[ani_meher]

Dried romance - Day 4

Udaipur’s morning started late, with the hotel’s late breakfast service not helping to speed the matters up. The roof top hotel is setup good, with tasty food. But the service time needs to be bit fast.





We had a lake view room, which we got in normal room’s price. I was surprised at previous night to get such lake view room, but realized the reason in morning. The lake in front of our window had dried up, and young kids were playing cricket in that place! So much for the most romantic city of lakes!

View from room



The area under the bridge is supposed to be lake!

We were out on the streets by 11.00 a.m. A foreigner lady spotted me wearing a long kurta – Nandinee’s choice of course, based on the matching color of here dress. She spoke with Nandinee:

“Very Nice dress! This is a proper Indian dress. Now a days no one wears such clothes, all wear Jeans and T-shirts only!”

Seeing the proud reaction on Nandinee’s face, I realized my dress code for the rest of the trip.

We headed to Shilpigram, a village by Rajasthan Govt. to display and sell local handicrafts. Nandinee was all excited for shopping, and I was counting the balance in my wallet. But incidentally, India chose to start democracy on this very day some 59 years ago, so Shilpigram was closed! Successfully displaying my inner happiness as external sadness, I suggested ‘Badi Ka Talab’, a lake situated around 5-6kms from there.



Badi Ka Talab turned out to be a wonderful place to sit back and enjoy. Not commercialized like other spots, we saw many local families having their tiffin lunch here and enjoying on the grass. We had a very nice time here.









Later we visited Saheliyon Ki Bari, a place built for the women and their maid servants to chill back. It’s maintained well and is continuously being upgraded or expanded.















Got into a shop which sells mattresses made out of some wolf wool, with 10 years warranty. Also silverwear with 15% zinc with 3 years warranty. After lightening my pocket considerably, we finally returned to city. The lunch at 4 was at Savage Garden Hotel. Bit costly, with an arrabiata pasta costing 250 bucks, but was good in taste and ambiance.





We had to repair the saddle bag, because somehow it touched the silencer and burnt a nice hole in the bottom. Luckily the clothes were intact.

By the time we finished repairing the bag and shopping, it was already 7.00 p.m., so the city palace was closed. Some light and music show was going on, but didn’t go there.

We visited the Jagdish temple, very near to City Palace. It’s very old and beautifully carved.



Called it a night early, because tomorrow we would ride to Jodhpur, and later on to Jaisalmer. So two days of continuous ride were upon us. However, we were bit sad that we couldn’t come back in time to see the City palace and now we would never be able to see it anytime soon in life.

But Upparwala had something different in his mind.

...to be continued.

[MX6]

Couple of photos are priceless.
1. Extreme close up of the water droplets (from the fountain)
2. The pots on the blue wall.

[ani_meher]

Marching in darkness - Day 5

When I started reviewing the day’s plan in the morning, I noticed that reaching Jodhpur earlier didn’t have too much value for us. There were only 4-5 places to see, and it was possible to leave in the afternoon and still make it to Jodhpur in respectable time.

Once we had the morning free, plans to visit the City palace were once again back on the charts. The rooftop hotel was slow in food delivery, but we made the mistake of giving it one more chance to improve the serving time, and the hotel didn't fail to bring the breakfast late by whooping 25 minutes, the highest we ever waited for food!

The check out time was 10.00a.m., so had to keep our luggage in the luggage room of the hotel.

We reached at City palace gates at about 10.15a.m. It is so commercial that it’s hard to believe. 50 bucks for entry, 200 bucks for camera! Even the people flaunting SLRs were arguing with the ticket counter. So again back into the bag went the camera, and into the palace went us.







After roaming the palace for about 2 hours, I can say that one can easily skip the palace. Very few places in the palace are great, and that too not so much as to skip other places. The Rajasthani palaces are continuously operated upon for expansion or maintenance, so it’s hard to tell what’s really authentic heritage thing and what’s made 2 years ago. Overall the time spent in the palace can hardly be termed as ‘satisfactory’. I know Udaipur is called the most romantic place and what not, but somehow, the romanticism skipped us, and what we saw was just a money earning machine churning to make as much as possible. This is strictly personal feeling though, and there are people who swear by the city.

