The much awaited legendary road trip finally took-off in February 2017. No doubt, there have been a
lot of dreams about this tour. This one is not just any other journey like the ones i have been doing in
the recent past (Most of them being Solo travel). This is a lot more different.
Every group has some exceptional guys (aka idiots) who cancel the plans in the last minute. I was a
victim of such cases few times in the past. But this is too great a trip to even think of any
cancellations. Because it's a road trip - which we planned to drive all the way from Hubli to Rann of
Kutch and as if that's not enough, we didn't have any basic plan regarding the activities en route like
which places do we go and see, where shall we stay and all that. We just have a car in our hands,
people who love to drive-- What else do you need????
Though our original plan was with 3 people, due to one getting dropped as I said, we two decided to
go ahead- myself and Puneet.
It was on February 4, 2017. We hurriedly left office at around 1430 hrs to home, dropped all our
baggage in the car (which was going to be our home for the next 8 days!) and started towards Karwar
via NH-63. The group was of four people, we both and Puneet's family (his wife Ananya and daughter
Anagha). We reached Karwar by around 2000 hrs, dropped Anagha didi and Ananya at their home.
The place was so nice- calm, peaceful and of course, their smile, hospitality and the lime juice as
well..! After a brief stop there and bidding good bye to their family, we drove north- towards Goa.
Though the initial plan was to stay at Gokarna, we didn't want to go back again. We decided to stay
for the night at Canacona, which is the southern tip of the Goa state. We reached the place at around
2100 hrs and went towards Palolem beach, walked around in the beach for some one hour or so passing time, enjoying the cool breeze and searching for some room to stay the night. We found
some beach huts, but thought of exploring more, so went out and found some stay options on 'Hostel
world'. Since I never tried HW and I thought that this is a perfect moment to try it, we went ahead. It
was Roadhouse Hostel, located near Palolem beach in Canacona and the stay turned out to be a
great one. We loved the place, the surroundings were beautiful, rooms were tidy and also had a living
room- what else would you expect at Rs.500/- per night at the party capital of India??
It was 2300 hrs by the time we checked in and we couldn't find any restaurants open around, probably
because of the Assembly election in progress at Goa on that day. We finally had to satisfy ourselves
with some Tropicana fruit juice--and Yes, this was precisely what we wanted in this trip, Flexibility and adaptability for any conditions of food/weather etc., Coz this is just the beginning and there's lot more to go...!
That's all for the first day. Little did we know that we are going to have one of the best times of our
lives tomorrow.
We woke up the next day at around 0600 hrs. We freshened up and checked out early from the hostel
by about 0730. Both of us were very hungry because of the dinner skipped last night, we started
driving towards Goa, meanwhile searching for some good hotels for breakfast. Our plan was to go to
Old Goa and visit the group of churches which is a UNESCO world heritage site, then to Anjuna
beach and then to the Dil chahta hai fort (that's how we were referring it to and that's precisely how
we found it on the google maps by searching with the name 'dil chahta hai').
We found a Kamat restaurant near Madgao and immediately checked in and relieved ourselves of the
hunger. Then, as per plan, we drove to Old Goa (Velha Goa) and the churches were very busy with a
lot of crowd, the day being Sunday, mass was in progress. We had a look around all the churches,
and i was particularly more interested in the 'Bom Jesus' church, probably due to its mention in 'The
Rozabal Line'. The churches as well as the attached museum were no doubt fabulous, and definitely
give you the feel of having seen what is called as a 'World Heritage Site'.
The next stop was at Mall De Goa, we thought of just going through the mall, may be do some
shopping and have lunch. The mall was good, located on the highway itself and good number of
options to shop, movies, games, food etc,. We had lunch there at the mall's food court. Just because
we wanted to try something different, we ordered the 'tonic juice' and 'Body cleanser' which are some
juices they make using beetroot, carrot etc,. Try it if you want but Don't blame me..!!!!!!
And yes, you should know how it tasted. No doubt they call it the 'Body cleanser'..!
We moved from the mall at around 1415 hrs and went to Anjuna Beach. We just checked in and
found some water sports going on, and did boating and banana ride. It was fun as is the case always
with water sports. From Anjuna beach, we drove down to the fort which is called as 'Chapora fort' (the same 'dil chahta hai' spot). We were at the fort by 1615 hrs and the walk from the parking to the fort top was a very refreshing one. You climb some height, and then get some awesome views of the sea enroute.
Here, we found a guy who was just sitting alone and asked us to take a photo of his in his phone and
after that, we started talking and we came to know that he works with some event management firm
and is from Bangalore and is here on a solo trip. I started sharing my own solo travel experiences and as always, he got amazed by 'em. The small talk was good, his name btw was Sahil. You don't know
how and when you get to meet/ know good people who match with your frequency.
The next morning, we just explored around Lonavala, had breakfast at some South Indian restaurant,
visited some cave temples and then after purchasing some 'Lonavala chikki', headed further north.
We were in Mumbai by afternoon where I briefed a small post on facebook about the trip progress.
