Reaching Somnath; no black tea during entire journey; booking ticket for Dwarkadish in Gujarat State
Mr Jigar Modi drops me at Ahmedabad railway station. It is porter Mr Raju bhai who carries my luggage to coach of Ahmedabad Somnath Intercity train. Mr Raju bhai promises to meet me again. The train has no pantry car. What to talk about food even black tea would prove to be elusive. I settle for food provided by vendor. The train leaves at 10.45, Sabarmati comes at 10.56, leaves at 11 am, fairly good speed at 11.02
Chandlodiya 11.08. It is a semi-built station. Fairly good speed at 11.12
11.17 Amblki Road
Going past Jaldeep Casa homes, Jaldeep Entice homes
11.23 Least irrigable land
11.24 Sanand
11.30 Somewhere near Tata Nano plant
11.31 Chhardi
11.32 Fertile land
11.38 Jakhvada
11.45 Slows down
11.47 Viramgam junction fairly clean At station tea and light refreshment run by Mr M L Gandhi
Inside coach vada pau vendor steps in.
Here in Viramgam junction
Contractor Mr N R Jain
Tea and refreshment stall
11.56 some station comes
12.06 Vani road
12.11 Sabli road
Meet Mr Bechar bhai going to Surendranagar. Works as Sky Marshal posted in NSG (National Security Guards) in Delhi. He is going for vacation for one month. He tells me NSG has batallion in Kolkata, Chennai Ahmedabad among other places. The NSG complex is in Samalkha near New Delhi Airport.
12.25 Semi fertile land
12.26 Lakhtar
12.35 Bala road
12.43 Surendranagar. Here Bhavnagar Palitana train stationed. Rajkiya railway (State railway) police booth on Platform 1. A large number of people from minority section (Muslims) deboard here. Never to miss the fact that minorities are at peace with themselves in the State of Gujarat. They are fairly in large number stretched to different occupations. Meet Mr Rajesh in station who tells me Surendranagar is famous for stones.
I have since returned to national capital of Delhi and to see the speech given at Save Constitution Campaign in New Delhi was a sheer waste of time and effort. There has been peace in the country for over 14 days and to say the country is breaking apart is not stating the truth. India's judiciary is considered to be second to none and the move to impeach CJI (Chief Justice of India) mirrored some political parties tendency to have enduring confrontation eye to eye. Perhaps some political parties want tensions to simmer for long and that shows where their heart is. All political parties should be on the same page as far as maintaining communal harmony and peace is concerned. There has been rampant misuse of SC ST Act across country and and there is a need to reach a middle ground. What one can say with a fair degree of certainty is a fractured mandate that would gobble up different parties and their satraps. In the coming months and years what we need to show is respect to people of different faiths and background.
12.46 Train leaves Surendranagar.
A little later leaves Chararaj
1.15 The train is in full flow
1.27 Muli road
1.42 Stationed at Than as it is a single line and another train is expected to come from opposite direction
1.57 Leaves Than
2.07 Daladi
2.17 Wankaner (Change here for Morbi side)
2.30 Amarsar, leaves Amarsar 2.47
2.58 Kankot
3.06 Bileshwar
3.15 Rajkot Here Mr H N Bhatt retired from audit and account services boards with other family members
4.15 Gondal Here Saurashtra Mail to Mumbai passes by
4.45 Virpur. Here i am told there is a Jalaram Temple. The People here are served food twice a day.
5.11 Jetalsar Here Rajkot Porbandar train stationed
5.41 Junagarh
6.15 Keshod
6.42 Maliya Hatina
7.18 Veraval stops for over 25 minutes
7.50 Somnath
From Ahmedabad to Surendranagar there is double railway line and from Surendranagar there is a single line. There is a need to have double tracks all the way to Somnath and Okha. Perhaps that would come in due course of time.
In train meet father son duo. Father Mr James, Son Mr Jewel who is going to pursue MBA from Symbiosis Pune. They essentially hail from Idukki in Kerala. They help me to trace the missile (mobile). They are very cooperative. Mr James is working in Gujarat Heavy Chemicals in Veraval. The meals provided at Ahmedabad is nothing to write home about. It costs you rs 150 and the quality isn't good enough. Perhaps the railway contractor needs to set a new benchmark as far as quality is concerned. The black tea eludes me for the entire journey. The ride from Katra in Jammu & Kashmir State to New Delhi some months ago also saw no hint of black tea for a journey lasting over 10 hours. Perhaps they should make a provision for black tea. Boiled water carried in a big pot and served in paper cup/plastic cup with tea bag dished out separately. It is not that hard task. The repeated dose of Amul Lassi followed by tea laced with milk led to acidity and here Gas O Fast sachet (5mg) came handy.