We hit the road at around 12p.m.

Leaving from Dream Heaven Guest house



The highway again, is beautiful. But as the time was noon, I wasn’t going above 80kmph, because didn’t want the tires and engine to get too hot. We took regular hourly stops while on the journey.







While one such stop, I realized something doesn’t seem right about the saddle bag. Upon close inspection, we saw that it wasn’t in too good a condition. It had started coming off the stiches, and even tearing at some places.

We already had planned to keep the saddle bag in Jodhpur hotel and take the tankbag only to Jaisalmer, but for that, the bag had to make it to Jodhpur. I didn’t want Nandinee to carry the saddlebags on her laps. Here, the bungee cords and cloth hanging rope we were carrying came in very handy. Tied the bag nicely as tight as possible, prayed that may she hold till Jodhpur, and went on.

En route, we came across Ranakpur, a village famous for its Jain temples carved in marble sometimes in 15th century. The carvings are said to be very unique, and even the 1444 pillars in the temple are supposed to be carved in individual ways!





There are some small temples built around recently as well.



We kept the luggage in the office of the temple, kept the saddlebag on the bike only, as it was securely tied down. The temple is magnificent. There is one old temple, and new temples are built around it. The beauty of the carvings is one to witness. We spent almost half or one hour in main temple alone.





The temple has quite a large number of monkeys at the entrance. We had tied our mojaris on top of one of the saddle bag, for easy access. When we came back, we saw that the plastic bag carrying the mojaris (which was tied on the saddle bag) was tore apart. Later the security guys informed, that monkeys in their infinite curiosity took the blame for this.

Vesta waiting in the parking lot of the temple



We asked our way ahead to a temple staff. Here I had my first brush with caste question. “Which religion? Which Jaati?” After this only I got the answer, and I am still thinking what there the relation of my question with these ones!

We had our lunch at this roadside dhaba, who was selling Punjabi disease! But the food was descent.



There is a shortcut from just a few kms here, from Rani. The road in that shortcut is straight as an arrow, and in good conditions 90% of the times. Only when some villages came did the road go in bad conditions. Maybe the ruling party in those villages was opposition one!

Luggage carrier!



When we joined the main road, the highway was noticeably crowded with huge vehicles. This was the only path that I got bore riding, because there were too many huge vehicles to overtake. After negotiating the traffic for about an hour, we came across Pali bypass. We mistakenly entered Pali city and went in 1 km ahead, because there was no one on road standing or no vehicle going in same way that we were! Finally a biker told us we should’ve taken that bypass. Took a U turn, and joined that bypass at about 7.00p.m.

After the bypass, we joined the main highway to Jodhpur. There was no milestone for a long time, so no way to confirm whether we were going in the correct direction. We took a halt for coffee at a dhaba, where the owner confirmed the way.

While riding to Jodhpur, I noticed that this seemed a neglected town in Rajasthan, as the approach road is all dark with hardly any markings.

While riding, we were passing through some busy spot having many shops, when Nandinee shouted “Wait, Aniruddha, Bullet baba!”

This is a holy sight for locals, where the story goes like this: This person Om Banna T. Chotila was going on his bullet, drunk. He hit a tree here and died on spot. When police shifted the motorcycle to police station, in the morning it was back at the accident scene! Then police thought someone was playing prank, so they removed all petrol, locked it in a garage, but same thing happened. This much adventure was enough for the police to wash their hands clean out of this, and the motorcycle was given to the next of kin. The family sold it to someone in Gujarat, about 400kms away. But still the bike returned to its place here! The purchaser got scared and left his claim on it.

Since then, this place is worshipped. Slowly it gained its fame. Previously prasaad of alcohol was norm here, but now drinking is prohibited in this area. Local people have accepted Om Banna (Banna is actually a name for a Young Rajput) as their god, and worship the place faithfully. And Bullet Baba is NOT the name of the place, no matter what some sites say.

At Om Banna Temple





After praying and offering garland to the photo frame of Baba and the bullet, we started rolling. Finally we arrived in Jodhpur at around 9.00 p.m.

When we were on the outskirt of the city, we stopped near a police and asked his the directions to our hotel. He started asking questions why have you come, where are you going to stay etc. After satisfying his curiosity, he started telling the ‘saga’ of reaching the place.