The plan was to go to Daman, visit Gouri aunty (I met her in train during one of my journeys when i
was travelling from Somnath). I called and informed her about the visit, she welcomed and was happy on hearing about my visit. We reached Daman at about 1830 hours, it was Moti Daman where as her house was located at Nani Daman. We had to struggle for a while in locating the address, but we finally reached her home after about an hour. She treated us very nicely, even I myself was
overwhelmed at her response. We spoke about a lot of things, she was telling about me to Puneet,
then she asked us to freshen up and offered us the 'semiya upma' she prepared for us. Nowhere
there was a feeling that i am meeting her only for the second time and that she's absolutely nobody to
me. She also offered the sweets she brought for us. She suggested us some nice places in and
around that place, for visiting the next day- Daman fort, light house and Silvassa, some 40 KM away.
After spending for about 2 hours at her place, we bid good bye to her and checked in some hotel
nearby.
We woke up, had the hotel's buffet breakfast and visited the beach nearby- Jampore beach, South
Daman. After having a look at both the light houses, the fort and the ferry ghat, we headed to go to
Silvassa.
Enroute to Silvassa, we found a board directing towards a lion sanctuary (Vasona lion sanctuary), we
took that diversion and reached the sanctuary and they were offering safari in a vehicle which is just a
short ride for 30 min, where they take in and with some halts enroute, show the lions and drive back.
We took the safari and saw the lions, that was a close view, we enjoyed it.
We headed to Silvassa then, which is not a great place by itself. It looked like somewhat commercial
place. There's a hilly terrain just next to Silvassa, where the backwaters of Daman Ganga reservoir
(built on the Daman Ganga river) are located, and you also get to see some beautiful views of the
backwaters. We then reached the backwaters spot where we took a boat and crossed the backwaters
and reached a spot- sort of an island but not exactly. There was not much activity, just one hotel, few
guest houses and not much people. But the place and the boat ride were pretty amazing. We spent
there about an hour and took the boat back and started from that place by afternoon.
The original plan was to reach Vadodara and stay there for the night. In fact, we even booked our
refinery guest house located there. But due to the highway traffic getting struck at the Vadodara
outskirts for hours together, it was 2230 by the time we entered the city against our expected time of
1930. So, we decided not to stop and go ahead with the journey, go on slowly and reach Kutch
directly.
That was a slightly risky decision, but we decided that one would drive, while the other would have
some rest. The roads were bad for some stretches, but overall it was ok.
We drove all night and this was the first time we did so, during the entire trip. We reached the
destination early in the morning around 0500 hrs and the temperature outside was going as low as 2
deg C..!
After arriving at Dhordo in the early morning at about 0500 hrs and resting for a while in the car itself, we went into the tent city and checked into the reception. Slowly, the environment started getting more and more vibrant. We were not able to check-in immediately as the original check-in and checkout times are 1200 and 1030 and our tent was not available. But the staff was kind enough to nicely talk to us and try for an early check-in. Finally we got the tent at around 1130 hrs. It was a very nice setup, groups of tents setup in different clusters in a round manner. Ours was J27 and there was a guide for each cluster as well who were very nice and gave us a warm welcome.
We freshened up and had a hot and refreshing lunch at the dining hall. The food was great, as
expected at any Gujarati food zone. We roamed around for a while after lunch, doing nothing, just
exploring around the tent city. In the evening, there was a trip scheduled to the White Rann and
sunset was to be spent there in the desert.
We started early from the tent by 1630 hrs, as the seating in the camel carts was on FCFS basis and
they were limited in numbers and the remaining would be going by bus. We got one cart and the ride
was good. I would not miss this, when i come here again. The view of the White Rann was more than
amazing, the white salt floor spread till the horizon...! We walked for a long distance there, enjoying
the views. This place definitely deserves a next visit, that too with the loved ones.
Now, as per the tour package, we had a scheduled visit to Kaladungar which would start at 1430 hrs.
We decided to go ahead on our own to the Indo-Pak border and then try to come back by 1430 so
that we can join the package visit also.
After doing some enquiry locally and at the reception, we found a guy at the reception who told us that
he can arrange to get us the border passes which is for free but our vehicle being i20 can't go on that
road, only 4-wheel drive vehicle can be driven. So, he informed us that he could arrange a vehicle at
Rs7,000/-
We just thought of doing some further enquiries and drove for about some 3 KM from the tent city and
found the office '136 BN BSF (Dhordo)' where we were able to get the passes immediately without
any delay and were told that the road is quite good and that you can drive any vehicle and that's not a
problem.
Wonder, how this kind of idiots can be present at this kind of a festival.
Further on, we even told the BSF jawan regarding this idiot and he was good enough to respond to
that saying they should take some measure to control this kind of things in the event and even asking
me to give a photo of that guy.
Anyways, we got our passes, all set and were ready to start to the border by 1100 hrs.
We drove via the White Rann-Khavda road and a few KMs after Khavda, we reached the place called
'India Bridge' where we were supposed to deposit all electronic devices. We deposited, completed the
entry formalities and when about to started, a jawan came to us and asked whether we could take him
with us. We welcomed him to join us and in fact we were more happy that he's along with us, just like
that-- he's a jawaan.!
