Showing results by author "Ketan Joshi" in All Categories

The plan is simple. Ride a motorcycle to the very edge of India — to Arunachal Pradesh, where the country runs out of road and bumps into China and Myanmar… where the sun clocks in before the rest of us… and where the Himalayas collapse into rainforest with absolutely no regard for comfort. The plan is fire. The saddlebags get so excited that they actually catch fire. Because Arunachal Pradesh is not just another region. It is India in italics. The place where India meets Asia. A land so wild and remote that the British didn’t even bother naming it — they simply called it “the ...

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 ...

ONE MAN GOES TO ARGENTINA I had just finished an awesome trip to ANTARCTICA! WOOHOO! Ice, penguins, seals, whales and all that kind of stuff! And now I was back on dry land - in Ushuaia, Argentina - the southernmost port in the world! And since I had travelled more than 15000 km to get here - it seemed a shame to go back immediately. So I decided to stay on and explore Argentina! WOOHOO! The legendary Iguazu falls on the Brazil - Argentina border! The biggest falls in the world! The amazing colours of the high Andes on the Chile- Argentina border! And how better to explore the Andes ...

Jumping out of a plane, Falling out of a hot air balloon, Getting thrown off a horse, Diving with great white sharks, losing all your money, getting tortured by a blind masseur, catching the very last flight home before the world shuts down… Misadventures around the world with the amiable Amigo and SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED - the travel goddess! Join our intrepid pair as they amble over the world and have the most fun adventures and excitement ever - in New Zealand, Australia, USA, Cambodia, South Africa, Spain, Italy, Japan… Enjoy these bite-sized travel stories and enjoy an amazing ...

HAVE YOU BEEN FIRED? THAT’S GREAT! I come back from a Himalayan holiday - only to get a Himalaya-sized shock! ‘WOO HOO’ was the rather unexpected reaction from my girlfriend. ‘THAT’S AWESOME!’ ‘Er...What?’ ‘NOW YOU WILL HAVE MORE TIME TO TRAVEL AND SEE THE WORLD!’ I take this advice to heart - and do a lot of travelling and writing and so forth… I travel the length and breadth of India - the Himalayan heights of Uttarakhand, the beauty of Kashmir, A bus ride from Srinagar to Ladakh - in public transport!, the lost empire of Hampi, Amazing shore temples of Mahabalipuram...

‘If no one walks with you - then walk alone…’ said the great poet Rabindranath Tagore - and he got a Nobel prize for literature for saying so! I said the same thing and didn't even get a like on Facebook! But never mind- who cares about likes and prizes? The thing is to travel! The Himalayas were calling and the wife was nagging (No, I wasn’t! - the wife) and the bike was standing sadly in the parking lot and looking at me like a dog desperate to go for a walk! My Amigos were not ready to ride - the cretins! Imagine putting wife and work ahead of Riding! So I decided to ride alone -...

North-East India! Where India meets Asia! A solo ride through the meeting place of empires, cultures, traditions and people! Ancient kingdoms, tribal cultures, tantric temples, giant rivers, rolling hills, majestic forests, Tigers, Hornbills, One-horned rhinos … and even a unique citrus fruit! Site of the greatest battle of World War II - but forgotten! The Battle of Imphal and the Battle of Kohima - which prevented the Japanese imperial army from entering British India. The poignant story of Subhash Chandra Bose and the ‘traitor’ Indian National Army… the British Raj’s nightmare!...

One Man Rides to Kashmir - Solo ride in the valley Till now, our plump and amiable Motorbiking Amigo had only rushed through Kashmir valley in order to reach Ladakh as soon as possible! But this time, he was not going to do Ladakh at all - No Sirree! This adventure is only in the Kashmir valley and we explore it ... from bottom to top! On a Royal Enfield! And all Alone! WOOHOO! The Mughal Road: Once a royal road across the mighty Pir Panjal mountains, then completely forgotten and destroyed - and now resurrected! High Pass Drama: Hurtling downhill from ‘Dead Man's pass’ with brake ...

One day my wife - SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED - declared that I was going to ANTARCTICA. ‘Where?’ I asked, rubbing my ears. ‘What was that again, dear? Where am I going?’ ‘You are going to Antarctica! Via Spain!’ ‘What? Where? Who? ….wait a minute…Spain?’ ‘Yes. Would you like to spend a fortnight in Spain before going to Argentina, to catch the cruise to Antarctica?’ ANTARCTICA -WOOHOO! SPAIN -WOOHOO! This is the story of the first part of my long journey around the world - 15000 kilometres as the crow flies…and even longer if the crow goes my commercial airlines! The ...

‘THE SEVENTH CONTINENT!’ The amazing icy world of Antarctica! Eternal snow! Penguins! Whales! Seals! Icebergs! More snow! The final frontier! But how to get there? Well - it is a continent…so it is surrounded by water. So you have to go there by ship. You have to board an Antarctic expedition cruise ship and sail across some of the roughest seas on earth to get there! Where do you catch the ship from? The nearest port to Antarctica is Ushuaia, Argentina at the tip of South America! The SOUTHERNMOST PORT IN THE WORLD! It is 15000 km away from home as the crow flies - and even longer, ...

