After seeing the India Bridge, we decide to make a run for the Great white Rann. The Egg man at Khavda had come, and we got some really yucky tasting eggs from there. I wonder how can a boiled egg taste bad....? Maybe it was cold(boiled an hour before).
Wife did some shopping too. That area really has some great handicrafts at great price.
After that it was a pretty sedate run through some village highways to Dhorodo
the actual "White desert" starts 2km later. At the checkpost near Dhorodo, we submitted our permits, and were told that some movie shooting is going on.
The sun was shining, it was high noon, and high were our spirits
Right near the end there was a barrier, but lots of cars were parked after that.
I also bypassed the barrier, and then instead of taking the "normal route" I decided to take the "crow flies" route.
Now the white elephant is no crow, and it does not fly. Even if you rapidly flap the ORVMs it still cannot fly.
The Rann was waiting. It looked so nice, like melted white chocolate. The stuff you love to eat. But the white chocolate was fed up with vegetarian food, and decided to eat the white elephant.
And before I could realize what has happened, we stopped. I was already in 4WD, so it meant we were really stuck.
Well no worry. All you gotta do is rock back and rock forth and you are free?
Right.
Well no rock back and rock forth here.
Here you get stuck means you get stuck.
So the wheels spun aimlessly and we were in the mud.
We decide to move towards the parked "crew cars". There was a truck there too, and I hoped to find a showel or something.
No such luck. quite a few drivers came though, got in the slush, got their feet dirty and tried to push the car. But how do you push an elephant. Whats 4-5 people compared to 2.4 tonnes of hulking metal.
she just sat there and spun her wheels.
Lots of ideas were explored. Things like jacking up. But how do you jack up when your feet sink 1 foot into the mud?
Eventually reality stuck in. We were stuck. After almost 63000kms and 2.5 years, I had finally managed to get the white elephant stuck.
Mind you, I have spun wheels in Sand dunes of Rajasthan, almost gotten stuck in Pangong Tso, stuck in a hotel parking lot at Narkanda with almost a foot of snow, but always rock back and rock forth has worked.
Not this time. External help would be needed.
So some friendly tourists gave us a lift till the BSF gate, where the jawans gave me a funny "I told you so" look and some lecture. Anyways, the villagers will arrange a tractor for 500bucks, and it will come from 8kms away.
So with nothing much to do, we walked the 2kms from the checkpost, to the great white Rann, and decided to enjoy the Shooting.
The Great White Rann
The funny thing about the Rann is whether you take one picture or you take 100, all look the same. There is this white thingy, which incidently was very wet. Unusual for this time of the year. This thing can swallow tractors too(which I learnt the hard way).
Then there is the blue sky.
But to see white stretching till the end and then blue sky makes you feel you are in Antartica without the cold.
Trust me, if you want to show your friends that you went to Antartica or Arctic circle without actually going there, wear a thick jacket, or a fur coat, pretend to shiver, and get yourself clicked in the Great white Ran
anyways, we reached the movie shooting scene. Nobody tried to shoo us away. I guess thats the difference between Kannada film industry and bollywood. It would have been impossible to get within a mile of the set if it had been a hindi movie or something.
Another shot of the heroine.
This guy was probably the villain
This guy was the hero
And in the next pic you will see the other shooting going on. A bigger tamasha than the movie shooting
The FZ35 revealed that a tractor was indeed coming and it was time to scoot towards the site
But one final great white Rann pic
We reached the site, the tractor was in place, and even the BSF officer had come to see from the checkpost that where exactly had we managed to get stuck
the first dialogue that greets us in the "movie" is "Shooting Baad me Dekh lena, pehle Gaadi to nikalwa lo"
Translated : Watch the shooting later, first get your car out.
Meanwhile the Tractor guy is looking at us funny. He is wondering how did we reach there.
Then he tells the officer that his tractor will get stuck.
After some brainstorming they decide that they will first drive the tractor right behind the safari and make the ground level.
Its not easy task, and the poor tractor is spinning its wheels.
Today can be a very long day.
More tourists come. One of them asks "Shooting kahan hai".
The officer replies(on seeing the camera in wife's hand), " Ek yahaan chal rahi hai, or ek wahan chal rahi hai, koi si bhi dekh lo"
i.e. One shooting is going on here, and one is going on there, watch whichever you like.
I get in the car, and more tourists have come. Even the movie shooting taxi crew has come. They are not interested in movie shooting anymore, they all want to watch us.
We were the new stars of the Rann.
So for your viewing pleasure, I present to you, a "White Elephant Picture production"
I guess this video does not need any words, right?