After starting, we had a conversation where in he started sharing few things. He was Sanjay Kumar
from Rajasthan. He's not a BSF jawan as I thought earlier, but he's from the Indian Army. Though his
original posting is at Pune, they come here once in a while to Kutch border on some intelligence
report work. We had to stop at few more BSF check posts ahead, where we had to make the entry in
their registers.
The route after the place called 'Chaiyamore post' is something you just can't explain and of course
can't even shoot as we don't have any phones/cameras..!!
There were salt lakes here and there, and remaining places were full of salty sands, which is an
altogether different feeling. You don't find anything else in that road of almost 40KM.
Around 1200 hrs, we reached a junction from where the border is 3KM on one side and other road
goes to a Hanuman mandir which is some 1.5 KMs away. The jawan said he'd get down at the mandir
where his detainment is situated and also he would meet us the other BSF jawan who could assist us
in reaching the border. Within a few minutes, we reached the mandir where a group of elderly were
singing hanuman chalisa in the mandir. There, the army jawan introduced us the other guy, Pritam
Singh who is with the BSF and working in the same unit. He was also very welcoming, told us to take the darshan first and then he'd be arranging to take us to the border. The army jawan then bid good bye to us and proceeded to his detainment. We took the darshan first, had some Prasadam and then went back to the jawan, excited about visiting the border. It was really a great disappointment to us when the jawan told that his boss has rejected his request to take us to the border. We requested him for some time but this is what he said, 'Yaar, kya karu, mera bhi bahut mann hai tum logo ko leke
chalna ka, par boss hai vo mera, mana kiya hai vo mere ko.. tum log tho chale jaoge, vo mujhe
katega, majhbhuri hai yaar mera, samajhlena....'. It could be understood from his tone that he himself
regretted for not being able to take us to the border and even i know how important it is, following and sticking to the protocols in the army and following your superior officer's order is one of the most
important protocol. Even though we understood his helplessness and his concern for us as well and
also that our visiting the border is now almost not possible, I was not willing to give up. I started talking to him in a very pitiable tone saying that 'We have come driving ourselves for some 2200 KMs to reach this place and we dreamt of visiting the border. If we could just go and come back in a
minute..!!'. It couldn't work, the jawan was also getting more and more disappointed regarding his
helplessness to help us. He just walked along with us for some distance and showed the border from
a distant point and then said us, 'Tum log itna dur se aye ho, shaukh tho tumara pura nai kar paya hu,
chalo, chai tho pilatha hu tumko' and took us to their residence. We met some other jawans also who
smiled and greeted us warmly, one of them was taking his lunch and offered us to have it. We softly
denied we're not hungry and then he himself declared that it's not easy for us to have their food. may
be true.!!
The guy then went to the kitchen, prepared some tea for us, and also offered snacks and biscuits.
The tea was good and while we were having the tea, he joined us and had his lunch. He was talking
about a lot of things, asking about our lives, relations and all and was sharing his experiences with the
army which he joined back in 1988'.OMG, that was 4 years before my birth..! He said us, 'If you want
to visit the border, go to Wagah border and see, this is nothing. You get a pride looking at the Wagah
border' and all that. He had his lunch and washed all the utensils. We were just thinking of pushing off from there when he was talking and we couldn't just leave. Then after completing his job, he took us to the other room where he stays, he showed us his room, then came the ultimate unexpected
thing.... he took out his gun.. 'my god, it was a machine gun which can hold 35 bullets, he showed us
the bullets also and demonstrated us how to hold it, how to use it, replacing the bullets etc,. That was
not at all expected by us and we were greatly thrilled by what all we saw there. It seemed like he
wanted to compensate the disappointment he had created to us few minutes back by doing this and
he succeeded very well in doing that. We thanked him for his kindness, hospitality and the surprise. If
it's about visiting the border, Yes we may visit some other time also, but meeting a jawan like that, I
don't think that can happen so often..!! We felt very contented even though we were not able to see
what we wanted. In fact, we were more satisfied about meeting this jawan, thanks to him..! Then he
again made sure we are going back happily, we reiterated thanking him for everything and bid a good
bye to him with a hug and started off from that place. It was 1300 hrs by the time we started.
We drove back via the same route and were back at the tent city by 1415 hrs, had our lunch and
joined the group for the scheduled Kala Dungar trip. We started by 1440 hrs. Enroute, we stopped at
a small village called 'Ludiya', also known as Gandhi un gaam meaning the village of Gandhi. The
village was totally destroyed during the 2001 Bhuj earthquake after which it was adopted by a trust
based in Ahmedabad and was reconstructed to its original form and hence the new name. Gents from
this place are experts in wood carving' they make different kinds of articles with wood and ladies do
embroidery work on various things like handbags, dresses, shawls, foot wear etc,. We did some
shopping and visited the local households who warmly welcomed us and were very keen in showing
us their work. It was brief halt of about 30 min. and then we again proceeded further to the Kala
Dungar. I was initially not so excited about this one, as i could understand that it was just a hill known as Kala Dungar (Black Hill) for some reason, and that it is the highest point of the Kutch region' that's all.. I was right in saying so, but what i missed out was the view of the Rann of Kutch lake from the top of the hill and in fact a 360 degree view of the entire Kutch region. Damn, the place and the view from the top were so beautiful...this moment is definitely one of the most memorable and valuable in the whole trip.