From Somnath station head straight to Somnath Trust Office. Mr Bharat Gadhiya is kind enough to book a room in Tanna Guest House run by Somnath Trust. The ride was too taxing. After taking shower settle for grilled sandwich dished out by a man at Amul parlour. He has a makeshift kitchen. In Somnath while returning to Tanna Guest House happen to meet Mr Abbas and Mr Sohaib at Dilsukh tea centre.
On Saturday a good amount of time is spent inside Somnath temple. Later head to Veraval railway station. Here share autos don't fleece you like they do in big cities of India. The share ride from Somnath to Veraval (over five km) costs you Rs 10 only. Automan Mr Sarpreet drops me in Veraval. Mr Dileep bhai guides me to railway station.
In Veraval station there are two ticket counters at computerised reservation centre. A Very clean station. Mr Awasiya bhai at Veraval reservation counter is kind enough to hand me Somnath Dwarka train ticket.
Outside Veraval station
Hotel Shree Sai AC Non AC AC dormitory
Hotel Shreenath
Hotel Avkar
Mr Joshy guides me to scooter stand
Mr Iqbal bhai having a food stall
Automan Mr Bhagwanji drops me at Somnath
Meet Devendra Kumar at Bhabha Restaurant in Somnath.
Meet Mr Ram Swaroop Dikshit in Tanna Damani Atithi Griha. Meet Mr Swaroop from Maninagar in Ahmedabad.
In Tanna Guest House meet Mr Daya bhai. Meet Mr Ram Rajesh at Somnath trust office. Meet Mr Jitender bhai in Somnath Trust. Meet kids Nivya and Monica.
In Tanna Guest House meet Mr Ranganath who came with other member from Bengaluru in Karnataka State and from Somnath going to Mt Abu in Rajasthan State.
Near SBI ATM Jalaram travels run by Mr Jayesh bhai. I am told Mr Bhopad bhai husband of Mukta ben has shifted his base to Rajkot. Mr Narain bhai running Chamunda tea centre near SBI ATM.
Mr Jigar Modi drops me at Ahmedabad railway station. It is porter Mr Raju bhai who carries my luggage to coach of Ahmedabad Somnath Intercity train. Mr Raju bhai promises to meet me again. The train has no pantry car. What to talk about food even black tea would prove to be elusive. I settle for food provided by vendor. The train leaves at 10.45, Sabarmati comes at 10.56, leaves at 11 am, fairly good speed at 11.02
Chandlodiya 11.08. It is a semi-built station. Fairly good speed at 11.12
11.17 Amblki Road
Going past Jaldeep Casa homes, Jaldeep Entice homes
11.23 Least irrigable land
11.24 Sanand
11.30 Somewhere near Tata Nano plant
11.31 Chhardi
11.32 Fertile land
11.38 Jakhvada
11.45 Slows down
11.47 Viramgam junction fairly clean At station tea and light refreshment run by Mr M L Gandhi
Inside coach vada pau vendor steps in.
Here in Viramgam junction
Contractor Mr N R Jain
Tea and refreshment stall
11.56 some station comes
12.06 Vani road
12.11 Sabli road
Meet Mr Bechar bhai going to Surendranagar. Works as Sky Marshal posted in NSG (National Security Guards) in Delhi. He is going for vacation for one month. He tells me NSG has batallion in Kolkata, Chennai Ahmedabad among other places. The NSG complex is in Samalkha near New Delhi Airport.
12.25 Semi fertile land
12.26 Lakhtar
12.35 Bala road
12.43 Surendranagar. Here Bhavnagar Palitana train stationed. Rajkiya railway (State railway) police booth on Platform 1. A large number of people from minority section (Muslims) deboard here. Never to miss the fact that minorities are at peace with themselves in the State of Gujarat. They are fairly in large number stretched to different occupations. Meet Mr Rajesh in station who tells me Surendranagar is famous for stones.
