(The original is up on my blog: http://hitanshu.blogspot.com Someone tell me how to use images here!)
aka the mad rush across 1030kms of Gujarat in 53 hours

This will be one long-ass post. Let's start at the start. In the not-so-distant past, there was a boy, a boy who was sitting for his summer placements. A boy who was raring to get out, to be out there, one with the elements, to be with his machine. Yet, WIMWI land, where he was, he seemed to be alone. For there were not many who understood, fewer who felt the same way. Fortunately, there was one bro, a man who believed, in himself, and in his machine. Who believed it could be done. And that was how the Diu was done!

Soon after my summers, I had this immense travel itch. Of course, I could be like the others, running home like da lemmings, though that was not my calling. There was this sense of catharsis, of wanting a release from the labor camp that is IIMA. I was not to be denied. My brother-in-arms, my co-conspirator, Nirav also felt the same way. Moreover, the ride was in many ways, a coming of age, of proving to ourselves, that we could take big risks, and come out on top.

Enuff gyaan, this is how it all began:
25th November 1:10pm
The Mile-Eaters (aka us come outta class to see a 3pm Fin quiz. No sweat, we pack our bags, mug and giddy up for the quiz. Post 3:30, we borrow the digicam (Super maha ultra mega thanks to Nitin for lending it to us!!), fill up the tank, check the chains, and hit the road at 4:30.
Odometer: 41687km

We make our first stop at Bagodra, 5:20pm, with the trip meter at 60km. Gather some breath, some tea, and clap the static outta our hands. We're speeding good, at obscenely high speeds, running the bike at 8000rpm. Now I understand what ripping means, i.e. that's what happens when you put a speed maniac on a bike, and he drives so hard, the bike sounds that it's about to take off In another half an hour, we stop for the first of many mandatory setting sun snaps!

Highway to Nowhere!

From there on, its non-stop riding to Chotila, where we halt to wash some of our sins. Yet, we were denied. For the ascent to the mountain, isn't allowed in the day. No sweat. Nothing stops two hungry mile-eaters from feasting on good ole Dhaba food. Feast on, we ride to Rajkot. Now, the time was just after 8:15. In all of 225 minutes, we'd covered 226km including stoppage. Now, we drove into Rajkot, to meet up with Rakesh Uncle, my friend Shivani's father. He fixed us up for the night. After an amazing meal, and some even more amazing conversation with Uncle, Aunty n Akanksha(Shivani's sister), we slept at 12, to get up by 4!!


Three Fine Men

26th November 4:50am
We push off from Rajkot, stealing away in the night, heading to Gondal on NH8, 38 km away. From then on, its a single road drive to Jetpur, which can be insane in the moonlight. It's quite a sight to behold the clear sky, where you can make out every single constellation, even @ 80kmph. Then, driving and overtaking on these roads is nothing short of crazy. Here's Nirav in a quizzical mode. In all fairness, this stretch made me doubtful. I was ready to halt for a few hours. To our credit, we kept going, in that mad stretch. About 32 kms on, we halted in Jetpur for a cuppa of tea. Then on, it was onto Junagadh, where we clicked some picture postcards. Then on, we stopped at a watering hole, before running down to Sasan Gir. The mile-eaters were damn hungry now. We could sure eat a lion or two now Here we were:

Then on, we saw the lions. Now, here comes the catch. Gir has two parts. The sanctuary proper, and the interpretation zone at Devalia. The funda being that, you must have a car to go into the sanctuary. In the interpretation zone, it's like an open zoo. They've put up a 25km square area, enclosed several lions, and take the bus right up to the watering holes. its nice to see a lion. Believe me, I went there to get scared. The lions sit there like dumb cows after a snack. These are Docile with a capital D! Here's one of them:

Looked rather dumb if you ask me Good enough for a single trip! The drive in Sasan is about 60kms of woodland. Amazing roads. Reminds me, that Gujarat has two kinda roads: Excellent roads, and no roads Then on, I got a shave and grabbed a bite in Sasan village. There on, it was about 44kms to Veraval, then on to Somnath. Veraval has one of the largest fishing fleets in India. It looked worse than Chandni Chowk seeing ALLLL those boats in the water. I bet it has more boats then vehicles

At 12:30, we reached Somnath. Nice temple. though it has a better beach. :P There's a remnant of a Garba Griha behind the temple. It made me wish, that I was a priest in those times. Quite a helluva lotta money in there, and loads of nartkis too

Absolved of all Sin



Then on, it was 70kms of bliss on National Highway 8E, to Kodinar. Just past it, there's this coastal road that leads to Diu. That is the most ****ty 12km tarmac I've seen in entire Gujarat. Made little sense, till I realized that road was taken by those who run from Gujarat to blow money in Diu. No point for Gujarat government to keep that road in shape :-)
After that, we reached Ahmedpur Mandvi beach. Amazing place, good beach, we took our bikes out on the beach for a spin. Me and Nirav did some acrobatics and burnouts on the bike! Then on, Nirav tried to fly. Literally. There was this amazing company, Dolphin water sports, offering paragliding and water scooter rides for 150, 50 bucks apiece. Then again, what goes up, must come down


There on, we ran down to Diu. Went straight to the Khukri memorial, which had a breathtaking sight overlooking the sea. Took several pics, at the shore. including this beautiful sunset. One thing I realized, is that Diu is a limestone island. There's rain, and these little black molluscs get deposited. The damn buggers eat up the rocks end to end. So you have rocks pock marked with holes. Even the walls of the Fort, and old buildings suffer under those little buggers.

OdoMeter: 42727km
For the curious ones, here's our map:


To be Continued ..........