Kala Dungar is a very big hill spread over a very large area and with a chain of mountains. We
trekked for a while and got some very beautiful views of the lake and the sun as well. We stayed there
till sunset which was at 1848 hrs and then started back to the tent city.
We reached back by around 2000 hrs and rested for a while before dinner as our plan was to go the
desert after dinner to enjoy the full moon view in the desert. We went to take dinner by 2130 hrs
where we met a couple of old ladies who were from Mumbai and started having a random
conversation. Slowly, it turned out to be a long one, we talked about various things starting from they
getting amazed when we said we're from IndianOil (which never ceases to happen) and a lot of things
following. We left for the desert at 1100 hrs by our own vehicle and carried the guitar and then
recorded a few songs at the full moon desert which was an awesome experience. I will definitely not
stop doing this in future, it felt amazing doing so. A group of random people joined us when we were
singing and playing guitar and all that.—it was a great one.
We came back to the tent only after midnight and I was just thinking about all the different places and
experiences we have gone through during the last one week. And finally, the legendary road trip has
come to an end pending the drive back home.!!
Though we initially planned about visiting any place like Dholavira, Wild life sanctuary etc., during the return trip, because of the time limitation and our own tiredness, we didn't stop for any visit enroute.
We came back by the same route without any night halt and driving alternately. The route was the
same.
White Rann-->Bhuj-->Ahmedabad-->Vadodara-->Surat-->Vapi-->Mumbai-->Pune-->Satara--
>Kolhapur-->Belgaum, It was 0900 hrs by the time we reached Belgaum and from there, we diverted
from the NH-4 and went via Desur, Joida and Anshi which was the route to Karwar. This place,
surprisingly to me, had some mind-blowing views of the Kali river back waters located on the Supa
Reservoir. That was really a surprise to me, as we had earlier visited the same place from the other
side but couldn't get entry in to the dam spot and i never located this place earlier. This place also is a
must visit some time later.
We reached Karwar by 1400 hrs, where we had lunch at Anagha Didi's home and started from there
by 1500- same batch of 4 people.
We reached Hubli around 1900 hrs.
Thus ended the One-of-its-kind road trip, leaving us with loads and loads of memories. This is what I
like to truly call as my assets....
lot of dreams about this tour. This one is not just any other journey like the ones i have been doing in
the recent past (Most of them being Solo travel). This is a lot more different.
Every group has some exceptional guys (aka idiots) who cancel the plans in the last minute. I was a
victim of such cases few times in the past. But this is too great a trip to even think of any
cancellations. Because it's a road trip - which we planned to drive all the way from Hubli to Rann of
Kutch and as if that's not enough, we didn't have any basic plan regarding the activities en route like
which places do we go and see, where shall we stay and all that. We just have a car in our hands,
people who love to drive-- What else do you need????
Though our original plan was with 3 people, due to one getting dropped as I said, we two decided to
go ahead- myself and Puneet.
It was on February 4, 2017. We hurriedly left office at around 1430 hrs to home, dropped all our
baggage in the car (which was going to be our home for the next 8 days!) and started towards Karwar
via NH-63. The group was of four people, we both and Puneet's family (his wife Ananya and daughter
Anagha). We reached Karwar by around 2000 hrs, dropped Anagha didi and Ananya at their home.
The place was so nice- calm, peaceful and of course, their smile, hospitality and the lime juice as
well..! After a brief stop there and bidding good bye to their family, we drove north- towards Goa.
Though the initial plan was to stay at Gokarna, we didn't want to go back again. We decided to stay
for the night at Canacona, which is the southern tip of the Goa state. We reached the place at around
2100 hrs and went towards Palolem beach, walked around in the beach for some one hour or so passing time, enjoying the cool breeze and searching for some room to stay the night. We found
some beach huts, but thought of exploring more, so went out and found some stay options on 'Hostel
world'. Since I never tried HW and I thought that this is a perfect moment to try it, we went ahead. It
was Roadhouse Hostel, located near Palolem beach in Canacona and the stay turned out to be a
great one. We loved the place, the surroundings were beautiful, rooms were tidy and also had a living
room- what else would you expect at Rs.500/- per night at the party capital of India??
It was 2300 hrs by the time we checked in and we couldn't find any restaurants open around, probably
because of the Assembly election in progress at Goa on that day. We finally had to satisfy ourselves
with some Tropicana fruit juice--and Yes, this was precisely what we wanted in this trip, Flexibility and adaptability for any conditions of food/weather etc., Coz this is just the beginning and there's lot more to go...!
That's all for the first day. Little did we know that we are going to have one of the best times of our
lives tomorrow.
