Meet the fourth member of our team: Robbie the Rickshaw. He has a rather dreamy new coat! We’ve submitted the paint job design to the Adventurists, whose team of expert rickshaw pimpers in India will start bringing it to life ready for our arrival in Jaisalmer after Christmas.

We’ve borrowed the look of the classic Robin Reliant (hence the name Robbie) from Only Fools and Horses and have customised it with some Indian-inspired symbols:

Lotus flower: the padma or sacred lotus, often used as an example of divine beauty and purity, plays a central role in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

Om: a mantra and mystical Sanskrit sound of Hindu origin , sacred and important in various Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.

Swastika: literally meaning ‘it is good’, the swastika remains widely used in Indian religions, primarily as a a tantric symbol to evoke shakti or the sacred symbol of auspiciousness. Note that the arms are rotated in the opposite direction from the swastika incorporated into the flag of the German Nazi Party.

Ganesha: everybody’s favourite Hindu god, easily identifiable by his elephant head, Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles (we’re hoping this extends to large trucks, cows and any other Indian road users), the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom.

We’ll be completing the pimping with an Essex boy racer-style sound system (oh yeah), some fairy lights (well, it will be Christmas) and a rather large horn (entirely practical…’cow, get out the bloody way’).

We’re hoping that Robbie will be a true gallant gentleman and look after his ladies on our 3500km journey across India…and that he won’t fall sick too often.