Like a military or police order, he started telling us the directions in singsong tone.

“Pehleeeee aaaap seedha jao! Baadmeeeee daayneeee mudo! Phirrrrr……”

Slowly one by one I turned off the turn indicator, switched off engine, removed gloves, about to remove helmet while he was narrating the whole path. Finally he finished, and we rolled on barely able to contain our laughter.

We finally reached the hotel ‘Heaven Guest House’ located near clock tower, more famous locally as Ghanta Ghar. We passed through various crowded bazaar and knocked around many cows before reaching here.

The guest house is located in the heart of the city. While for a traveler this is the best news, for a bike it is not, simply because of lack of parking space. I finally pulled Vesta in the narrow gully to the entrance to the guest house, and called it a day. Luckily unlike the surrounding, the guest house was very clean, with good hosts.

The guest house was very clean, and neat. The owner was shocked to see a married Indian couple touring! Said we were the first Indian couple, and he thought I would be traveling with some firang babe, because desi women are reluctant to ride cross state!

These two days were of continuous riding, as tomorrow we would ride around 300kms more for Jaisalmer. Jodhpur sightseeing would remain an unfinished business that would have to wait for three more days.

...to be continued.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

Marching in darkness - Day 5

We asked our way ahead to a temple staff. Here I had my first brush with caste question. “Which religion? Which Jaati?” After this only I got the answer, and I am still thinking what there the relation of my question with these ones!

Why oh Why? We still have morons asking these questions. The legendary poet and freedom fighter from Tamil Nadu, Shri Subramaniya Bharati sang decades back - There are no castes, dear child. It's a sin demarcate as higher and lower castes.
Seems this question was asked to keep the fine tradition of caste based discrimination that's still rampant in certain parts.

Sorry for the OT.

[Nutty Nair]

@ani_meher - Kudos to both of you for undertaking such a journey. Nice pictures & narration also.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ani_meher
Marching in darkness - Day 5

We asked our way ahead to a temple staff. Here I had my first brush with caste question. “Which religion? Which Jaati?” After this only I got the answer, and I am still thinking what there the relation of my question with these ones!

@MX6 - +1 to that. As Madhavan's character in 3 idiots would have said "Ignore kar yaar, ignore kar"

[ani_meher]

@MX6 & Nutty Nair: Yes, that question was surprising, but didn't take it too much on heart! Hope you are enjoying reading this log!

Posting day 6 soon.

[ani_meher]

Inviting roads - Day 6

We had planned to start as early as possible, to reach Jaisalmer. However, yesterday's ride was tiring, and it was around 11 that we finally stepped outside the guest house. However, the bike was marked with droppings from my most beloved birds, pigeons. Wished I had a gun! I am generally not violent, but those huge droppings really pissed me off!

Took considerable time for first dragging the bike from the narrow street to main road, and then cleaning the beauty spots. Finally we started riding at around 11.30 a.m. It was noon till we finally hit the highway.

The highways around Jodhpur are in good condition, but somehow not as posh as the main highways. We started with routine stops and at good speeds. We kept the saddle bag in Jodhpur only, keeping only the necessary clothes with us. That reduced the load considerably, both on the bike as well as on my mind.



The roads are in good condition, so per hour I was able to churn 60-65 and even sometimes 70kms! We spotted some deers, peacocks and owls, along with the camels and cattle. Again had a lunch at some unnamed dhaba. Eating at such dhabas really has a charm of its own!

Spotted the train from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer. Felt good in heart that it takes even more time to reach to reach Jaisalmer than road!



We finally reached Jaisalmer at around 4.30p.m. Here I saw the example on online advertisement. When we were riding, some other bikers would join us to ride at same speed, and his pillion would start advertising about some hotel! And this was not just once, but had repeated experience. Seems recession brought out the best of advertising ideas!

Checked into our hotel, Hotel Payal, booked under Youth Hostel. The hotel had a swimming pool, but sadly in our 3 days stay, we never got time to dip even a finger in that pool!

In the evening, we went to the Desert festival cultural program, which was held on Shahid Poonam Singh stadium. The security arrangements and setup were good, but somehow, the programs seemed as if they were not that polished and rehearsed. Some dances were even unsynchronized. Still, had a good time that evening.





