We could only see as far as the dipper light would let us.
We were running out of options when suddenly a vehicle from the opposite
direction came speeding at us. Its high beam was blinding us. We
couldn’t see anything. Thankfully it passed us by with no harm done, except
Jenson yelling out, ‘Abey, use your dipper you #$%%^.’ That wasn’t the last
time that happened. There were quite a few headlights and abuses but we made it
to Bhuj quite safely.
Neil and Nelson led the way on their ‘Rodeo’ while Jenson
and I followed cautiously on our ‘Activa.’ Yes, those were our ‘bikes.’
Machismo became us.
We were in Bhuj by dinner time, desperately searching for some
place to eat. We stopped at a ‘bhajji’ cart on Hospital Road. Right opposite it
was the restaurant, ‘Ashapura’ meaning ‘wishes fulfilled.’ The restaurant
really lived up to its name. It was the best ‘veg thali’ ever.
Rule : the taste
of the food is directly proportional to the length of time one is seated after
eating. Better the taste of the food, the longer you sit after eating. We sat
for 15 minutes before we could get up and leave. It was that good. To quote all
four of us, “Aur ek fruit salad lana. Do chapati aur. Thoda aur chaas dena. Ye vala
sabzi bhi dena.” (One more fruit salad. 2 more chapatis. A little more buttermilk. This
vegetable please.) The thali includes 3 vegetable preparations, poha, a kadi, dal, chapatis, khichdi and some sort of
biscuit. Oh and it’s unlimited. Though most of the preparations were sweet,
sweeter options included shrikhand and fruit salad. The ‘sweet dish’ is not
included in the thali and costs Rs 30 every time you call for one. We found that out once the bill came. To wash it
all down, chhaas is poured. It’s included in the thali which costs Rs 80.
The awesome
food is backed up by good service. Waiters hover around you with the dishes. If
you ever go to Bhuj and want to eat like a king but pay like cheap Malayalis like us, EAT
HERE.
Jenson seemed heavier on the ride back. As I made it known
to him he replied, ‘BURRRPP’. It was eloquently put, I must admit. No
one could have said it any better.
We had to make our way to Gandhidham next day, so we decided
to hit the sack. So after one punch to Jenson’s stomach we all went to bed. The
drill was the same: decided to wake up by 7; argued about who would get up
first; the next morning woke up by 8:30. We were out of the house by 10:15 or
so. There was a slight problem though. My ‘bike’ wouldn’t start. Tilted it,
kicked it and tried everything short of blowing it up, yet it wouldn’t start.
We finally stuck a stick into the petrol tank and it came out dry. The bike was
out of petrol. Neil went out and got some in a bottle. Jenson was given the
task of pouring it into the bike. Guess how much of it he spilt out. But he did
manage to put enough into the tank to get us to our destination.
We then walked around the Bhuj market. You get everything from cow
bells to bangles, green lanterns (not the comic book one, though it looks a lot
like the power battery) to saree borders. We shopped a little, ate dhokla with
chutney and curd and made our way to the ST stand. It isn’t far off.
The ticket cost Rs 40 and we were at Gandhidham within 2
hours. We got off at a stop named IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative
Limited).
By now you must’ve guessed that all 4 of us are Malayalis. Thus we
were picked up by one of our ‘Malayali Christian uncles,’ Jacob bhai in Gandhidham who owns
a bakery in Oslo, Gandhidham. The name is Unity Bakery. If you’re ever in Gandhidham…
Needless to say, we met another one of our uncles and headed
for lunch to ‘Big Bite.’ It’s a place that serves Kerala ‘oon’(lunch plate aka
meals) and Kerala parotha and chicken curry in Gandhidham. I took a picture of
Neil with a Malayalam newspaper there just to prove that we Malayalis are
everywhere.
The ‘meal’ was alright but the parotha and chicken weren’t good.
Meeting
the priest of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Gandhidham was next on the agenda.
He also took us to the school they were building.
.JPG)
Late in the evening, after stuffing our bags with some bakery
items we hopped on the 7:30pm bus booked by ‘bakery uncle’ to Rajkot. It was a
comfortable ride and the entertainment factor was provided by the pirated
version of ‘Highway’ playing on the TV. Since it was a private luxury bus, the
ticket was Rs 250.
We reached Rajkot by around midnight and asked our driver to
meet us. Thank you Shama, for giving us the number. (Shama is my friend in
Rajkot. She’s a clinical psychologist. We had half a mind of sending Nelson to
her, but we decided against it since he was the only one with a DSLR.)
Our driver was named Raju bhai. If you remember, our host in
Bhuj was also named Raju bhai. So apparently from a sample size of 3 people,
Raju is a very common name in Gujarat. (But it actually is)
4 of us jumped into
the car at 12:30 am. We didn’t want to wait out the night at Rajkot. We wanted
to reach Gir National Park in time for the 6:00 am safari. We thus took off
hoping to see a lion in Gir. It would’ve been the perfect way to cap off our
trip.
***
Our jeep broke down. We were stranded in the middle of the jungle.
Our driver climbed up a tree hoping to catch sight of another jeep or to get range
on his mobile. Our guide was with us standing on the ground, outside the jeep.
He turned his head as if to suggest he’d heard something. There were paw marks
on the ground. He instructed us to be silent and get back in the jeep, but we wouldn't listen. The
driver came scampering back down the tree and towards us. He was pointing behind us and yelling. Then, Neil saw it too....
***
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