Iris explores the West..

Prologue
Here we were.. Me and Iris.. Sitting in the middle of a web of cracks stretching as far as the eyes could see.. For miles around me there was nothing but dry baked mud.. no person, no tree, no building, not even a stone which could give a sense of direction.. There was a mild breeze blowing.. But air was so that that it felt like there was a dragon breathing down on me.  The heat was such that even the sweat evaporated before it came out.. Only sound I could hear was that of my breath.. Sitting here, 20kms into Little Rann of Kutch, I took a sip of water from my hydrapack and reflected back on my ride from Delhi..


Delhi-Radhanpur
Plan was simple: start from Delhi, cross the Rann of Kutch, go round Gujarat (Gir National Park, Junagarh, Somnath), stop a few days in Mumbai and finally reach Hyderabad.

First day was a straight ride from Delhi to Chittaurgarh on the lovely highways of Rajasthan.
Starting from home.. (few pictures taken from my mobile phone)

This was my first long ride on my KTM Duke (the name is Iris) and she was riding like a dream. Having upgraded from a pulsar 150, I was really enjoying the extra power the bike had to offer. Even at 110, when I twisted the throttle, she promptly responded with a burst of acceleration. And how can I forget the handling of the bike. Maneuvering through trucks was like slicing butter with a hot knife.
bhaiyaji ishmyle..


As I got of Delhi, there was heavy truck traffic, especially near Dharuhera but I was able to easily cut through and still maintain an average speed of 80kmph.
First stop after Delhi..

Open highway, limca de naalo Uncle Chips.. Hor ki chahida paaji!!! (Just before the Kisangarh stretch..)

The awesome highways of Rajasthan..


the dryness all around..


Nimbu Paani break..

I reached Chittaurgarh by 5pm covering a distance of 594kms from home..

Next day morning I got a bit late in starting.
Leaving Chittorgarh..

Sun was already out, it was kind of getting hot. People had warned me against riding through the plains in April but I thought how hot could it get? Weather in Delhi was pretty bearable, how much different can the weather outside be. What I forgot was that I would be riding through the hottest parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. After 10pm it started getting really very hot.

If I opened the air vents in my helmet, my head used to get baked from the hot air. If I dint, then the heat trapped inside heated up my head. Inside my riding boots, my feet were burning like hell. The hot air from the bike radiator, which it irritatingly directed straight to my legs, was making the matters worse. After a while the heat got so unbearable that I stopped at the first dhaba I could find, ran to the hand pump, took off my helmet and poured a matka full of water over my head (with the balaclava still on).
The dryness..

When I started riding again I suddenly felt a chilled waft of air hit my face. As the wind passed through my wet clothes, it became cold and the next 20 minutes felt like I was like riding in the Himalayas. But soon the water dried out and the hot air started scalding my skin again. Suddenly a glint from far away caught my attention. As I took the next corner, I saw a big lake next to road. Water!! In this heat!! Awesome!!! After a few metres I saw a small trail going downhill towards the lake. I immediately started following it..

A few metres ahead, the trail ended and there was just a downhill descend to the lake.

I rode down the hill till the edge of the water, took out my shoes and dipped my feet into the lake. Ahh what a relief!!!

Lakeside parking..

The lake was actually quite big..


I was really enjoying the cold water when I realized that I had sat there for almost an hour. I quickly got up and, re-doing all my average speed calculations, climbed back the slope to the road.


Riding again in the scalding heat, I reached Abu Road by afternoon. There I stopped at my relative’s place for a quick lunch and a refreshing 45 minutes nap. After that I rode straight and fast till I reached Radhanpur in Gujarat and checked in to the only AC hotel there. 473kms covered on the second day. Not as much as I would have wanted to cover but still ok.

Entering the Rann
Next day I woke up all excited and fearful. Today I had an appointment with The Rann. All sorts of apprehensions filled my mind.. Will I be able to find my way or will I get lost? Will Iris be able to handle the off-road? What if the water had not dried and I get stuck in the mud. Or what if some of the locals just beat me up, take my stuff and leave me alone in the Rann?? With 12 litres of fuel in the tank and 10 litres in the jerry cans and lot of mixed feelings, I set out to conquer the Rann. From Radhanpur I took the highway to Adesar (around 80kms away). This part of the journey was quick. Then from Adesar, I asked for the way to the Rann. This I had to do frequently as there was no well marked road.

