Untethered: A Woman's Search for Self on the Edge of India

The amazing travel story of a motorbike trip from New Delhi to find the Hindu goddess Kali

Get ready for a wild ride with C. L. Stambush in this latest case study about her bold and honest self-published book Untethered: A Woman’s Search for Self on the Edge of India – A Travel Memoir.

The life story tells of her five-month, nearly 7000-mile (11,265km) solo journey in 1997 as a young woman on a Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle and her quest to prove to herself she “can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone”.

Indeed Stambush had never ridden a motorbike and named her Bullet Kali after the badass Hindu goddess of rebirth, hoping to gain some grrrr.

But her mission was to discover the 51 Hindu shakti peetha temples, containing pieces of the goddess — lips, wrists, heart — believed to possess the power to transform.

However, along the way Stambush was reshaped as she encountered friendly families and ominous men, confronted culture clashes, hijras, and bandits, experienced monsoons, scorching deserts, and homicidal drivers plus crashed her motorcycle and much more.

So keep reading as the long-time traveler and journalist explains the story behind the memoir, the creative process and her tips for new writers.

Behind the scenes of Untethered

A shy upbringing

My book Untethered: A Woman’s Search for Self on the Edge of India is a travel memoir based on my five-month, nearly 7000-mile (11,265km) solo motorcycle journey around the edge of India on a Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle.

It’s a memoir of how I faced my fears to become someone I wanted to be and not the person I thought I was, which was too timid to live life fully.

As a girl, I found life pretty intimidating.

For example, in school I used to slide one shoulder along the hall wall at all times … even when I was alone in the hall.

So this image of myself as someone scared got stuck in my mind and that is how I came to know myself.

But I didn’t like it and wanted to be someone brave and adventurous.

Your Family Stories System. Father and girl on his shoulders with arms spread wide at the beach.

Overseas calls

I spent many years trying to overcome this image I had of who I was by challenging myself to do the things that scared me.

For instance, I started with small things like watching spooky movies alone and worked my way up to leaving the United States to travel abroad alone to Europe, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

I’m a trained journalist and was living in Prague, Czech Republic, just after the Velvet Revolution, writing features for the Prague Post.

But once there I noticed I was surrounded by Westerners wearing black turtlenecks sitting in cafes writing the next Great Novel (Prague was the Paris of the 1990s).

Next step India

I didn’t leave the USA to be surrounded by others like me so I headed to India where I thought the Western population would be less.

Once there I was a stringer for the Houston Chronicle first and later took a position as an editor for the Women’s Feature Service (WFS).

While living and working in New Delhi, India, I was always hearing the thump, thump, thump of Royal Enfields.

It became like a second heartbeat for me.

When my contract with WFS ended, I was ready to leave New Delhi but not India.

I’d travelled by train, bus, boat but never navigating my own vehicle.

And decided to buy a Bullet and ride it solo around India.

It was a scary undertaking but part of my life-long pursuit to overcome things that scared me.

Getting wheels in motion

I don’t think anyone thought the journey was a good idea or that I’d actually do it.

Everyone thought it was too dangerous.

And some people suggested I carry a gun.

I did not. I took my brain instead. That is the best weapon I have.

I’d never ridden a motorcycle before and took a week-long training course in preparation for the journey while home in the US visiting family.

I popped a wheelie the first day we rode and crashed.

But I got up and on the motorcycle again.

I wasn’t a good rider. I was scared and lacked confidence but I was determined to keep going.

Case study: Solo travel memoir Untethered: A Woman’s Search for Self on the Edge of India. C. L. Stambush's travel route around India, 1997. Photos by C. L. Stambush — Stambush (left) and her 7000-mile (11,265km) travel route around India, 1997 (right). Photos by C. L. Stambush

An Untethered writing journey

Why start writing

I always knew I’d write about this untethered journey: weaving stories of what it was like for a woman to be on her own, on a ‘so-called’ man’s machine, in a country where women didn’t travel alone alongside my other story of wanting to be someone other than how I thought of myself.

Above all I wanted to write an honest account of both to inspire readers to feel empowered about their own abilities.

People need to know we are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for.

I didn’t wake up one day, buy a motorcycle and head off around India on my own. I grew into it.

Related article – Why write: Why is writing important and why do we write

The writing of Untethered

I write for a living and am the senior writer at a university.

But writing a book is hard.

I can write a 1000-word piece on someone else’s life no problem.

However, writing about myself, shaping that narrative and being honest with myself and readers was hard.

The first draft of Untethered was almost 400 pages that took me two months to complete in 1998.

During this time I rented a cabin in India’s Himalayan foothills and wrote day and night.

The first draft was nothing like the final, published version released in 2021.

Over the course of all those years I rewrote and rewrote.

Going deeper

Also, I earned a Masters in Fine Arts in creative non-fiction from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, and I attended writers’ workshops and conferences, studying with some of the best writers.

I read books on writing (still my favourite type of book) and honed my craft.

I needed to find my voice — a voice I still didn’t believe I had a right to use even after all I’d done.

I wrote and rewrote the Untethered narrative 8-10 times.

Support for Untethered

Everyone who knew about Untethered had been waiting for years for it to be published.

I had two agents offer representation when I first started seeking it.

But for different reasons I decided not to sign with either one.

After that, agents kept telling me how hard it was to sell travel memoir.

Finally I decided to publish Untethered myself.

Because I figured if I could ride a motorcycle solo around India, I could publish my book solo too.

Related article – How to get your own book printed without stressing!

Tips for new writers

Overcoming struggles

Writing is not hard. Rewriting is a bit harder.

However, the hardest part was being brave enough to let the story go out into the world.

That was the scariest thing to do.

In the end, I couldn’t let another year go by while I tinkered with the story, didn’t improve it and possibly made it worse (there is a danger in overworking our stories).

I wanted to publish Untethered on January 9, 2021, a date that is significant in the book.

However, I was unaware how long it took to get ISBNs and such.

So mentally and emotionally I feel like I did publish it then but the actual release date was February 21, 2021.

Rewards and favourite parts of Untethered

Releasing my story Untethered into the world was most rewarding.

The second most rewarding aspect is hearing from readers that they can relate to many parts of my story, even though their circumstances were different.

I believe that despite the setting being on a motorcycle in India, that people — especially women — can relate to the story because it is a human story.

My mum’s favorite part is chapter 20, Ladies of a Different Order.

But in terms of writing, my favorite chapter is 36, Ruined Program.

However, I also really like the beginning and ending – they’re the hardest things to write.

I feel like they did what they were supposed to do: the beginning captures the reader’s attention and makes them want to find out what happens to the narrator and the ending brings all the threads in the story to a conclusion.

Writing secrets

Think a lot about the story you want to tell but don’t overthink it.
Listen carefully to the feedback you get from everyone but don’t rewrite your story to fit their needs. It’s your story. So you have to determine if the feedback you get is something you want to incorporate into your story.
While readers will never know what you leave out, the story must hang together and not have holes.

Final say: Untethered

Untethered is a suspenseful and truthful life story about adventure and finding self.

While Stambush’s triumphant journey as a woman alone took grit, so too did finishing this travel memoir!

And you can grab a copy for yourself in paperback or ebook at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Certainly writing takes effort but not more than other challenges we face in life.

However, you must fundamentally want to record your stories for yourself, not just others.

Because this way you will be motivated to start and finish a writing project, just like Stambush.

Happy writing!

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Your say

Do you have a favourite travel memory or story? I always love hearing from different people. Drop me an email or leave a reply in the comments section at the end of this article.

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