I have since returned to national capital of Delhi and to see the speech given at Save Constitution Campaign in New Delhi was a sheer waste of time and effort. There has been peace in the country for over 14 days and to say the country is breaking apart is not stating the truth. India's judiciary is considered to be second to none and the move to impeach CJI (Chief Justice of India) mirrored some political parties tendency to have enduring confrontation eye to eye. Perhaps some political parties want tensions to simmer for long and that shows where their heart is. All political parties should be on the same page as far as maintaining communal harmony and peace is concerned. There has been rampant misuse of SC ST Act across country and and there is a need to reach a middle ground. What one can say with a fair degree of certainty is a fractured mandate that would gobble up different parties and their satraps. In the coming months and years what we need to show is respect to people of different faiths and background.
12.46 Train leaves Surendranagar.
A little later leaves Chararaj
1.15 The train is in full flow
1.27 Muli road
1.42 Stationed at Than as it is a single line and another train is expected to come from opposite direction
1.57 Leaves Than
2.07 Daladi
2.17 Wankaner (Change here for Morbi side)
2.30 Amarsar, leaves Amarsar 2.47
2.58 Kankot
3.06 Bileshwar
3.15 Rajkot Here Mr H N Bhatt retired from audit and account services boards with other family members
4.15 Gondal Here Saurashtra Mail to Mumbai passes by
4.45 Virpur. Here i am told there is a Jalaram Temple. The People here are served food twice a day.
5.11 Jetalsar Here Rajkot Porbandar train stationed
5.41 Junagarh
6.15 Keshod
6.42 Maliya Hatina
7.18 Veraval stops for over 25 minutes
7.50 Somnath
From Ahmedabad to Surendranagar there is double railway line and from Surendranagar there is a single line. There is a need to have double tracks all the way to Somnath and Okha. Perhaps that would come in due course of time.
In train meet father son duo. Father Mr James, Son Mr Jewel who is going to pursue MBA from Symbiosis Pune. They essentially hail from Idukki in Kerala. They help me to trace the missile (mobile). They are very cooperative. Mr James is working in Gujarat Heavy Chemicals in Veraval. The meals provided at Ahmedabad is nothing to write home about. It costs you rs 150 and the quality isn't good enough. Perhaps the railway contractor needs to set a new benchmark as far as quality is concerned. The black tea eludes me for the entire journey. The ride from Katra in Jammu & Kashmir State to New Delhi some months ago also saw no hint of black tea for a journey lasting over 10 hours. Perhaps they should make a provision for black tea. Boiled water carried in a big pot and served in paper cup/plastic cup with tea bag dished out separately. It is not that hard task. The repeated dose of Amul Lassi followed by tea laced with milk led to acidity and here Gas O Fast sachet (5mg) came handy.
From Somnath station head straight to Somnath Trust Office. Mr Bharat Gadhiya is kind enough to book a room in Tanna Guest House run by Somnath Trust. The ride was too taxing. After taking shower settle for grilled sandwich dished out by a man at Amul parlour. He has a makeshift kitchen. In Somnath while returning to Tanna Guest House happen to meet Mr Abbas and Mr Sohaib at Dilsukh tea centre.
On Saturday a good amount of time is spent inside Somnath temple. Later head to Veraval railway station. Here share autos don't fleece you like they do in big cities of India. The share ride from Somnath to Veraval (over five km) costs you Rs 10 only. Automan Mr Sarpreet drops me in Veraval. Mr Dileep bhai guides me to railway station.
In Veraval station there are two ticket counters at computerised reservation centre. A Very clean station. Mr Awasiya bhai at Veraval reservation counter is kind enough to hand me Somnath Dwarka train ticket.
Outside Veraval station
Hotel Shree Sai AC Non AC AC dormitory
Hotel Shreenath
Hotel Avkar
Mr Joshy guides me to scooter stand
Mr Iqbal bhai having a food stall
Automan Mr Bhagwanji drops me at Somnath
Meet Devendra Kumar at Bhabha Restaurant in Somnath.
Meet Mr Ram Swaroop Dikshit in Tanna Damani Atithi Griha. Meet Mr Swaroop from Maninagar in Ahmedabad.
In Tanna Guest House meet Mr Daya bhai. Meet Mr Ram Rajesh at Somnath trust office. Meet Mr Jitender bhai in Somnath Trust. Meet kids Nivya and Monica.
In Tanna Guest House meet Mr Ranganath who came with other member from Bengaluru in Karnataka State and from Somnath going to Mt Abu in Rajasthan State.
Near SBI ATM Jalaram travels run by Mr Jayesh bhai. I am told Mr Bhopad bhai husband of Mukta ben has shifted his base to Rajkot. Mr Narain bhai running Chamunda tea centre near SBI ATM.
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