A poor attempt to click Jaisalmer fort. The ground was full of dust, so please excuse!



When we came out, we asked a policeman about fort’s timings. He broke into a chat, which lasted for 15-20 mins, but not before the wonderful question about religion and jaati again! He told us not to take guide in the fort, also not to stay in Sam, but return to Jaisalmer in night. Don’t know what his reasons were for this! Also, he told that the camels had not returned from 26 Jan parade at Delhi, so this year the camel show was not going to be held, or not at least on the usual grand scale.

Hunted a while for a famed hotel Desert boy Dhani, which was supposed to be good. But after a cold soup and a horribly chilly noodles, we didn’t have too much of a good opinion about it.

Night was inviting, and tomorrow was a sightseeing day in Jaisalmer. Though it does get cold in the night, the thermalwears kept the cold away.

...to be continued.

[Nutty Nair]

ani_meher - I am enjoying your thread very much, my friend. Especially as I have never been to Rajasthan, I usually go through any thread relating to Rajasthan with great interest & yours is a bike ride, so it is like sone pe suhaaga for an avid rider like me.
One thing I wanted from you, if you could include a review of the bike at the end with point of views from both the rider & pillion for long distances, it would be a great help. One of my friends is thinking of buying a GSR & it would help him & also others immensely. Not a full blown review, but just a nut shell would be enough.
Thanks

[lohithrao]

Wow seems to be a interesting "travelogue" will go through it in detail.

btw how did the bike do? a detailed report will be nice

[ani_meher]

The golden city - Day 7

The day's plans were simple. First, roam around the city in the morning, and later, attend the desert festival. After a hearty breakfast at hotel, we arrived in the Jaisalmer fort at around 10.00 a.m.

The Jaisalmer fort is a wonder in itself. One third population of the town still lives in the fort. There are even hotels in the fort, if someone wants to experience the living in a fort. It is not recommended though, as it is hurting the old infrastructure.



Roaming around the for on bike was a new experience. You can take the bike all the way till the major spots. The fort is a wonder to experience. There are two cannons on the fort, each facing different sides. One is city view, and other is lake view. None of the views are too great!





I was not expecting that I will have to share a 1-2 feet road not just with pedestrians and other vehicles, but also cows!



There are countless small shops selling this article or that. Most geared for the foreigners though, so you may as well ask the price in dollars!

We first saw the palace. In all the palaces that we saw, this was worst in condition. Not that it was falling off or anything, but it is certainly not as well kept as others. Smell is terrific, and though my hygine acceptance level is quite low as compared with Nandinee’s, it was uncomfortable even for me.



















After seeing the palace, we initially planned to see the Jain temples. But surprisingly, they were closed at 12.00 noon! So we decided to click them from outside, and move on.



We had our lunch nearby, and headed for Salim Singh ki Haweli. These three havelis are now tourist spots in Jaisalmer, Salim Singh’s, Nathmal’s and Patwa’s.

Out of these three, Salim Singh’s was worst in condition, and it looked like it was actually falling apart at places. Felt a bit sad that the once prime minister’s grand mansion is now a tourist spot, and that too is getting hard to maintain for the present generations. It tells that real estate investment may not always be the best!

Pls continue to the next post...

[ani_meher]

...

Then came the Patwa’s haveli. This is the grandest of all three, and is really well kept, and neatly presented. Some rooms have gold carving on the roof as well! Before any quick minded thief can think to scrap some and sell it outside, he should know that the particular roof and wall is under cover of a thick glass!















Last we visited Nathmal Ki Haveli, and had our brush with bit slave mentality. We were refused entry to the first floor, whereas foreigners were welcomed. It is a private mansion, so the owners can allow or refuse entry. We were told that they had some forex exchange bank on the first floor, which was as true a fact as was the smile on their faces. We had read in Lonely planet that first floor had some gold carved rooms, but this much affectionate welcome was enough for us to turn our back.





Roaming around in the old city is an experience to behold. Forget the three havelis, all the houses are carved! As if you are sent to 18th century Jaisalmer, where cows roam around freely, and narrow streets allow 2 camels to pass at a time! We roamed around aimlessly, just to take in this good feeling.









