A Trip to The Land of Lions and Legends : Gujarat
Should I ever be asked regarding the best memories of my Engineering days, I’d, without a second thought, say, “The times I spent with my friends”. I almost don’t remember anyone, from my college days, who wasn’t a part of a “gang”; of course, with a few exceptions. The reason we all love our Engineering days is because of the beautiful set of “F.R.I.E.N.D.S” we made over the years. And I love being at Continental is for the very same reason. I made a great set of friends who made my journey at Continental a memorable one.
2015 pass-outs from different colleges of Karnataka joined Conti in July-2015. After a lot of mix and match, it took about two years for the group, “Canteen-Family (that’s what we call ourselves)”, to get formed with like-minded people. It was the 11th-floor canteen that brought us all together. Amidst the quotidian and mundane routines, we always loved to pay a visit to the canteen to break bread, exchange a few mordant remarks about the life inside the cubicle right under the nose of the manager, pull each other’s leg and, yes, share a laugh or two. We did enjoy a great deal of inexplicable fun and frolics. One thing that awaited us the most, only to make the bond stronger, was a trip. A long trip to an amazing place with amazing colleagues/friends and the memories of which need to be etched in the minds to make the bond eternal. And the place we chose was “The Land of Legends and Lions, a.k.a Gujarat”.
While the two of my friends and I were discussing regarding our trip to The Himalayas, it triggered the rest in the Canteen-Family to take a trip together. After a lot tumultuous discussion we finally agreed to go on a 7-day (11th – 17th Oct 2017) trip to Gujarat a week before Deepavali, the Hindu festival of lights. Thanks to our dear friends – Bharath and Adithya for drawing up an impeccable itinerary of the trip. Funnily, the itinerary was not disclosed until the day before we left to Gujarat considering some of our beloved yet pedantic friends. Although ten of us signed up for the trip, one of them cancelled after the flights were booked. The rest of us only consoled him with words and never returned his money. So, finally, it was the nine of us (7 guys: Vivek, Srivatsa, Adithya, Vishwanath, Bharath, Yeshwant and myself and 2 gals: Priyanka and Harshitha) that embarked on this beautiful trip.
Our onward-journey flight was scheduled for its departure at 06:10 a.m. Consequently, we had to leave our houses at least 4:00 a.m. Since we had agreed for car-pooling, we had to leave a tad earlier. While I never cared in the least to even take a nap the previous night, my other friends were impervious to any number of wake-up calls and messages that glutted their phones. Also, it seemed as if Mother Nature wanted to have a bit of fun. In a few minutes, I could listen to the trickles of the water droplets pouring down the windows. I rushed into the balcony only to see it raining cats and dogs. On the brighter side, everyone was up at the raucous laughter of the rain. Finally, our WhatsApp group had messages other than mine. Despite the rain, Adithya, Srivatsa, Priyanka, Bharath and I started from West-Bangalore and the rest started from East-Bangalore. We all met each other at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru at around 4:30 a.m. Srivatsa and I never miss an opportunity to take a sip of hot tea irrespective of the place and time. As soon as we saw a small bakery serving hot tea, an exchange of looks said it all! Priyanka cared to join and the three of us savored our early morning hot tea. After all the check-in process, we took our seats in the flight. I never forget to take a deck of cards when I’m on a trip. Srivatsa and I spent the journey playing Rummi until we were served with breakfast. The Idly-Sambar combination did not taste anything like what we expected from the beautiful smile on the gorgeous air-hostess with which it was served. Nonetheless, we had to heed to the demands of the hungry tummy. At around 8:30 a.m. we reached the Ahmedabad airport, Gujarat.
Just when we walked out of the airport we heard someone shouting “Adhitya Bhaiiii” (Brother Adithya) at the top of his voice. We saw our Sonu Bhai (Brother Sonu) waving his hand at us. He was the appointed driver who had to take us all around the state for 7 days in the 13 seater air-conditioned tempo-traveller. Our first stop was at a hotel for some breakfast. Hoping for something better than what the gorgeous hostess served us on the flight we stepped inside the hotel. To our pleasant surprise, we learned, from the menu, that they served “Mysore Masala Dosa” (A very famous South-Indian breakfast recipe originated from Mysore). All of us ordered the same and gulped up without mouthing out a single word. All the faces lit up once their hunger was quenched. Finally, after having a cup of hot tea, we started our exploration of the west-most-state of India.
