much, but I think my mom does. She gets a little concerned so I make sure to keep her informed of my whereabouts, atleast whenever I have wifi.
Me: How do you plan the trip and how do you find your way around?
Max: The plan's kind of vague, we just decided to start on the east coast. And I have an app which enables me to download maps which I can access offline, and I use that for internal roads.
Me: Tell me about how the experience so far has been....some instances from the cycling itself.....good, great, tough...anything
Max: In Pharping, Nepal, the road was up a mountain, and there was no road, it was a gravel path, impossible to cycle, so we had to get off and push our cycles up.......it's cycles plus 40 to 50 kgs of luggage weight, and it's altitude, and gradient....so it takes a lot of energy.....it was very exhausting. But you have no go, you just have to keep going.
There's times when we can't stick to plan, something like that could go wrong, and if we'd planned for 50 kms that day, we need to accept only 25 kms and settle anywhere possible for the night.
Sometimes it'll become undoable and then we'd hitch a bus and ask if we can put the cycles on the bus.
But then, I also think Pharping is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. Even cycling, we went back to it twice because it was that beautiful.
We also had a lot of visa issues. India issues visa for 6 months, but only for 90 days at a stretch, so to stay longer I need to break and visit another country. That's why my friends have gone off to Srilanka, and I need to figure what I'll do.
I'm going off for the vipassana tomorrow for ten days and I'll figure after."
Some pictures he shared from his journey, put here with his comments (in quotes):
"Start in Kathmandu" ................the flag off moment !!
The cup of tea before the flag off moment
"On top of the road after a hard 'climb' south of Kathmandu, on the way to Pharping"
"Chai break, South Nepal"
"New friends in Bodhgaya"
"Last day in Nepal, Lumbini, 8th of January '2019"
"Chai in Calcutta"....a truly candid picture, the reactions of the onlookers are just so interesting :)
"On the way to Chennai on a highway"
"exchange of road experience, India" (lots of visibly non verbal communication happening there :)
"Getting a flat tyre repaired, I had three flat tyres that day..."
"Somewhere in India"
"My bicycle" ( he sent this with a lovely little red heart which just said sooooo much )
Max: It's a long story, we started in Nepal and it's been an intense experience, parts wonderful and parts really tough. We don't have a planned itinerary, we kind of just go from one place to another, as we find out about new places. In fact Diksha told me about Dhanushkodi, and I'm thinking I'll next do that, or Kanyakumari.
Me: Who's 'we', how many of you?
Max: There's this other couple...and I got to know them by chance, and then we got really close, they've now become almost like foster parents to me. It's the three of us who've been on this cycling trip so far...... they're now taking a break, and have gone to Srilanka. After the vipassana, I'm continuing on my own.
Me: So, from now on you're cycling by yourself ? How do you feel about that?
Max: It's a whole new thing, and I'm excited and also a little nervous about going solo. The whole experience is about stretching ones own boundaries, up until now I did it with these two friends.....so this is my next barrier I'm breaking.
Me: I'm going to take you back a little, to how this story started.....tell me a little about what inspired you to take on something so challenging, what made you choose to push beyond the usual? What's your background?
Max: Well....it all started a couple of years back. I'm from Berlin, I'd done my business management program, had a good job, and then I met this really interesting woman. She influenced me a great deal, and I somehow started to feel that if I really wanted to live life, I wouldn't be able to do it through a job. The thought began there.
Me: What made you pick India as against anywhere else in the world?
Max: I initially didn't quit, I took a sabbatical of sorts and first thought of trekking the Himalayas...I did that with a group of six, and that's where my attachment to India began.
It's later that I met this couple who were into cycling, and were going to Nepal, and I really liked them, I liked the idea of cross country cycling.
Me: Did you have to prepare a lot for the trip?
Max: Yes, I needed to get to a whole different level of fitness. I sold my car, bought a cycle and began cycling to work. It was interesting. I'd cycle to work, have a shower in office and then get into my suit and tie. It's quite conventional in Germany.
Me: What did your parents have to say? How old are you? Were they anxious, do they worry about where you are, how you are? How often do you keep in touch? That's the mom in me asking, so tell.
Max: My dad doesn't as much, but I think my mom does. She gets a little concerned so I make sure to keep her informed of my whereabouts, atleast whenever I have wifi.
Me: How do you plan the trip and how do you find your way around?
Max: The plan's kind of vague, we just decided to start on the east coast. And I have an app which enables me to download maps which I can access offline, and I use that for internal roads.
Me: Tell me about how the experience so far has been....some instances from the cycling itself.....good, great, tough...anything
Max: In Pharping, Nepal, the road was up a mountain, and there was no road, it was a gravel path, impossible to cycle, so we had to get off and push our cycles up.......it's cycles plus 40 to 50 kgs of luggage weight, and it's altitude, and gradient....so it takes a lot of energy.....it was very exhausting. But you have no go, you just have to keep going.
There's times when we can't stick to plan, something like that could go wrong, and if we'd planned for 50 kms that day, we need to accept only 25 kms and settle anywhere possible for the night.
Sometimes it'll become undoable and then we'd hitch a bus and ask if we can put the cycles on the bus.
But then, I also think Pharping is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. Even cycling, we went back to it twice because it was that beautiful.
We also had a lot of visa issues. India issues visa for 6 months, but only for 90 days at a stretch, so to stay longer I need to break and visit another country. That's why my friends have gone off to Srilanka, and I need to figure what I'll do.
I'm going off for the vipassana tomorrow for ten days and I'll figure after."
Some pictures he shared from his journey, put here with his comments (in quotes):
"Start in Kathmandu" ................the flag off moment !!
The cup of tea before the flag off moment
"On top of the road after a hard 'climb' south of Kathmandu, on the way to Pharping"
"Chai break, South Nepal"
"New friends in Bodhgaya"
"Last day in Nepal, Lumbini, 8th of January '2019"
"Chai in Calcutta"....a truly candid picture, the reactions of the onlookers are just so interesting :)
"On the way to Chennai on a highway"
"exchange of road experience, India" (lots of visibly non verbal communication happening there :)
"Getting a flat tyre repaired, I had three flat tyres that day..."
"Somewhere in India"
"My bicycle" ( he sent this with a lovely little red heart which just said sooooo much )
Off the trip, at home that evening....a picture with Diksha and Hamsa
Good luck Max, with your vipassana, and the rest of your cycling journey....and your deeper journey of self discovery. I'm so in awe of your nerve, energy and courage in taking on something like this....it's been fascinating talking to you about it !!
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