We woke up the next day at around 0600 hrs. We freshened up and checked out early from the hostel
by about 0730. Both of us were very hungry because of the dinner skipped last night, we started
driving towards Goa, meanwhile searching for some good hotels for breakfast. Our plan was to go to
Old Goa and visit the group of churches which is a UNESCO world heritage site, then to Anjuna
beach and then to the Dil chahta hai fort (that's how we were referring it to and that's precisely how
we found it on the google maps by searching with the name 'dil chahta hai').
We found a Kamat restaurant near Madgao and immediately checked in and relieved ourselves of the
hunger. Then, as per plan, we drove to Old Goa (Velha Goa) and the churches were very busy with a
lot of crowd, the day being Sunday, mass was in progress. We had a look around all the churches,
and i was particularly more interested in the 'Bom Jesus' church, probably due to its mention in 'The
Rozabal Line'. The churches as well as the attached museum were no doubt fabulous, and definitely
give you the feel of having seen what is called as a 'World Heritage Site'.
The next stop was at Mall De Goa, we thought of just going through the mall, may be do some
shopping and have lunch. The mall was good, located on the highway itself and good number of
options to shop, movies, games, food etc,. We had lunch there at the mall's food court. Just because
we wanted to try something different, we ordered the 'tonic juice' and 'Body cleanser' which are some
juices they make using beetroot, carrot etc,. Try it if you want but Don't blame me..!!!!!!
And yes, you should know how it tasted. No doubt they call it the 'Body cleanser'..!
We moved from the mall at around 1415 hrs and went to Anjuna Beach. We just checked in and
found some water sports going on, and did boating and banana ride. It was fun as is the case always
with water sports. From Anjuna beach, we drove down to the fort which is called as 'Chapora fort' (the same 'dil chahta hai' spot). We were at the fort by 1615 hrs and the walk from the parking to the fort top was a very refreshing one. You climb some height, and then get some awesome views of the sea enroute.
Here, we found a guy who was just sitting alone and asked us to take a photo of his in his phone and
after that, we started talking and we came to know that he works with some event management firm
and is from Bangalore and is here on a solo trip. I started sharing my own solo travel experiences and as always, he got amazed by 'em. The small talk was good, his name btw was Sahil. You don't know
how and when you get to meet/ know good people who match with your frequency.
After bidding good bye with Sahil, we moved from there at around 1800 hrs and we decided to reach
Malvan and stay the night there and try Scuba diving, dolphin watching and other activities. This is
when I was checking out for places around Malvan in the maps and found this interesting place called
'Devbag', which is some 15 KM south of Malvan but has no direct access from the south side. One
has to go to Malvan and come back south to reach this place. Also, there was this hotel called
'Mahalaxmi Beach Resort', which was situated exactly at the end point and was also having good
reviews, so we thought we'd give it a try.
We drove towards Malvan and then the road from Malvan to Devbag was bad. Devbag is a very small
village in the Malvan taluk of Sindhudurg Dist. of Maharashtra and the road was just something you
would expect in any other small village in an Indian district. It was close to 2200 hrs by the time we
reached the hotel. The hotel staff was very friendly, we had a warm welcome, then we freshened
ourselves up and had dinner. We just enquired with the hotel staff and found that there is no
restriction to move around in the beach behind the hotel in the night. We finished our dinner, asked for a match box from the hotel staff which they arranged (we thought of trying our own camp fire in the beach) and were out in the beach by about 2300 hrs. Then we started arranging things randomly,
whatever we could find out there like wood, plants, cut trees etc., so that we could start a fire. The
small random thought we had, turned out to be much better than what we were having in mind. We
enjoyed the camp fire, that too- our own customised camp fire (thats's how I'd like to call this one). It
was a unique experience, being yourselves in the beach without any disturbance, and then arranging
a campfire on your own, of your own...!
We were there in the beach up to around 2350 and then decided to have some rest to face yet
another adventurous day.
I woke up at around 0630 and such a pleasant feeling it was-- with a cool breeze passing through my
face and with the view of the sea from the window
decided to take a walk in the beach. Puneet also joined me, we just roamed around the place, took
some photos of the previous night's campfire. The place behind the hotel is actually like a dead end
where the land mass ends at one point and then you have water on all the three sides, there's a river
(River Karli) joining the sea at that point which creates that amazing scenery and an island located on
the other side (Bhogwe beach).
There's a hill located on the other side of the water mass ahead of us, on which some resorts seemed
to be located and because of that hill, the sun rise can be seen from this place only at late in the
morning. On this day, we were able to witness the sunrise at 0730 hrs and my wish of sunrise watch
got fulfilled in spite of the late and lazy wake up..:-).
We then had a talk with few localities and came to know that the water is not good enough to carry
out scuba diving- that there is a lot of disturbances in the waters and you won't get to see much in the
dive. The Devbag guys were good and also instructed us that you won't get all this info at Malvan-
People would simply take you inside, show you whatever is visible and then loot your money. The
dolphin watch also was not of much purpose at this time. We anyway decided to go with parasailing
and it was great, just like the one we had last time in Goa.