Our first place according to the itinerary was the Sabarmati Ashram. Sabarmati Ashram that resides on the bank of the River Sabarmati was once the residence of the great Mahatma Gandhi, Father of India. As soon as we got down the tempo-traveller the sereneness and the tranquillity of nature extended us a warm welcome. The chirping of birds and squirrels were an absolute treat to the ears. We roamed around the place reading the history and significance of the place. One must visit the place to understand and appreciate the significance of “simple living, high thinking”. We also had the privilege of speaking to a Dutch researcher (unfortunately I forgot her name) working on the famous Gandhi Charkha for her PhD. We all sat in front of her while she elucidated the beauty of the instrument with a few astonishing technical details. We then visited the spooky Adalaj stepwell. The scripture on the stone informed us that it was built in 1498 by Rana Veer Singh of the Vaghela dynasty. The architecture of the well was absolutely confounding. Everything looked alike. It was as if you were walking into a dimension of repeating rooms-like structures. This particular stepwell is treated as a wishing-well by the visitors. We too wished for our dreams to come true and threw-off coins into the well. Later that afternoon we visited the famous Swami Narayana Temple famously called Akshardham. We were astonished by the marvellous architecture and the intricate art that decorated the Sanctum sanctorum. As we went circumambulating the temple we came across several puppet-shows and small museums depicting the life of Swami Narayan. By the time we came out of the temple premise, we were quite exhausted. We had not had anything but Mysore Masala Dosa. Our Sonu Bhai arrived right in time to pick us up from the temple and in a few minutes, we again deboarded the TT to have sumptuous lunch.
According to the itinerary, we had to travel the entire night to reach Bhuj, our next milestone of the trip. So we decided to spend some time in the Kankaria lake place and then have some junk good in the notable city square of Ahmedabad – Manek Chowk for dinner. As we spent time clicking pics of the Kankaria Lake, the sun went down the horizon and the entire lake space was lit up with colourful lamps. We also went on a tiny-train ride that brought us back our sweet childhood memories. We then visited the Manek Chowk, which is famously called the food-street market place. But to our utter dismay, the street was so crowded, polluted and unhygienic that we did not feel like eating anything at all. Just for the sake of having trodden down the street, we had some Jilebi and phapda (indigenous Gujarati recipes) in a “good-looking” shop. Later that night, we found a hotel for our dinner and we were off to Bhuj. So who-stays-awake-till-what-time during the journey to watch the driver was a big discussion. Ever since we started from Bangalore we have not had a sound sleep. So I decided to take the charge. I tried keeping up as the “Sleepy-Time Tom” from the Tom-and-jerry show. At around 2 a.m. we stopped near a Dhaba for a hot tea. We also asked our Sonu Bhai to take a small nap as he dozed off a couple of times while driving. Waking him up promised to be a Herculean task. After trying for about an hour our Sonu Bhai woke up to continue the journey.
We reached Bhuj as early as 6:30 in the morning and the accommodation was already taken care of. We finally got our rooms and a bed to crash. But we did not have the privilege to squander away our time, for the next milestone was the renowned Runn of Kutch a.k.a the white dessert. We freshened up ourselves, had some breakfast and were off. On our way, we visited the Kala Dungar (Black Hill), the highest point in Kutch and the India Bridge (Indo-Pak border). We had the privilege of meeting one of the veterans from the Indian army. We gathered around him under the cool shade of the tree and spoke about several Indo-Pak border issues at length. After bidding him adieu we set off towards Dhordo (Village of the white desert).
The land of Gujarat is totally flat and barren. All we could see there was the white salt deposits on the rain-deprived cracked land – a sight that’s quite uncommon for people hailing from the land of Western-Ghats; the land of lush green mountains. Every one of us was peeking out of the window for the view of white dessert. The curiosity levels took a hike when we could see the salt deposits right next to us. Vivek and I decided to examine it. We stopped the vehicle and got down for an investigation. We had only heard about the salt deposits but never really experienced it. Vivek took a pinch of white sand and tasted it. I did not require any assurance in words, for his facial cues spoke volumes. I spotted a couple of small water pits. I took a small sip from the pit and realized the extremely high salt concentration. By then, all the others had gotten off the vehicle for pictures. Vivek and I tagged along and took a lot of pictures with inexplicable pouts and poses. Harshitha unanimously bagged the contest of posing for selfies.
Finally, we reached Runn of Kutch. The scene was simply magnificent. We were standing right in the middle of what can only be described as a huge water reservoir. I felt that I was right in the middle of an ocean except that the water was extremely calm and if you were to fall down you would only drown not more than an inch. It was a huge reservoir of one-inch water with extremely high salt concentration. I dipped my leg in the water and a couple of minutes later it was as if I had mistakenly stomped on a pile of white cement. Runn of Kutch was supposed to be completely deserted and look as if you were walking on flat white land. Since the water had not completely evaporated, we got such a sight only towards the beginning. We went back again to the white-land and clicked a few more pics. The spooky thing about that was the background and the foreground. The background was the blue but yet slightly whitish sky and the foreground was the white desert land. Right in the middle were us posing for the pics. This was a rare scene and certainly one of its kind. Yet again, Harshitha bagged the “Selfie” and the “Pose” contest (unanimously). Once we realized that even the Sun was about to get some rest, we too returned to our rooms. Thanks to Bharath and Adithya for meticulous planning of the trip. We had enough time to rest. Vivek and Adithya celebrated their birthdays that night. I’d rather say, we celebrated their birthday with a lot of birthday bumps and no cake. We woke Vivek from his sleep and gave him a “butt-load” of bumps. And in some time, somehow, I became the poor deer amidst a pride of lions.
