July 04, 2011
Hello,
Today its two months since we embarked on this EXPEDITION EXTREME or EE. We have covered a considerable part of the planned route and destinations. In my opinion I am doing just fine with respect to the driving schedule I had in my mind before starting from Mumbai but I would be happy to make up about 500 kms!
From here on we were to travel all along the border right up to Baroda. We left Hotel Gorband at 1100 hrs. ‘Gorband’ means a decorated seating arrangement which is made and tied on the back of a camel by the wife when the husband leaves on a journey.
The road passing through the desert was excellent. About a month and a half ago we were travelling through the lush green mountains of North East and today we were in the flat, dry, sandy desert, with small bushes and trees that grow in desert only. The roads there were winding and here the roads were straight like a line drawn on a sheet of paper.
We reached Fatehpur at 1200 hrs and took a right turn. The villages here are small with eight ten huts. We reached Randhava at 1300hrs when the odometer read 15100 kms from base, that is home. I had driven this 15100 kms single handed through all terrains but there was still some more way to go!
We were continuously travelling just along the Indo-Pak border. At 1315hrs reached Hasrani where we had some cool drink and cucumber to eat. We rached Gadara at 1500hrs. This is a small town / big village which is close to the border or shall we say almost at the border. We approached the BSF personnel at the BSF camp for permission to go right up to the border. We were granted the permission and we travelled up to the 78 BSF forward post about 3 / 4 kms away from the camp along with a BSF person. Here we met Mr. Tomar who drove us right up to the actual line of control in a BSF Gypsy. There is a barbed wire fencing about 150 meters from the line of control which is an imaginary line connecting concrete pillars on one side of which is written India and on the other Pakistan. We could see the Pakistani forward post on the other side. BSF personnel are posted at bunkers located along the border. I was very happy to see that fairly good facilities are provided to the soldiers. Drinking water is filtered through RO system. I think I should not write more about this visit. This post is not something like a Wagha Border or a Nathu La which is regularly visited by tourists or shall we say is allowed to be visited by the tourists. I am sure you will understand what I mean. Photography is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. As a matter of fact I think we were lucky to get permission to go up to where we did!
We moved on from here and after crossing Gagaria, Ramsar, Chauhatan and Lilasar, we connected to NH15 at about 1630hrs. Before connecting to the National Highway, though the roads were excellent they were very very narrow too and hence when two vehicles were to cross each other one has to be very careful lest the car should drive in to the sand of the desert on the side of the road that is on the shoulder of the road. There is practically no traffic on the road.
We reached Sanchor just a few kilometers from the Gujarat Border and entered Gujarat at 1830hrs after covering a total distance of 15373 kms from the base. As we crossed in to Gujarat, there was a distinct change in the flora and fauna. The small desert shrubs gave way to small bushes and bigger trees. The land around us was covered with grass instead of just sand as in Rajasthan.
The roads are just excellent in Modiland! Prosperity is palpable. We passed Bhambar, Radhapur, and connected to the four lane double carriage way at 2130hrs. There is solar power park here. After crossing the Rann of Kutch we reached Samkhiali at 2245hrs. We had dinner here and proceeded on our way to Dwarka.
July 05, 2011
I was driving continuously since 1100 hrs yesterday.
At 0100 hrs reached Morbi. The town had activity even at this hour. Crossed Tankara at 0130 hrs and Drol at 0200 hrs. We crossed Jamnagar at 0330 hrs and drove past the Reliance petrochemical complex – just huge!
We reached Dwarka at 0500 hrs. We were now at the other EXTREME of the country – we have travelled from one EXTREME at Kibithu in North East to the other EXTREME at Dwarka!!! Overvelming…..is it not?!
The Dwarkadheesh temple opens for devotees at about 0700 hrs. So we had some tea and waited. Here there is this Dwarkadheesh temple complex in which there is one main temple of Dwarkadheesh, that is Lord Krishna, and as usual, other temples of Rukmani, Balram etc.. No information about the place, the temple is available. Some on told Raju that this temple is 5000 years old but it does not seem so. Also the period of Mahabharata, if I am not wrong, is 5000 years ago so how can one have a Lord Krishna temple here of that time? They show a river(?!) here in which one should take a dip before going to the temple. But this cant be since this place is bang on the shore and one can clearly see the sea brought in like a channel which was being shown as a river! It did not make any sense to me! We prayed at the temple and left for Somnath at 0730 hrs.
Travelling along the shoreline of Gujarat we reached Somnath at 1400 hrs, crossing Porbundar, the birth place of Gandhiji on the way. I have been driving continuously for 27 hours now; few more hours and miles to go before I sleep!
Somnath, a rich temple of Lord Shiva, which, it is said was looted and destroyed several times by invaders like Mohammad Gazni and even Aurangzeb and each time it was rebuilt and attained its glory! Now I have a question here. If Mohammad Gazni, who came from Afganistan. looted this temple then he would have had to cross the entire of Rajasthan to reach this place. So how come that the powerful Rajput kings did not stop / prevent him from coming up to this point? Or is it that he defeated, destroyed, these kings and looted their kingdoms as well? Or were these kings hand in glove with Mohammad Gazni? Somehow I can’t get to believe that Mohammad Gazni looted this temple eleven times. Believe me…..the distance is very very long. It took us 27 hours to reach this place from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan in this modern day in a modern car. The desert can get very tough. Just imagine the logistics for coming all the way from Afganistan with all that army in those ancient times, right through the desert, fighting resistance, if at all offered, from powerful kingdoms on the way. Do you think it is possible?! I don’t think so. It really does not make sense. Any way!
The temple as it stands today was renovated by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. There was no rush of devotees and we could peacefully pray to the Lord. Again no information about the history and / or mythology of the temple was available here.
By now Raju was very hungry and thirsty. He had some chapaties and vegetable here and at 1430 hrs we proceeded on our way to Diu on the way passing Chorwad, the birthplace of Dhirubhai Ambani.
We reached Deu at about 1630hrs and checked in to Rasal Beach Resort.
It had been a long long drive since 1100 hrs yesterday till 1630 hrs today – thirty one and a half hours of continuous driving. Another EXTREME!
We had our dinner and went to bed for the dearly needed rest.
July 06, 2011
Hello!
After a good night’s rest we left Deu. We were now in the last phase of EXPEDITION EXTREME.
Today we drove from Deu to Baroda again taking the route along the coast to the maximum possible that is possible. The distance is well over 425 kms. We reached Baroda at about 19:30hrs.
It was difficult finding a decent hotel in Baroda since several of the places we checked out were running at 100% occupancy.
Finally at about 2100 hrs we found one hotel where we checked in. We had our dinner. I spoke to Veena.
Tomorrow is the last leg of the journey which we commenced on 4th May, 2011. It has already been 63 days since we have been continuously travelling. The whole journey has been absolutely thrilling, educating, enlightening and overwhelming! There have been a lot of takeaways from this trip. May be I will write about them in a couple of days. I will also be writing a sort of a summary.
So bye friends! My eyes are now set on PARIKRAMA – trip around the entire country. Duration – about 5 months; when? – yet to be decided. Any one interested??? I am looking for a good team / crew for this!
Love you….and bye for now!
Wow! it's amazing and really great driving job. Remarkable control and patience.
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