One Man Goes On A Bus

Spiti and Ladakh by public transport

By: Ketan Joshi

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

One Man. One Woman. And a bus driver with a death wish.
Think 'Notes from a Small Island' meets 'Speed'—if the bus was a rickety Himalayan vibrator on wheels and the 'bomb' was just the traveler’s heart exploding at every hairpin bend.
When Bill Bryson takes a bus, he finds a quirky local. When Ketan Joshi finds himself on the highest public transport system on Earth, he finds something much more terrifying: 'SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED.'
While Ketan would have been perfectly happy staying at home with a bag of crisps, his formidable girlfriend has other plans. Plans that involve a 30-hour marathon of bone-shaking terror, ancient Buddhist monasteries, and a bus suspension system that exists only in the driver’s imagination.
Trading the 'Amigos' for a seat on a rattly HRTC state transport bus, they tackle the fabled Hindustan-Tibet road. It’s a 'pièce de résistance' of mountain travel where every pass is higher than the tallest peaks in the UK or US, and the only thing keeping the bus on the road is the driver’s unwavering faith and Ketan’s white-knuckled grip on his seat.
Inside this 'state transport' survival guide:

• The High-Altitude Taskmaster: Discover why 'SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED' is the only force of nature more powerful than a Himalayan landslide—hauling a reluctant Ketan to exclusive canyons and remote retreats he’d never dare visit alone.
• The 30-Hour Kidney Punch: Surviving a two-day journey to Ladakh on a bus that feels like it was built during the original Silk Route and hasn’t been serviced since the British Left.
• The 'Old Monk' Secret: Discovering the bizarre, booze-soaked connection between a mass-murdering General and India’s favourite rum—delivered with a 'crisp and flavoursome' dose of history.
• The 'Kim' Factor: A journey through the landscapes of Rudyard Kipling’s 'Kim', proving that even a bumbling modern backpacker can feel like an imperial spy (if the spy was constantly car-sick).

Described by readers as 'the P.G. Wodehouse of India' and 'poignant and funny,' Ketan Joshi proves that the best way to see the Himalayas is to follow the woman you love—even if she’s leading you directly off a cliff.