Gurgaon - Jaisalmer - Jodhpur - Bikaner - Gurgaon

[suman]

Originally Posted by Roshun

GD,
While you are busy compiling your travelogue, you may as well find me a new home will ya?
You forget Sairee's on the Net 24-hours-a-day and she got to read this way before I did.
I'm now likely to be on a bread and water diet, after you rekindled memories of our Dudhwa planning.

LOL, good luck mate!

[phamilyman]

sarkar, ab shuru bhi karo .....

btw, its prologue, not epilogue!

[suman]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

btw, its prologue, not epilogue!

Yeah, I thought the Epilogues came in the future, so to speak

[sudev]

Getting interesting and all this waiting for next post is become a pain....

[WanderNomad]

GD Sir what a small world. The first pic of Priyanka and Ashish and I am like...wow small world.

Last I recall when I had gone to their wedding, Ashish had an Esteem.

Been out of touch for quite some time though!

[gd1418]

Oops...man. How could I commit this faux paus? This cut-paste business is a pain at times...

Mods: can you please change Epilogue to prologue? Thank you...

Originally Posted by phamilyman

sarkar, ab shuru bhi karo .....

btw, its prologue, not epilogue!

Originally Posted by suman

Yeah, I thought the Epilogues came in the future, so to speak

[gd1418]

Am having lots of guests at home currently. One more won't make a difference. You shall get preferential treatment if you bring the DesertFox also & let me drive....

And what about this Sam episode? I don't kinda recall it. Can you rejig my memory?

Originally Posted by Roshun

GD,
While you are busy compiling your travelogue, you may as well find me a new home will ya?
You forget Sairee's on the Net 24-hours-a-day and she got to read this way before I did.
I'm now likely to be on a bread and water diet, after you rekindled memories of our Dudhwa planning.

Anyway, on with the travelogue, I know it gets a lot more interesting (don't forget to go into details on your Sam episode).
Cheers,

[gd1418]

We are all set, excited and ready, that the jinx re-appeared on the morning of 24th. I was running around Delhi finishing off some small-small jobs, that I got a call from Roshun - "did you get SS's message"

Me - "No, what's it about".

Roshun - "His boss cancelled his leave, and he is livid"

Me - " Oh F..... Lemme talk to him"

In the meanwhile I get the SMS on my cell that said that the Sarkars are sorry to cancel their trip as SS's boss has revoked the leave. I called up SS and he was in no mood to talk about this and was devastated. I told him to chill out and said let us wait till the evening, may be things would get sorted out.

I was like - what the heck, first Roshun cancels, then I've a rodent attack and now SS.

Well there was more to come on this front. Since SS & Ashish, together were only 4, they had decided that they all would go in one truck - The Vader. Now Ashish had to get his Stinger ready. He was on fire. Slowly the day ended and the departure time was drawing near. I returned home by 7. The plan to catch some shut-eye during the day couldn't materialise, the prospect of driving the whole night was appearing daunting. I hate night drives. HVK, how in the world do you do this?

As soon as the Bull was parked, I get a call from SS that they were on their way to Ashish's as his Boss reinstated the leave and the trip was on. SS, honestly now tell me, was that a bloody prank? Anyway, all is well that ends well. But that was not to be.

Time: 2200 hrs

I started loading the vehicle with baggae - Suitcase, Water bottle box, couple of bedsheets, pillows & quilts, camera bag, laptop, snack bag & miscellaneous. My wife has this fetish of using only her pillow, bedsheet and quilt. The hotel stuff would not do for her. So is the case with Vaishali too.

Time: 23:15 hrs

I get a call from SS from Ashish's house - "where are you?"

Me: "At home and about to leave in few minutes. Why?"

SS: "Come fast, Priyanka not going."

Me: "Oh no, now what happened?"

The bloody jinx re-appeared. So we leave for Ashish's place - the rendezeavous point. Anil and party were on the way and Suman Ghosh & I entered the complex simultaneously. While both our family waited in the car, we scramble up. Well, Priyanka suddenly took unwell and was sleeping and Ashish was nursing. All our pleadings, solutions and arguments were of no avail and finally when Anil arrived, we embarked on our trip minus Ashish & Priyanka. Sad....

To be continued............

[gd1418]

00:30 hrs - 25.01.2008

We leave, the 4 scorpios cruising smoothly on NH8 towards Manesar and beyond.



We hit a traffic bottle neck after manesar as a trailer had broken down and it took about 40 minutes to negotiate. After that it was a smooth drive. Since I'm the driver cum phtographer, there would be no photographs when driving. Others, please share your pictures of the drive enroute in case you guys have taken.

After about driving for 2 hras we reach the Midway at Behror. Although this was not a scheduled stop, we did to use washrooms and get a cuppa to keep awake. Especially for me....

Another round of brisk driving and we hit daybreak near Beawar. What a beautiful daybreak. By 7:15 we spot a closed Reliance pump with a functional A1 plaza. Only now it was rechristened as Laxmi Vilas Palace. Looked neat and nice and we stopped there for breakfast etc.,



Whie we were exploring the place and ordering etc., SS & Vaishali decided to catch some 40 winks. Some others were freshening up.



We had a hearty breakfast of paranthas, eggs, milk, pohas etc., and proceeded towards Jodhpur.

The minor jinx raised its head. All this while, we were driving constantly and the temperatures were quite low. Once we stopped here, the rigor-mortis set in and flesh started rotting.

The vermin, that had chewed up some wires in my truck chose to meet his mentor somewhere in the dash after an overdose of drugs - read tobacco. Well, that we will never know as respecting the dead, we refused a postmortem.

As soon as we sat in the car and headed towards Jodhpur, a mild stench hit us. Wife lowered the window and I commented it is coming from outside. But that was not to be and this stench remained with us till I returned back to Gurgaon on 31st morning. Only the three of us know how we survived this throughout.

The target was to cross Jodhpur by 11. We were maintaining good time and reached Barr by about 10:40. We were on the Jodhpur - Jaisalmer by-pass around 12 noon. Made a pit-stop there and then hit the road towards Jaisalmer.

Encountered a railway crossing next to which a most foul smelling nullah was flowing. Crossed it, went via Pokharan and reached Jaisalmer. Searched for Jaisal Palace and finally were in our rooms by 5 pm. Nothing great to write about the rooms or the hotel or its location. Good enough for a traveller who needs to sleep only.

To be continued............

[phamilyman]

Now we've well and truly begun - and the show's on the road. Where's our next instalment?

[wanderernomad]

Excellent GD Bhai. I had to recollect about the object of rigor mortis lolz. BTW how much did those lights on the roof cost you and from where did you pick them up?

[getsurya]

GD and others, good write up!! Wish there were more pics to go with.
Also, same query as wandernomad, How much are the roof lights?

[Strangerintown]

GD, I presume your scorp is the one with the Bull on the bonnet. If so, I must say you are the one most equipped for night driving though you may not like to do so! Do you have any snaps of the road ahead with all lights blazing?

[asejwal]

GD Bhai, those roof-lights seem to have evoked quite some response!!! I've even come across Safari with those 4 lights mounted on the roof - I presume it must be a different fitting than the one on your Scorpio. However, could you furnish more details about the same - price? where from procured etc. etc.? Puh...lease...

[suman]

I'm surprised you guys are going on & on & on about the roof lights (which are more than a year old) and are not asking him anything about the brand new Hella 4000s on his bull bar

Get a life guys, motivate the poor man