We had our snacks in Hotel Kalpana, where we spotted some bulleteers. I guess they were planning to ride all the way to Mumbai. But overall, didn’t feel like to go at the table and introduce myself as a biker. So I let them be, and we enjoyed our snacks. While paying the bill, I noticed some ground with carved gates behind. When I asked the manager what it was, he said:

“It’s the king’s palace.”
“How to go there? Where is the entry gate?”
“What will you do there?”
“...”

I wasn’t prepared for such sharp tongue and that too after paying the damn bill! But later noticed that almost every shop keeper has this bit of rudeness, and only when answered back in the same manner do they get normal!

Anyways we found the entry to the King's palace. Staying true to the great tradition of kings, the next of the kin has given the palace as hotel, and had a small part converted into museum open for public.





Nothing much to see here, so if you are rushing on time, give this place a pass. Not much crowd here either.









View of the fort from Palace



The door keeper was not allowing this photo for reasons best known to him. Got into bit of a verbal fight too. And after looking at the photo, I don’t think the spot was too great either!



Later, when we returned to hotel for donning thermalwears for the evening, the manager informed us that Desert festival was postponed or maybe cancelled because of death of a minister. That came as a shocker, and though the events were not in anyone’s hands, it surely disappointed many travelers. This is an event where you are at the receiving end, and nothing can be done.

But we were lucky we were accompanied by Vesta. We planned to ride to the border of India tomorrow, some 160 kms from Jaisalmer. Visited a cybercafé – which by the way had great speed internet only 20 rupees an hour! – and confirmed tomorrow’s route.

In the evening we went to Gadisar lake, which was very close to our hotel. It was dark already, with almost a full moon night. The lake was partly lit, mostly in dark. Still some people were boating in it. And not just couples hiding from prying eyes, elder (and HUGE) uncles and aunties too! We weren’t feeling too brave to enter the water even on boats, so clicked the lake from surrounding.





Vesta in the Lake Parking



Gadisar circle



Slept early today, because we were facing two continuous days of riding.

...to be continued.

[ani_meher]

@Nutty Nair & lohithrao, I will update about the bike whenever time permits. In short, it performed beautifully. Rider's seat is very soft, so no problem for extended riding. For pillion, Nandinee used a folded gunnybag which helped a great extent in comfort. Rest everything worked perfectly, and never once it gave any hiccup!

Hope you will enjoy the next part as well.

[ani_meher]

So close, yet so far - Day 8

We started towards Tanot at 9 a.m. The path is straightforward, with no probability of getting lost unless one is drunk or stupid – or both.

While going, we saw a windmill farm. A large amount of huge windmills are continuously spinning, to power up Jaislamer.



About 12 k.m.s from Jaisalmer, we reached Bada Bagh. At Bada bagh, there are cenotaphs (aka Chhatris) of Jaisalmer rulers, dating from 15th century till 1950s. A cenotaph is built in memorial of the dead. This tradition was ongoing till recent, but due to death of a prince by a mysterious disease, it was stopped in 1947.







A large number of cenotaphs are situated here, and seeing the dates on each, one really goes back in time. A very serene, serious place.





Later, we joined the main road to head to Tanot. Riding on this road was the most fun I had in entire Rajasthan ride. Initially we encountered a few trucks going on opposite way, and as the wind was blowing towards us, the air blast when the trucks passed would hit us like a brick. I started leaning whenever a truck came in opposite direction to avoid this hit, and after 2-3 such slaps, even Nandinee started to lean!

Later, the number of trucks went down, and empty roads stretched their hands to welcome us. At one such stretch, I leaned and started giving throttle. The speedometer 90 KMPH.-94-98-100-102 KMPH. The fastest I ever rode with a pillion. But it was not enough. Again on a second stretch, I leaned with the hand twisted, and Vesta touched 107 KMPH. After bringing her to normal speed (around 85 KMPH on that road), I sat straight, when I heard Nandinee’s voice: “Hit it again!”



On next stretch, same exercise. We reached 107 KMPH, but then the roads started to get a little bumpy. We got back to normal speed, and then a goat decided to jump in the path and dance its way to the opposite side! Then it struck me this is not the right place to see the top speed, and we rode sedately from then on.

