Having stayed in Dwarka the next stop was in Somnath

Having stayed in Dwarka the next stop was in Somnath

Having stayed in Dwarka for close to six days, the next destination happened to be Somnath for which a readily available bus i could get access to on a Monday. Prabably i was at fault at not keeping the excitement quotient in check when i sighted the GSRTC bus heading towards Porbandar on Nov. 28th morning right after my exit from the third gate (Rabari gate) of Dwarka. THe consolation this time round was that the departure was not shadowed by looming arguments or someone going expansive on argumentative perch. Peace was running thick and the dwarka departure showing me the stage of a bliss.

Once inside the bus, it was teeming with numbers; still the realisation pretty strong that seat would come in due course if not a case of being readily pampered. But that was not the case to be as one co-passenger having raised his voice in alarming proportion for not getting the seat of his choice; this dislocating him to a place next to my luggage and the fury and anger drowning me was enough to shed this piece of journey and as i deboarded the bus at Harshad, the wait for the next transport began. Used this time to scale steps to Harsiddhi Mata temple. THe view from the top was amazing and if possible one should scale the steps to not only pay obeisance to the reigning deity but have the breathtaking view of the sea.

It were the two glasses of lassi in a space of half an hour and acts like this that occasionally set the raging debate on tummy's proclivity to go in a stage of disrepair (this followed late in the evening when i reached Rajkot) and how i fail to read the warning signals and yet let the eruption take its due proportion. Post lassi intake, the bus i sighted and boarded was the one headed for Porbandar; intersped with takes from others on how foolish i was in keeping the wallet in the front packet not realising the gravity of losing it all in one flat act. One had nothing good to talk about Porbandar, the region he hailed from; more upfront in his desire to paint it as a place where losing is rampant thereby letting others to go full throttle on their anger vent.

Once in POrbandar, decided to give a miss to a bus about to depart for Somnath and waited for the next one. Half an hour later got the desirable seat in the bus and was on the way to Somnath. Came across one Alli staying in Patan; he told me Alli is spelled with double l. At Patan deboarded the bus as it intended to go towards Diu. From the sample of interaction one could make out Alli to be a man of peace; describing in detail some city ride incidents that took place on roads. Further he went on to sketch details of his life, having been raised in Pattan and his daughter who is a lawyer.

In Patan took another transport to reach Somnath. Well it was late in the night and as against two in the morning i reached last time round, this time i was there well before nine had set in. Got into Somnath Trust Residential Quarters and stayed there for four days. Inducements were far and thick to take private lodges but i refused them point blank since a simple accommodation with an attached bath was all i desired . Perhaps with no tv around - watching tv on days can give you all sorts of ache - i had to have something up my sleeves to kill time. After Somnath Darshan, it was the search for tea and paper that took care of the idle time. On occasions the day ride to Veraval in search for a newspaper saw vendors like Girish probe further into my paper fascination (kya aapko paper ka shauk hai?). Interaction with Girish and others revealed that prior to their dislocation near the bus stand they were right across the road for years together and it was a decision thrust by the Trust. Hope the Trust would look into their grievances and do some justice as the likes of Girish had been selling their wares right across the road for ages before being dislocated to another place.

Somnath was great for the simplicity it brings on table and whatever view one could get during day or night of the sea was no less fantastic. Next to the Shiv shakti Restaurant & Parota House (Breakfast, South Indian, Pav Bhaji, Punjabi and Gujarati) is Dil Khush Chai, doodh coffee centre. Adjacent to that is one shop from where i used to take my water; sometimes it had the staff to attend to customers and sometimes none. Used to have the meals at Somnath Trust run bhojanalaya and the quality looked to be better than last time. Still advisable to be loyal to Somnath TRust rooms for their simplicity. Except for the tea which is prepared inside and on occasions the noise that filters in late at night there are no dearth of moments to cheer in Shiva's abode . It has been over three years since i tried chhas from Amul parlour; hope to catch on the next time .

On the final day i made a beeline to a village in Patan. Adjacent to the temple is the VIP Guest House. Few metres away is Annaporna Bhojanalaya Shiv Bhojanalaya. THen there is Mahila Mandal Sanchalit food joint offering breakfast, aloo paratha, methi paratha, jeera paratha & pooha. Adjacent to that is a shop (run by mother-daughter duo) from where one can collect honey, soaps & peanuts for their durability. Moved deep inside the village in search of mysore sandal soap and could not collect this time round; perhaps the daughter doing BBA was correct that mysore soaps are hard to get. As i left Somnath and was on the way to Veraval, the shared auto service came cheap and has enough momentum to carry a sizeable load.

Travails of travelling

Travails of travelling


As i left National Capital by Goa express, hope was all i could float with given the fast-changing permutations and combinations of travelling in a state where some had reached a stage of expression beyond comprehension and some were miffed to the point of bearing no emotions Apart from the bro-sis duo hoping to catch a manufactured wedding in Agra, there was one another manufactured entity who could not prevent from disclosing the location he was headed for umpteen time. Not less than 40 in all , he thundered on his cell that he was headed for a place near Ahmednagar.
Conversations he had with not so near ones through cell and direct verbal bell to those adjacent to his seat any boundary he refused to accept and more prone to narrate the misfortune he suffered at the hands of a videshi lady given the losses the garment business had suffered. i was made familiar by his conduct when he suggested that beyond a certain station in Madhya Pradesh he has his wait listed ticket for Kopargaon in sleeper and for the two tickets he had to ferret out more than the sum mentioned in the ticket in Nizamuddin station counter. That was hard to believe since i had collected the Gwalior ticket from the same counter and if his version was true then he is to be blamed for getting access to services by paying more. And here i was apprehensive that if similar outlook is maintained i would stand the least chance of extending the journey beyond Gwalior. And that actually happenned. That is just one of the many tales as far as travails of travelling is concerned.