600 km on cycle! Over some of the bumpiest Indian roads you can imagine! My poor butt will never be the same again! ‘INFIRM OF PURPOSE’ my wife screams at me ‘ARE YOU A MAN OR A MOUSE? START PEDALLING!’ I had done quite a bit of cycling in and around Mumbai - but SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED is a crazy person - on a totally different level! She has cycled ridiculous distances on a dare… 800 km on the wild Pamir highway from Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan over the Pamir mountains, 900 km on the Srinagar - Leh - Manali road over the Himalayas, 600 km from Goa to Kerala over the Sahyadri ...

‘Everest Base Camp?’ ‘Yes!’ ‘THE Everest? The tallest mountain in the world? That one?’ ‘Yes!’ ‘But…but...I have never trekked before…’ ‘SHUT UP AND START WALKING!’ I met a girl online, and she was all turned on by my reading about my travel adventures! We met and I chatted her up a bit. I boasted about being a trekker - and her eyes immediately lit up! WOOHOO - she said - Let us go for a trek together! WOOHOO - I said - Yes, let us go for an overnight trek! ‘Overnight?’ she said ‘It will take many nights! We are going on the highest trek in the world! To ...

I WANT TO RIDE AGAIN! The Amigos are suffering from severe ride deprivation! Three enthusiastic Amigos set out on their second Himalayan ride! Will this be as action-packed and chaotic and mad crazy fun as their first one? Or will it be even more so? They set out towards the ancient Hindustan-Tibet road...once part of the ancient silk route caravan paths connecting China with the lands to the west. They cross the mighty glacial rivers and climb up to the high Himalayan wastelands of the famed Spiti valley - where not even a blade of grass can grow! Dangerous cliffs, roaring torrents, ...

‘Let's go for a ride ... To the HIGHEST road in the Himalayas!’ It’s just the three of them - and it's their first time in the mountains... But hey - what could possibly go wrong? Three amiable and generously-proportioned Amigos ride from the flat plains of Punjab over ancient silk-route roads all the way up to the forbidding Himalayan desert of Ladakh, where not even a blade of grass can grow! Snow-covered mountains, broken roads, flooded rivers, landslides, scamsters, explosive diarrhoea… The Amigos take it all in stride and have the time of their lives. They are mounted on their ...

Going to college doesn't mean that your education is complete - there is always a gap between what you learn in college, and what you apply at work. This is also true of an MBA in Marketing. You learn an awful lot of concepts, but not too much of that is immediately applicable when you start working. This book tries to fill in the gap between the curriculum and work requirements, and explains all concepts in a simple, easy to use manner. The data is presented in the form of a story, which makes it easy to absorb. This is intended for use in India, so all the stories and data are in Indian ...

Indian middle-class suburban life gets a range of thrills and spills in this sparkling collection of short stories with a wicked twist in the tail. The most mundane of daily experiences can open the doors to a range of crazy experiences. The stories are set in locations as simple as having a ride on the iconic Bombay local trains, reading the Mid-Day, having a paan at the local paan wala, getting a wrong number on your phone, visiting the dentist or just having a ‘cutting chai’ at a tea stall. But such mundane beginnings suddenly drop you down a rabbit hole leading to Murders, Mayhem, ...

Move over, Sherlock - there's a new detective on the block! Dipy Singh handles cases which other detectives cannot - Vampires, sorcerers, godmen, disappearing thieves... nothing fazes him - and chills out with some delicious tandoori chicken and cold beer. Intriguing, funny and unique - these stories are a uniquely Indian take on the detective genre - and much like the tandoori chicken, these are tasty, spicy and different from anything else you would have had before. So dig in into these toothsome tales - The game is afoot!

‘Did you know that India is the ONLY country in the world that has BOTH Lions and Tigers?’ ‘Really? Where are these Lions?’ ‘The lion sanctuary is about 800 kilometres from here…’ ‘AWESOME! Let’s ride and check them out!’ The Awesome Amigos on their 5th ride! After exploring the North and South of the country - it’s time to head to the West! And boy, is there a lot to explore! Princely palaces, Portuguese sea forts, venerable temples, ancient fortresses, wildlife sanctuaries - and the birthplace of the most amazing man in the world - Mahatma Gandhi! The Amigos are in a...

‘The most dangerous road in the world! It’s a small and muddy dirt track on the very lip of a high mountainside, with no railings or barriers. One slip - and it’s a high dive into a wild glacial river!’ ‘Awesome! Let’s go for it!’ The awesome Amigos set out on their most ambitious trip yet! They have heard of a wild and unpaved and risky road that connects two remote and mountainous Himalayan states - so of course, they have to check it out! They set out on their not-very-trusty steeds - Royal Enfield motorbikes, which are sure to break down on the very worst roads at the very...

No tickets? No plans? No money? - No problem! The world’s biggest and most awesome human gathering - the Kumbh mela! This religious fair on the banks of the holy Ganges attracts more pilgrims than the whole population of Europe! Sadhus, Babas, seekers of all sorts...I just had to check it out… But how? I had no tickets, no plans, no information, no money and no clue! Never mind! Just go for it! Boldly jump in where the angels fear to tread! The Patron Saint of Idiots will be my shepherd - I shall not want! I had no money for a ticket - but a prospective employer called me to the nearest...