The next morning we left Bhuj and visited the Lakpath fort and Kosteshwara temple on our way to Mandvi beach. We reached Mandvi at around 7 p.m. Since we had to travel the entire night to Somnath, we asked our Sonu Bhai to get some rest. We hired an auto-rikshaw to roam around the city for dinner. Mandvi is well-known for street food and the reputed “Dabeli” was born in the city of Mandvi. We went to several places and had delicious Masala Dosa (anytime and every time favourite), Dabeli, Kaala-Katta, falooda and a lot more. At around 10 p.m. we took an amazing camel ride on the beach of Arabian Sea. We still had to while away a couple more hours before starting towards Somnath. So Srivatsa, Priyanka and I enjoyed Carnatic Classical sitting in front of the moon-lit ocean while Vivek managed to get a spot in the local-volley ball team. Others rested in the beach-side hotel balcony. At around midnight we started our journey towards Somnath.
We reached Somnath around 6 in the morning. On our way, we stopped for our breakfast and then reached the premise of the famous Somnath temple at around 8 a.m. Due to some technical issues, the hotel we had booked did not confirm the booking and we had to look for different a hotel. Just within an hour the scorching sun completely drained all of us. After resting for a while, we paid a visit to the temple, roamed around the place discussing mythological stories and just as always Vivek and I were busy contemplating on Carnatic classical music. We just rested for the day enjoying the chit-chat in our rooms. We were interested not in the least to go out in that dry hot weather. We were also quite sad that the trip was coming to an end. Our next destination was one of India’s 7 union territories: Diu.
We travelled all the way to Diu and spent an entire day roaming around the city. It would be a great injustice if I don’t make a special mention of the cleanliness of the city. Diu was extremely clean compared to Gujarat. We hardly found any garbage thrown helter-skelter. We visited the Diu caves and for the first time, we got a chance to play in the Arabian Sea. We visited the Nagoa beach and spent hours playing on the beach. And the best part here was that we made our Sonu Bhai take the passenger seat and we took the driver seat turn by turn until we reached our hotel. As per the itinerary, our next destination was the Gir Forest National Park, a wildlife sanctuary.
As early as 3 in the morning we set off towards Gir. That was the opening day of the sanctuary. And we expected a huge crowd. Also, if it gets late, the wild animals tend to go and rest right in the middle of the forest and they become inaccessible. Keeping such concerns in mind we reached Gir around 6 in the morning and booked ourselves a 5-hour private safari ride. Meanwhile, Bharath and I thought of getting us some breakfast to eat along our way. We found a few shops right in front of the forest office which sold traditional Gujarati breakfast. Bharath and I stood stock still at the very sight of the breakfast menu. They were preparing Phapda, Thepla (deep-fried recipes prepared using maida flour) and Jilebi (a sweet prepared from maida flour batter deeply fried and soaked in sugar syrup.) This was our breakfast! Bharath and I exchanged bizarre looks with confused smiles on our faces. Nonetheless, we were in Gujarat and we wanted to taste that food. If I may quote Sheldon, “what's life without whimsy?” We packed ourselves with lots and lots of junk food and entered the wild jungle. We were extremely excited imagining to get a look at the herd of deer grazing the grass, listen to the chirping birds and screeching crickets, roaring lions, perhaps see a lion hunt its prey. But to our utter dismay, we only saw a herd of deer and a lot of peacocks. Also a few wild buffalos and a couple of Sambar deer. But we never got to see anything interesting at all throughout the 90kms stretch. So we decided to go on a second safari which is offered by the Forest Authority, Government of India. A 20km cordoned safari where you’re bound to see the animals. Although we saw all wild animals including lions, cheetahs, blackbuck, jackals etc. we returned to our rooms unsatisfied. We were cheered up a bit when we learned that the hotel had a swimming pool. We spent quite some time in the pool before our dinner. While some of us rested after the dinner few others danced in front of the campfire with other tourists. The next day was the last day of our trip. We had to arrive at the Ahmedabad airport from Gir to catch our flight that was scheduled at 7:10 p.m.
The next morning we packed all our stuff before breakfast for the departure. Meanwhile, Priyanka and I decided to take a morning walk. The ambience of nature was warm and welcoming. We then started our non-stop drive (except for lunch) towards Ahmedabad. We boarded the flight and reached Bangalore around 9:30 p.m. As always, it felt so good to be back a feel the fresh warmth of Bangalore weather. Just like we arrived at the airport in 2 cabs, we left the airport in 2 cabs to our homes.
On the whole, this was an extraordinary trip from several standpoints. While the time we spent with our beloved ones was something that we were looking for, it did give us an entirely different perspective of rural India altogether. The most important revelation was that many a time we take the privileges we have for granted. We got to appreciate the hard-earned life of people who have no exposure to the software industries. Also, we did feel quite bad for the state in which people are leading their lives in different parts of India. Whenever we think of India, we only think of cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi etc. But India is not just that. This is one of such trips that made us realize what India is, the importance of life with several privileges and how much the privileges are to be valued.
Travelling certainly opens our eyes into a different aspect of life.
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