Lost count of the number of times one has had to leave the national capital and different modes of transport that has been tried including trains, buses (ST is preferable given the haughty airs that private volvowallahs are swimming with) where on occasions either the man at the wheels or the conductor begins to feel the pulse of the state the commuters are in by getting abrasive, shared autos( any day better for the commute they deliver and the checked tariff they work under), chakdas (both covered and uncovered variants) and other such modes.

First sign of hostility emerge from the mode of transport you engage in and if it happens to be a train the source of trouble is the wait listed status. One has lost count of the number of occasions when one is at the mercy of TTE/TTI; some could be accommodating and some could be haughty. Though the railways has come to the rescue of passengers by getting the new methodology at work on tatkal tickets, there are still some gaps in it and in the coming period the media would be able to highlight that. Still, the new version is comfortable. Once the confirmed ticket comes to your rescue for which you have to shell out hefty fare if upgraded category is sought as other classes show the waitlisted status, this reality one has to live with since a confirmed ticket would be a better bet than a waitlisted one.

Best wishes to Somnath

Best wishes to residents of Somnath and how the crowd has surged in the years gone by.

As i begin the search for Fire 'N' Ice Cyber Cafe, located near Navrangpura, i come across the sight of shutters down in Ratnam Complex. That was enough to rue over the time lost in reaching the cyber cafe and the search turning to be in vain. It has been a ride for the past three weeks where there are no dearth of forces out with their horses. Frustration is writ large on their faces and their conduct is in collaborative efforts to win the big time races. The other day when i reached Rajkot i was in the most dishevelled stage given the dishevelled alignments i was grappling with. The luggage had torn apart beyond redemption and strutting with this luggage was giving me all signs of demotion. Demoted i was not in the eyes of watchful janata but the way i had to keep with the struggle to deboard the bus which i boarded just 10 minutes before to board another bus in Junagardh bus depot, i knew my phase of struggle was far from complete and i had to compete.

The rajkot stay in a lodge could have given nightmares to any soul and before five set the next day i was in the thick of train gin. The train ride was better. I am attempting to write further but can't do so as the fabricated smell from my shoes is giving the cyberwallahs new blues. He has admonished me repeatedly by sending his men and asking me to disappear in no time and this admonishment is no different from the Lucky restaurant manager wearing glasses in the morning and how he lost cool for no fault from mine.
These are travails of a tourist who steps out and faces heat from cyber to food jointwallah. The cyber cafe is too slow and sluggish. They are exceptions in society.

Exempted Dignitary and those giving round the clock commentary

The December One bandh and those who fear ton

The December One bandh


Bharat bandh against FDI retail was observed on December One, the numerical figure the government stresses on the need for the newly weds to commit less it becomes a ton. Ton is what the govt and govt resembling departments fear as this would tantamount to more pressure on its machinery gear starting from school enrollment to upscaling the job sentiment. Coming back to the DEcember 1 bandh which was observed against clinical observation by the parties concerned that it had been ages since Bharat Bandh as a numerical descending to a surgical weapon was bandied around and once this clinically prepared bandh was observed, there would be dearth of those arguing for FDI Retail ground.

The bandh on December One, which happened to post November discovered ton, i was in Veraval in search of a cyber den and i was told point blank that bharat bandh had taken the form where shopwallahs who dared to open were on a run. Clinically glued to my task i cruised to a cyber cafe which was open and daring the customers to open their heart and have their anger vent. i was no game for pouring out my heart on the travails of travelling and tailing as this had become 24X7 wailing. Weep and scream was the least i could afford given the long distance i had to traverse to come on board. So post meal infusion at Prakash Dinning Hall in Veraval i was up and ready for another game of survival.
Tea fill and with no will to take the Ahmedabad ride in one stretch, i took the first bus to Keshod, which i was able to reach well before three on my watch. At platform no 1 there was a signboard indicating the buses headed in the direction of Ahmedabad, Wapi, Vadodara, Junagarh, Gondal and Rajkot section.
The tea at Keshod i had from Om Shakti Travels & Tea Xerox Centre, which had other shops aligned on the way: Vishal Hair Art and Ghanshyam Paan (for gaane ka raas). Tea this time was no magic and in fact the ganne ka raas from Ghanshyam Paan was enough to forget the ride with a broken luggage that had begun to bite. Well the soft toy, popularly known as Magic, i took from Keshod for my journey to Junagadh, and this move i regretted for the discordant note it gave to my luggage which more or less was disjointed and sedated. By the time the soft toy reached Junagadh and the driver handed me the luggage from the roof in the most inhospitable manner , the luggage's handle had torn apart leaving the bag in the most forgetful stage where its stand had broken, the zip had been ripped apart and it was just matter of minutes before anyone gave it a bloody thrust and the luggage would have in all directions burst.

From Junagadh i took the bus post tea fill from Mamta hotel, which is adjacent to Jai Ambe cold drinks. The Jai Ambe guy after handing me soft drinks gave me suggestions on how to repair the bag and for which i won't have to brag. Time was a scarcity and i took the bus in all sensitivity. The ride was for over two-and- a- half hours before i reach the Rajkot Dwar.

Days Spent in Somnath amidst some people with a big heart

As i headed towards Somnath, the starting point happened to be Dwarka with twin stops coming in HARshad and Porbandar . THe ride in a bus may not have been soothing enough given the senseless movements by some co-passengers but all reflex and rescue plans followed in quick intervals.