We checked out and moved from the hotel by 1130 hrs and moved towards Malvan, where we
enquired about scuba diving and as said by the Devbag guys, they simply told us that it's available
and only on further enquiry regarding the visibility, they came out saying there are slight disturbances, it may not be very clear and all....!!
We decided to visit the Sindhudurg fort, which is accessible only by boat. It's a magnificent fort built by Chatrapati Shivaji, the boat ride of about 20 min was also worthy. The fort has a wall of around 2m width which lets you have some amazing sea views.
Nothing much was there at this place, we moved back from the fort to Malvan by 1330 hrs and started driving further.
We found a nice restaurant enroute and had a good refreshing lunch there. I was back in track after
topping up my stomach, then we took a diversion from the coastal highway at a point which would
take us to connect to the NH-4 (GQ) via a Maharashtra SH road.
The road had a huge ghat section, with unexpectedly steep curves and reaching a great elevation, the
views in between were very good.
We found ourselves at Kolhapur by evening where we connected to the GQ. We stopped at some pan
shop on the highway and had some coffee where Puneet took over the wheel and i lied down for
some rest.
After a good sleep, I got up and we were somewhere close to Pune by then, where i took over and
joined from the NH-4 to the expressway.
The drive on the Mumbai-Pune expressway is something I'd die for to do again--Such an amazing
experience. We took the diversion there and headed to Lonavala where we found a place called
Ferrari resort to stay the night. It was 2355 by the time we booked the hotel in MMT and we were just able to check-in, that was close and lucky. The place was nice, we rested without any activity in the night.
The next morning, we just explored around Lonavala, had breakfast at some South Indian restaurant,
visited some cave temples and then after purchasing some 'Lonavala chikki', headed further north.
We were in Mumbai by afternoon where I briefed a small post on facebook about the trip progress.
The plan was to go to Daman, visit Gouri aunty (I met her in train during one of my journeys when i
was travelling from Somnath). I called and informed her about the visit, she welcomed and was happy on hearing about my visit. We reached Daman at about 1830 hours, it was Moti Daman where as her house was located at Nani Daman. We had to struggle for a while in locating the address, but we finally reached her home after about an hour. She treated us very nicely, even I myself was
overwhelmed at her response. We spoke about a lot of things, she was telling about me to Puneet,
then she asked us to freshen up and offered us the 'semiya upma' she prepared for us. Nowhere
there was a feeling that i am meeting her only for the second time and that she's absolutely nobody to
me. She also offered the sweets she brought for us. She suggested us some nice places in and
around that place, for visiting the next day- Daman fort, light house and Silvassa, some 40 KM away.
After spending for about 2 hours at her place, we bid good bye to her and checked in some hotel
nearby.
Daman. After having a look at both the light houses, the fort and the ferry ghat, we headed to go to
Silvassa.
Enroute to Silvassa, we found a board directing towards a lion sanctuary (Vasona lion sanctuary), we
took that diversion and reached the sanctuary and they were offering safari in a vehicle which is just a
short ride for 30 min, where they take in and with some halts enroute, show the lions and drive back.
We took the safari and saw the lions, that was a close view, we enjoyed it.
place. There's a hilly terrain just next to Silvassa, where the backwaters of Daman Ganga reservoir
(built on the Daman Ganga river) are located, and you also get to see some beautiful views of the
backwaters. We then reached the backwaters spot where we took a boat and crossed the backwaters
and reached a spot- sort of an island but not exactly. There was not much activity, just one hotel, few
guest houses and not much people. But the place and the boat ride were pretty amazing. We spent
there about an hour and took the boat back and started from that place by afternoon.
refinery guest house located there. But due to the highway traffic getting struck at the Vadodara
outskirts for hours together, it was 2230 by the time we entered the city against our expected time of
1930. So, we decided not to stop and go ahead with the journey, go on slowly and reach Kutch
directly.
That was a slightly risky decision, but we decided that one would drive, while the other would have
some rest. The roads were bad for some stretches, but overall it was ok.
We drove all night and this was the first time we did so, during the entire trip. We reached the
destination early in the morning around 0500 hrs and the temperature outside was going as low as 2
deg C..!
A reason to smile. Isn’t it????
Crossing the 23.5 deg N latitude
We couldn't find any clue where we had to check in, what's around that place etc,. And also we were
tired. So we just slept in the car for a while.
expected at any Gujarati food zone. We roamed around for a while after lunch, doing nothing, just
exploring around the tent city. In the evening, there was a trip scheduled to the White Rann and
sunset was to be spent there in the desert.
We started early from the tent by 1630 hrs, as the seating in the camel carts was on FCFS basis and
they were limited in numbers and the remaining would be going by bus. We got one cart and the ride
was good. I would not miss this, when i come here again. The view of the White Rann was more than
amazing, the white salt floor spread till the horizon...! We walked for a long distance there, enjoying
the views. This place definitely deserves a next visit, that too with the loved ones.
We started back after sunset by about 1900 hrs and went by walk, after having a bath, had our dinner
and again roamed around a while and slept by 2300 hrs.
