A Last Chance PowerDrive Part 1 Highways and Highlights

A Last Chance Powerdrive

Part 1 Gods on Tour and Dreaming in High Places

Highways and Highlights

By Benedict Beaumont

Copyright 2012 Benedict Beaumont

Published by Benedict Beaumont at Smashwords

Cover by http://peterwoolf.com

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

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Authors Note

This e-book is an edited version of ‘A Last Chance Powerdrive Part 1 Gods on Tour and Dreaming in High Places’. It is based on the online diary I kept as I travelled round India in October 2011. If you enjoy it, please buy the full version from Amazon here .

More downloads, other stories, news of other publications, photos and videos are available on my website http://benedictbeaumont.wordpress.com and on facebook.com/alastchancepowerdrive.

Table of Contents

Forward

Cradled in the Afterglow of a hot Delhi day

A Few Firsts

Pyrrhic Battles and Kisses of Fate

Gods on Tour and Dreaming in Wild Places

Dan and the Road ahead

Childhood Thrills and Jamaica’s Inn

Taming the Landscape with Laughter

The Legend of Kunzum-La and Rohtang

The Road to Kunzum-La

About the Author

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Forward

In my head the trailer for the Hollywood film of this story starts something like this:

[In a deep American drawl]

In a land of mystery, in a time of change, one man's discovery leads to the journey of a lifetime. Or perhaps, He was a man on the edge, he had nothing to lose. In a land far away, he found something that would change his life forever. This story would be cinematic, have a chiselled hero, a bit Indiana Jones, a bit Ewan McGregor in a montage of stunning shots of mountains, closeup's of emotional faces (laughter, tears, anger, joy), pictures of exotic people and places, all in glorious saturated, cinematic 35mm colour.

However the likelihood is that it is more like:

[In a middle English slightly sarcastic accent]

Middle aged geezer gets neurotic about getting old and losing his hair, jacks in his teaching job and tries to regain his youth by motorcycling round India. This would have much smaller production values, perhaps an odd looking comedy character actor, shot in sets built in TV studios, but maybe with some pathos, irony and a bittersweet and painful, self awareness and comedy.

Truth is though, we never know exactly what the strapline or the summary of our adventures or even our life will be whilst we are there. I will let you make up your mind if it is either of these.

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Part 1

Gods on Tour and Dreaming in Wild Places

Cradled in the Afterglow of a hot Delhi day

The first day was easy. The flight from London had a two hour stopover in Dubai, before we landed in Delhi. The food was good and I watched a film and read. A driver with my name on a card was waiting for me in the arrival hall, ready to take me to the hotel. My cash card worked in the atm at the airport and I had money in my pocket. Simple, straightforward and easy.

The hotel was in a traditional backpacker area; a