Day 6 Rann of Kutch to Junagadh
Rann of Kutch ( Vasda dada temple) to Junagadh
Distance travelled: 400 km
Route Taken: Palaswa – Lakadia – Maliya – morbi – bamanbore – Rajkot – Gondal - Jetpur Junagadh
Damages for the day:
Rs 600 - Fuel
Rs 40 – Lunch
Rs 10 – Tea
Temple Donation (X amount not to be mentioned)
Day 6
The night was spent at the dormitory of cows, with special sound effects as a bonus. Early in the morning, as I lay there on the charpoy, I woke up feeling a huge thud on my legs and I was tossed around to an angle, the result of being butted by a cow. Not to worry, that was a cow style Good Morning!! It was a cow looking straight into my face, demanding to be petted. Happily, I responded to the demand and obliged. Soon there was another calf pulling my blanket out. Now I was wondering, did I look like another cow or something like that? I wasn't allowed to stop petting them... every time I did I was butted as a reminder -- hey, get busy, you have work to do! Luckily it was time for grazing, so all the cows happily left the shed and I was spared the work assigned.
I enjoyed the warm shower at the sulfur spring with no audience today. It was time to pack up and get going. People at the mandir showed so much affection, wanted me to stay back and did not want me to leave the place. I thought of a perfect situational song, Musaafir hoon yaaron, naa ghar hai naa thikana, mujhe chalte jaana hai Ok, now today I am in a filmy mood. I had to move on and so I gratefully thanked them for all the support, love, affection and care they offered during my stay, making it truly memorable, and started for the journey ahead to my next destination, Meduk mountain. I reunited with my bike and set off again enjoying the ride on the desert land, this time losing my way to Palaswa. The salt makers guided my way to the right direction.
I moved on, but after riding a distance of eight kilometres there was no visible road ahead, as it had rained about a fortnight ago. Due to this, the soil had loosened up. The tractors using the path had left grooves on the sand making it difficult to ride on. I decided to ride on the desert leaving the path. For a bit, I did think of turning back but somehow decided to keep going. The ride got worse, tyres now sank in the sand making it difficult to balance. Another problem was, I was off road with road tyres on the bike, the weight of the luggage had the rear tyre spinning in circles.
After riding like this for about twenty five kilometres, it got a little better. Now at a crossroad junction with not a soul visible till the horizon I was left wondering where to go. Guided by instinct, I decided to move straight ahead. The desert is full of illusion. I was seeing things that seemed to be there but that did not exist in reality. Mirages and delusions took me by surprise. I saw water way ahead of me, and something that appeared like an animal on the road turned out to be a stone in reality. I was looking for the mountains, hoping they were not another illusion. Finally after riding on for a bit finally I got a glimpse of the Meduk Mountain!! It was only trust in the universe and my instincts that guided my way to the mountain.
Here on the Meduk Mountain, I know only one person lives in the Vanu dada temple. I wanted to spend one more night here, being one with the vastness of the desert. So I decided to put up at the temple. There were three men in the temple, each greeting me in a different language. One of them spoke English, the other in Hindi and the third in Gujarati. Before I knew it, I was forced into taking a multi-linguistic crash course in philosophy. In a twenty minute conversation I made the journey of several eras. They told me tales and quotes of Swami Vivekananda to Socrates and Narsi Metha to Kabir. Did I even ask for it? By now, I was developing an allergy to this disconnected philosophy class conducted in three different languages. I wanted to run out of there, and I was on the bike and on my way to the next destination. I had just saved myself from insanity!
I had two options now. One was to head to Venu Village and option two was Palaswa. I decided to go with the second one. Reaching the village was a task too tough. Due to the road conditions, riding on the sand with so much weight on the bike was getting more and more difficult. It was hard to balance, so I stood up on the foot raise. I somehow managed to go on and saved myself from falling, keeping the focus on the front wheel
I kept riding till I reached the highway to Rajkot.
The four lane roads were good for a ride. The speedometer showed 110 kmph. I was enjoying both the breeze and speed. While riding, I saw windmills spinning at high speeds due to strong winds. But these same strong winds weren't favourable with the aerodynamics of the bike and this left the bike swinging from left to right. The bike was cruising at a constant speed of 90-100 km/ph covering a distance of 40 km.
The wind had calmed down, yet another problem arose. This time it was nature’s biggest mistake, left at the mercy of making judgments on basis of a faulty brain.
It was a newly opened road. The people here had an unclear concept of a four lane highway. We had vehicles coming from all directions in all the lanes turning anywhere at anytime. Were they thinking that the government generously made two roads for them both to be used simultaneously? I was paranoid seeing speeding trucks and vehicles coming from the opposite direction in the same lane I was going in, that too at such high speeds. What happened to the traffic sense and rules? There were people turning up at their own free will in any direction of their choice. I was hoping I'd get out of there soon, preferably alive. This was a challenge for me. It became extremely important to be absolutely focused if I had to be safe and alive.
I reached Rajkot and rode to Junagadh. Fortunately with a reference from my friend Kalpesh, I put up with Bharat bhai for the night. We had a good time conversing over dinner. I am very thankful to Bharatbhai and his family for being such wonderful hosts.
On reaching Junagadh, I was caught by five men in uniforms for the Xenon lights. It took time for them to understand why I had them on. I had to get down to explaining them about me touring India and riding on highways at night. They were convinced by the given explanation and soon let me go. This was an eventfully action packed day six!