February 9, 2017 was the only day in the whole trip where we did not drive the vehicle at all.
I got up in the morning by 0600 hrs. We were scheduled for a visit to the White Rann to witness the
grandeur of the sunrise. As a rare moment, I felt and decided that we will not go to the trip due to
various things- One, it was too cold in the morning and we wanted to retain more energy levels with
us, as we were planning to visit the Indo-Pak border today itself and Two, yesterday was the only day
which we spent without any driving in the whole trip and so maybe the body demanded a slight
continuation of the rest that it suddenly got.! So, we continued our rest for a little while and were ready by 0900 hrs. We took a photo of the empty bed where poor Tarun would have spent had he not
cancelled the trip. We took our breakfast- One thing I must reiterate in this trip is the food- it was so
delicious that if I decide to come to this utsav again in the future, food would be one reason which
doesn't happen so often with me.
We had a delicious breakfast and were out by 0930. We reached the reception where a group of
localities were sitting and playing various percussion and other instruments. I thought of trying some
and take few photos along, they were kind enough not just to offer the seat, but one of them
voluntarily tied the turban on my head, which is the local culture. Gives a perfect Gujrati wali look..!!
Isn’t it ??
We decided to go ahead on our own to the Indo-Pak border and then try to come back by 1430 so
that we can join the package visit also.
After doing some enquiry locally and at the reception, we found a guy at the reception who told us that
he can arrange to get us the border passes which is for free but our vehicle being i20 can't go on that
road, only 4-wheel drive vehicle can be driven. So, he informed us that he could arrange a vehicle at
Rs7,000/-
We just thought of doing some further enquiries and drove for about some 3 KM from the tent city and
found the office '136 BN BSF (Dhordo)' where we were able to get the passes immediately without
any delay and were told that the road is quite good and that you can drive any vehicle and that's not a
problem.
Wonder, how this kind of idiots can be present at this kind of a festival.
Further on, we even told the BSF jawan regarding this idiot and he was good enough to respond to
that saying they should take some measure to control this kind of things in the event and even asking
me to give a photo of that guy.
Anyways, we got our passes, all set and were ready to start to the border by 1100 hrs.
We drove via the White Rann-Khavda road and a few KMs after Khavda, we reached the place called
'India Bridge' where we were supposed to deposit all electronic devices. We deposited, completed the
entry formalities and when about to started, a jawan came to us and asked whether we could take him
with us. We welcomed him to join us and in fact we were more happy that he's along with us, just like
that-- he's a jawaan.!
After starting, we had a conversation where in he started sharing few things. He was Sanjay Kumar
from Rajasthan. He's not a BSF jawan as I thought earlier, but he's from the Indian Army. Though his
original posting is at Pune, they come here once in a while to Kutch border on some intelligence
report work. We had to stop at few more BSF check posts ahead, where we had to make the entry in
their registers.
The route after the place called 'Chaiyamore post' is something you just can't explain and of course
can't even shoot as we don't have any phones/cameras..!!
There were salt lakes here and there, and remaining places were full of salty sands, which is an
altogether different feeling. You don't find anything else in that road of almost 40KM.
Around 1200 hrs, we reached a junction from where the border is 3KM on one side and other road
goes to a Hanuman mandir which is some 1.5 KMs away. The jawan said he'd get down at the mandir
where his detainment is situated and also he would meet us the other BSF jawan who could assist us
in reaching the border. Within a few minutes, we reached the mandir where a group of elderly were
singing hanuman chalisa in the mandir. There, the army jawan introduced us the other guy, Pritam
Singh who is with the BSF and working in the same unit. He was also very welcoming, told us to take the darshan first and then he'd be arranging to take us to the border. The army jawan then bid good bye to us and proceeded to his detainment. We took the darshan first, had some Prasadam and then went back to the jawan, excited about visiting the border. It was really a great disappointment to us when the jawan told that his boss has rejected his request to take us to the border. We requested him for some time but this is what he said, 'Yaar, kya karu, mera bhi bahut mann hai tum logo ko leke
chalna ka, par boss hai vo mera, mana kiya hai vo mere ko.. tum log tho chale jaoge, vo mujhe
katega, majhbhuri hai yaar mera, samajhlena....'. It could be understood from his tone that he himself
regretted for not being able to take us to the border and even i know how important it is, following and sticking to the protocols in the army and following your superior officer's order is one of the most
important protocol. Even though we understood his helplessness and his concern for us as well and
also that our visiting the border is now almost not possible, I was not willing to give up. I started talking to him in a very pitiable tone saying that 'We have come driving ourselves for some 2200 KMs to reach this place and we dreamt of visiting the border. If we could just go and come back in a
minute..!!'. It couldn't work, the jawan was also getting more and more disappointed regarding his
helplessness to help us. He just walked along with us for some distance and showed the border from
a distant point and then said us, 'Tum log itna dur se aye ho, shaukh tho tumara pura nai kar paya hu,
chalo, chai tho pilatha hu tumko' and took us to their residence. We met some other jawans also who
smiled and greeted us warmly, one of them was taking his lunch and offered us to have it. We softly
denied we're not hungry and then he himself declared that it's not easy for us to have their food. may
be true.!!
