Touring Gujarat

A tour of six days... destination Gujarat, extended to Diu. We reached Ahmedabad via Rajdhani at a comfortable time, without having to wake up at wee hours,  a bliss!!

Day I   After lunch a visit to the Sabarmati Ashram...though a place too historical to be commented upon, but somehow the ' feeling' i was anticipating shunned me..but one visit might be too short to judge.

Sabarmati Ashram

Evening Prayer

Kankaria Lake

We were caught between Kankaria Lake and Akshar Dham...and after different briefings settled for the former. Well a great favourite with the locals though we found nothing much to do and took a ride in the train around the lake

                                                  Dinner at Govardhan Thaal

Definitely a must visit place to enjoy the ambience and feel of Gujarati cuisine , Rajdhani in Delhi would be the long lost twin!! But be prepared for the most...and best enjoyed with an empty stomach!!

Day II    

Again after a lot of debate and at my insistence we set for Diu, the unexpected twist in the journey for our otherwise planned itinerary. Misled by all it was a whopping 450 km from Ahmedabad with dilapidated roads after Rajkot, a shorter route is available via Bhavnagar...some say  road is worse. So day two was all about sitting in the car around ten hours of drive..to the point it led us believe Diu was a wrong choice. 

On the way to Diu

I guess the name of on the way stop for snacks was Limbdi...where i was absolutely delighted by the papdis and mirchis and i was hell bent on stopping at the same place while driving back to Ahmedabad and we did!! Only if the loos could be a bit cleaner...but Indian public utility systems.... a long long way to go.

Kathiwadi Thali.... Famous in these parts of Gujarat..

Diu wedding.. the  riding bride and groom 

Day III

Sea gives me an extra coat of enthusiasm and hence i was up the next day morning and awoke husband for morning exploration of the sea...morning gives sea  a different colour and a virginity...asking to be explored.

Nagoa beach 

Diu Fort

Sea food was a disappointment at least in the resort we stayed and prawns served were not fresh and well cooked. We consumed lots of coconut water as obvious and at a nice price. Diu Fort was interesting.. with history of Portuguese invasion and treachery. Panikotha  a structure in the sea... we could not visit due to weather...but as locals informed the movie Qayamat was shot there as i recalled a vague memory of a Neha Dhupia wailing and singing in the middle of the sea. lighthouse was something i wanted to see from close but in a hurry to reach Gir where we had booking for lunch at the resort and safari at Devaliya Park in the evening...all bookings done by methodical husband!! All in all we left Diu with a desire for more.

Pani Kotha

                                             
                                                 Lighthouse

Around two hours drive and we reached Gir... strangely without proper signages and had a wholesome lunch at the resort, bajre ke roti, gud..among other things. But then staying inside Gir does not serve much purpose apart from saving an hour of sleep in early morning before reaching at the long queue for safari..which again my methodical husband saved us the trouble by making all bookings online!! Resorts in and around Gir do not give any access to the forest just a nice and quiet place to stay.

Devaliya Park, Sasan Gir

Driver in day one told us Devaliya park is where old , sick lions are kept to our disappointment and dismay...but the bus safari at least gives a view of the lions which almost eluded us in the original safari and a lots of birds in the evening forest.

Day IV

Early morning safari

Yes we did spot a lion, it was dawn and a lion just crossed in front of our jeep...but somehow camera ditched and we could not click the creature...but then the long drive in the arid forest.. where not even birds were heard and the climax over lion foot prints...sigh!! Actually we began to feel tired and disappointed and i believe the lack of natural greens more than the lions led to the frustration.

Mama deer and Papa deer was what my sleepy four year old commented when she woke from half slumber to spot these....indeed who else locks horn and always at war...:) !!

Some good captures finally..

Somnath

The hotel run by the trust held a surprise with its excellent sea facing rooms just at Rs 1500...well that was the best sea facing room i ever lived in..bookings were again online and very smooth process.
Light and sound show at the temple premises was a disappointment with people pouring in through out the show and light work to a minimal and more mythology than history. With the excellent location and vibrant history it called for a better show.

View from hotel run by Somnath Temple Trust

Day V : Drive to Ahmedabad

Last Day:

Just before catching the train at evening...near Railway Station Ratanpur Market...was a delight to visit.All colours like a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie simply breath taking. Though could not pick up stuff as much i liked...but some other time may be...