Racing with a camel cart!



Some on road scenes











There is one Ghantyali Mata Mandir, with ‘First Darshan’ board. So parked Vesta there, and took Darshan. The story mentions that Pakistani soldiers tried to destroy that temple. It was shocking to imagine that where we were testing top speed were there Pakistani soldiers trying to capture the same land!





We reached Tanot Mata Mandir at around 1.30 p.m. This temple is depicted in the movie ‘Border’ too. In 1965 war, Pakistan had attacked with some 3000 bombs. 450 bombs fell around the temple, but the temple was not damaged even one bit. Similarly in 1971, hundreds of enemy tanks and vehicles were destroyed by Indian Army and were forced to retreat.









Some calves in temple campus, trying to eat my jeans away!



The main point of today’s trip was to see Bordar Pillar no. 609, the last accessible point to civilians. After some 100 meters from this pillar, Pakistan border starts. The norm for this trip was to ask permission at Tanot Mandir checkpost, which was supposedly easily given, and head further 15 kms for the pillar. But this was not to be so.

The army post had new set of rules now, stopping everyone at the Tanot Mandir only. It was shocking to know that after traveling 150kms, we would be stopped for last 15 kms. Even Longewala was out of reach for civilians. Some Jaisalmer taxiwallahs had blamed the Army about taking bribe for letting people to the border pillar, so Army had decided to stop the whole affair fully. We were told we needed permission from Jaisalmer office or Ramgarh office, which was situated about 60 kms behind!

We argued, hassled and nagged the sentry, the officers and whoever we could find in army uniform for about an hour. Even caught hold of a medical officer who had come for a visit, but the answer didn’t change. Some soldiers even explained to us:

“What’s there to see? Nothing! Same as here. See, it’s like this. You see that gate? There is a similar gate there, only big in size. In this place, there is a floodlight there, and there, there is a bunker!”

One even shared his experience:

“When I joined the army, I was all excited to see the border. ‘Oh I want to see the border!’ But when I reached there, I thought, ‘enough of the border, I want to return!’”

It was hard to swallow that we were stopped just 15 kms from the point we came to see, and that too just because of some stupid taxi walla’s fault. That day, we realized that interacting with army people is vastly different than interacting with traffic police or even usual police. Army personnel are not reasonable or negotiable, they only follow orders. So unless you have a permit from the upper authority, you can be sure their first answer to be their final one.

With heavy heart, we headed back to Jaisalmer. The roads brushed away our sadness again. Riding the same roads on the way back was still enjoyable and not boring as I had thought.







Lunch at Tanot is a serious problem, with no hotels around. One has to go back to Ramgarh for having anything to eat. So we suggest you carry your food all the way from Jaisalmer, if you want to avoid the hunt for hotels. We had our lunch at Ramgarh, that too we selected dhaba which was least dirty of all! So beware and bring your food with you.





It was a fast blazing ride back to Jaisalmer, because we remembered there was some puppet show at about 6.30p.m. near Gadisar lake. So we hoped to reach in time for that show. It was already 6.40p.m. till we finally found the place where the shows were conducted, but the ticket counter people let us in. We sat with full motorcycling gear, and stole the show for a few moments where everyone thought we too would be playing some part in the show!

The show lasted for about 40 minutes, had 4-5 puppet performance and commentary by founder Mr. Sharma. This 83 year old man still has the passion for true Jaisalmer tradition. It was touching to hear from him how Jaisalmer was 50 years ago, how the immigrants would pass the city in 1947 divide, how the town lost its place in business due to sea ports, and how the tradition was now getting sidestepped for money.

The day was spent well, and even though we couldn't see the border, the roads made up for it.

...to be continued.

[MX6]

great show! 100+ with a pillion rider sounds mind-boggling. But please do take care as in remote areas, in case of emergencies, help is far far away.
And yes. In Army, there are no negotiations. Only following orders. Wish, the army takes over the whole country. We'd have no more of German bakery incidents then.

[Nutty Nair]

I was going to post "Knock knock knock, where art thou?" today when you came up with the next instalment. Nice photos of the cenotaphs. I also liked the one with you & the bike in silhouette. Keep posting, pal.