Among seasoned travelers, the auto-rickshaw is celebrated and scorned as an authentic yet masochistic means of crossing India. Notoriously unreliable, with an uncanny tendency to breakdown or spill passengers without warning, and an easy target for aggressive, maniacal bus drivers, the tuk-tuk is my death wish. Armed with but a map, a pocket camcorder, and a good luck charm, I envision a solitary sojourn across the vast landscape, sprawling cities, and abandoned back roads of...