Indian Railways....journey through time

Rail...romance and the beckons of a new land..is what i associated with train since i was a kid. And it is mandatory to remember my neighbour cum guru in my young days Tutu Pishi... as she initiated me to all the games we played... and after she had this trip of South India with her parents our new game was train train!! Invariably the mind would conjure up the long lost image of a tiny sitting room with a sofa with blue cover, orange embroidered flowers and a large window... my old home... and the green branches swaying mildly and the big green hill..yes hill was intact and the buildings did not block vision then. For those who can,t imagine my 'old' Guwahati home was and still is at the footstep of the lovely hill..only not so visible and not so green any more but still when the yellow flowers bloom and the new leaves shine...it feels almost the same. Anyway when we began ' train train' the big window with iron rods and the green outside..and the two seater sofa..the feeling was very close to real.I was not new to train either most likely i had undertaken this dream journey to Delhi and Jammu from Guwahati..so this continued to be our favourite game for a while..so much we started a doll game when the dolls were in a train journey... Tutu Pishi and her creative mind made well suited bunks where the dolls lied down..she had a couple of dolls and my single one which she explained was the saali!!! So far so good.. only just about when the train was supposed to move her goon of a brother would break into the home..and in a moment...our dreams would be shattered by the ensuing Sunami!! ( Well both of them are respectable persons in society and might just be reading this )

The first journey i remember with senses intact was by Awadh Assam express..which completes the journey from Guwahati to Delhi (approx 1900 kms) in a time not less than 52 hours officially and the delay infinite not to be mentioned.We were three women... me my aunt and her friend and we were supposed to get down at Jhansi and then travel to Shivpuri at my uncle,s place. It was a ladies coup in sleeper class ( we hardly knew of Ac coaches then) another girl studying in Bhopal engineering college was there in the coup..and the compartment we were in shunted all night in Gorakhpur as Awadh Assam left her to be picked up by some Mumbai bound train in the morning!! I remember being pricked by Gorakhpur platform mosquitoes all night.. as we tried to sleep tight. Then next short distance trips like Guwahati/Kokrajhar ( which i don,t consider), but Guwahati/Kolkata in Kamrup Express and the winner Guwahati/Delhi in North East Express or Brahmaputra mail were indeed thrilling and much awaited. I don,t know why boiled eggs with pepper and salt, slit into two were so much mouth watering and a must have in train and then slit cucumbers with red chilly powder and salt, fried kala chanas with onion..as the train pushes its way through the greens of Assam... Nalbari, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar.. Sreeampore to Bengal..the changed topography, pattern of wrapping saree.. Alipurduar Cooch Behar and in comes the 'mishtis' in earthen pots..Nabadwiper Mishti... Of course the ' Emergency Lights, Camera, Torch Chinese Balm, raincoat, umbrella vendors' in North Bengal kept us so busy and the 'Banglar Saree' wallahs were also tried many times!!

Guwahati/Delhi journeys..after Assam, Bengal.. in and around Kishanganj it is Bihar and the bengali script gives way to Devnagari. Bihar somehow always made me in sync with ' Aranyak' of Bibhuti Bhusan Bandopadhyay his extensive travelogue scanning Bhagalpur and Moonger..through the windows of train. Last state to be passed was UP...but i guess the filth of the compartment and the stenched or water logged wash rooms by then and the overcrowded compartment had its day and the romance has taken a back stage. But the yearning for the capital was too much to be subdued by these and i remember the Brahmaputra mail crossing the Yamuna in the early hours of morning and the beautiful red fort as it entered  old Delhi Railway Station..whenever it entered at the right time of course.

Like all Bengalis i also traveled a lot with my family specially in the Durga Puja holidays, where most Bengalis crowded every possible tourist place and hence was into many train journeys. Our Chennai trip via Coromandel Express or to Mumbai via Howrah Mumbai mail or to Goa via Konkan Railways and it continued to fascinate me romantically as well though no ' Jab We Met' ever happened...there was always this anticipation as you scrolled through the reservation charts..may be this time!!

 

Soon the mode was changing with introduction of the suave all AC Rajdhani and the supposedly hygienic food...and with it the disappointment of closed windows and missing vendors..but gradually open windows were a big no no for hair and unhygienic food a big no no for the digestive system and the low cost airlines served a value for time and money deal.. and Indian Railways was not the dream machine it used to be rather overcrowded platforms and trains were a big turn off.  But as it is trains continued to be a part of my life as i have to travel home or job wise as well...the romance faded, destinations known most of the times.. dreams gone, the mystery solved, aura nowhere. 

The twist in the story..this holiday as we returned from Ahmedabad husband surprised me as we moved to the end of the train searching for coach and i screamed from behind what is the coach number as we crossed the pantry car to the only remaining compartment. Well here was my first journey in AC 1st class, mundane it may sound got totally overwhelmed by the luxury, imagining a well dressed man laying tables and serving food, comfortable clean washrooms...choice of sweet corn or hot and sour soup, hot rice and rots served in casserole for dinner and being asked for more is a luxury unimaginable for me....well may be someday the Palace on Wheels...dreams still being weaved around Indian Rail...a whiff of lost love in the air and distant dreams...

  

 

Long back there was this soap in Doordarshan ' Intezaar' (when TV was about middle class  and not eerie saas bahus) somehow related to Indian Railways...and the title song had the lines...

zindagi ke rail mein har koi sawar hain

apni apni manzilon ka sabko intezaar hain