Untethered: A Woman’s Search for Self on the Edge of India––A Travel Memoir

A bold and honest memoir of a woman’s solo, 7,000-mile, five-month motorcycle journey on the edge of India, seeking to discover her true self.

The end of an editorial position with a news service in New Delhi led to the beginning of an impossible journey for C. L. Stambush, and a last chance to break free from a confining identity.

As a girl, she hugged the wall of her grade school hall, afraid of what might happen if she let go; now she clings to a Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle in a quest to prove to herself she “can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone” she wants.

Never having ridden a motorcycle before, she buys a Bullet and names it Kali after the badass Hindu goddess of rebirth, hoping to gain some of her grrrr. Stambush plans to discover the fifty-one Hindu shakti peetha temples, containing pieces of the goddess—lips, wrists, heart—sacred sites believed to possess the power to transform, in an attempt to rewrite her persona.

Along the way she is reshaped as she encounters friendly families and ominous men, confronts culture clashes, hijras, and bandits, experiences monsoons, scorching deserts, and homicidal drivers, crashing her motorcycle and learning about herself as she loses her camera, her way, and her self-control—crossing lines she never imagined possible.

The suspenseful and honest prose of Untethered: A Woman's Search for Self on the Edge of India––A Travel Memoir immerses readers in India’s diverse culture while vividly conveying the harrowing and triumphant journey of a woman alone, in a world where women don’t travel alone, discovering her true grit.