The guy then went to the kitchen, prepared some tea for us, and also offered snacks and biscuits.
The tea was good and while we were having the tea, he joined us and had his lunch. He was talking
about a lot of things, asking about our lives, relations and all and was sharing his experiences with the
army which he joined back in 1988'.OMG, that was 4 years before my birth..! He said us, 'If you want
to visit the border, go to Wagah border and see, this is nothing. You get a pride looking at the Wagah
border' and all that. He had his lunch and washed all the utensils. We were just thinking of pushing off from there when he was talking and we couldn't just leave. Then after completing his job, he took us to the other room where he stays, he showed us his room, then came the ultimate unexpected
thing.... he took out his gun.. 'my god, it was a machine gun which can hold 35 bullets, he showed us
the bullets also and demonstrated us how to hold it, how to use it, replacing the bullets etc,. That was
not at all expected by us and we were greatly thrilled by what all we saw there. It seemed like he
wanted to compensate the disappointment he had created to us few minutes back by doing this and
he succeeded very well in doing that. We thanked him for his kindness, hospitality and the surprise. If
it's about visiting the border, Yes we may visit some other time also, but meeting a jawan like that, I
don't think that can happen so often..!! We felt very contented even though we were not able to see
what we wanted. In fact, we were more satisfied about meeting this jawan, thanks to him..! Then he
again made sure we are going back happily, we reiterated thanking him for everything and bid a good
bye to him with a hug and started off from that place. It was 1300 hrs by the time we started.
We drove back via the same route and were back at the tent city by 1415 hrs, had our lunch and
joined the group for the scheduled Kala Dungar trip. We started by 1440 hrs. Enroute, we stopped at
a small village called 'Ludiya', also known as Gandhi un gaam meaning the village of Gandhi. The
village was totally destroyed during the 2001 Bhuj earthquake after which it was adopted by a trust
based in Ahmedabad and was reconstructed to its original form and hence the new name. Gents from
this place are experts in wood carving' they make different kinds of articles with wood and ladies do
embroidery work on various things like handbags, dresses, shawls, foot wear etc,. We did some
shopping and visited the local households who warmly welcomed us and were very keen in showing
us their work. It was brief halt of about 30 min. and then we again proceeded further to the Kala
Dungar. I was initially not so excited about this one, as i could understand that it was just a hill known as Kala Dungar (Black Hill) for some reason, and that it is the highest point of the Kutch region' that's all.. I was right in saying so, but what i missed out was the view of the Rann of Kutch lake from the top of the hill and in fact a 360 degree view of the entire Kutch region. Damn, the place and the view from the top were so beautiful...this moment is definitely one of the most memorable and valuable in the whole trip.
Kala Dungar is a very big hill spread over a very large area and with a chain of mountains. We
trekked for a while and got some very beautiful views of the lake and the sun as well. We stayed there
till sunset which was at 1848 hrs and then started back to the tent city.
We reached back by around 2000 hrs and rested for a while before dinner as our plan was to go the
desert after dinner to enjoy the full moon view in the desert. We went to take dinner by 2130 hrs
where we met a couple of old ladies who were from Mumbai and started having a random
conversation. Slowly, it turned out to be a long one, we talked about various things starting from they
getting amazed when we said we're from IndianOil (which never ceases to happen) and a lot of things
following. We left for the desert at 1100 hrs by our own vehicle and carried the guitar and then
recorded a few songs at the full moon desert which was an awesome experience. I will definitely not
stop doing this in future, it felt amazing doing so. A group of random people joined us when we were
singing and playing guitar and all that.—it was a great one.
We came back to the tent only after midnight and I was just thinking about all the different places and
experiences we have gone through during the last one week. And finally, the legendary road trip has
come to an end pending the drive back home.!!
Though we initially planned about visiting any place like Dholavira, Wild life sanctuary etc., during the return trip, because of the time limitation and our own tiredness, we didn't stop for any visit enroute.
We came back by the same route without any night halt and driving alternately. The route was the
same.
White Rann-->Bhuj-->Ahmedabad-->Vadodara-->Surat-->Vapi-->Mumbai-->Pune-->Satara--
>Kolhapur-->Belgaum, It was 0900 hrs by the time we reached Belgaum and from there, we diverted
from the NH-4 and went via Desur, Joida and Anshi which was the route to Karwar. This place,
surprisingly to me, had some mind-blowing views of the Kali river back waters located on the Supa
Reservoir. That was really a surprise to me, as we had earlier visited the same place from the other
side but couldn't get entry in to the dam spot and i never located this place earlier. This place also is a
must visit some time later.
We reached Karwar by 1400 hrs, where we had lunch at Anagha Didi's home and started from there
by 1500- same batch of 4 people.
A perfect ending pic for a perfect trip..
Thus ended the One-of-its-kind road trip, leaving us with loads and loads of memories. This is what I
like to truly call as my assets....