Finally I was directed to a village called Vamu Wandh. This village was at the edge of the Rann. From here I took a narrow single lane road which after a few kilometer ended in an endless sea of dry mud. 

Welcome to the Rann!!! 

The only means of finding the way now was to follow the tire tracks. But these were also going in all directions and i had no idea which ones to follow. I saw 2 people on a bike riding my way. They told me that they were also going across and if I want I could follow them. Excited, I finally entered the Little Rann of Kutch.

Ride across Rann
I started following the bike. The tracks which I was riding in were mostly hard dry mud with patches of loose sand. Suddenly my rear tire decided to go left when the whole bike was going right. I shifted my weight and increased the speed. Iris was still adamant on going sideways. But I had no intention of falling.. After some skidding and dancing I was in control again... Good save, sparsh!! But before I could finish congratulating myself, there was a sudden jerk and I found myself kissing floor. Curse these chikna tires!! I was riding in so much sand that even my foot was sinking in it and the threadless stock tires of Duke were not getting any grip at all. As I fell the edge of the frame of my boxes dig right into my toe. Thank god I was wearing riding boots and so escaped with just a bruise. I got up and quickly picked my bike up which had started leaking petrol from the fuel cap and coolant from god knows where. The next half an hour of the journey was irritatingly exciting with Iris skidding all over the place. Thankfully I managed to not fall again. But after my first fall I had lost the bike which I was supposed to follow, so was on my own again. I randomly chose which track to follow and it led me to some salt fields.

Later I realized that this wasn’t the right way as it ended in one of these fields. I stopped a truck and ask for directions. The driver again told me to follow him. But this time following was easier as the truck was even slower than me in the sand patches. The driver showed me which path to take and went his way. Till now there had been a lot of shrubs around but in front on me I could only see the mud plains stretching till the horizon..

Yayy!! Im here finally…
Like a kid who had been left in a open field, I went crazy.. A decent photo..


Oyyyyy…..


Oyyyyyyyyyyy……


Also there was only one set of tracks to follow.

But now that I was more relaxed, I realized that it was getting hotter by the minute. Inside my helmet, my head was radiating more heat than the radiator of my bike.. Again I tried my liquid cooling technique.. Drenching my balaclava in cold water and then rode on.. Much better now.. On the way I stopped frequently to drink water and take pictures. Midway through the Rann, there is a temple. Lot of people come to this place just to visit that temple. When I reached there, they asked me to sit with them. They also offered me water and a warm lunch of rotis, dal, sabji and mithai. I relaxed on the cold marble floor trying to answer their questions in my broken Gujarati. After I good one hour’s break, with my hydrapack and stomach full, I started back.. That brings us to this moment in time.. I am standing here in the Rann with no one or nothing except barren land all around.

In front of me the road forks into 3 paths leading into 3 different directions. I had waited for 15 minutes but no one passed by. There was no mobile network, so google couldn’t come to my rescue either. What to do now?? I knew that my final exit from the Rann was dead south of my entry point on the map. So I opened the compass on my phone, saw which path was leading south and started following it. After many kilometers this path also started turning towards west. I abandoned this path and just started riding south across the cracked up mud.

Many kilometers later, I saw some salt fields straight ahead. Salt fields were usually at the edge of the Rann, so hopefully I have crossed it (but I hope its not in the wrong direction). More importantly, salt fields meant people who could give me directions. But salt fields also meant water and slippery wet mud. Again Iris and I were jiving. I stopped at the nearest salt field.

more salt..

mooooore salt...

The water in my hydrapack was boiling hot by now. The worker there gave me some cold water. Also there was tractor going from there towards the village. I started following the tractor. I was really fortunate to have found the tractor. The path from the edge of the Rann till the nearest village was a maze of trails through shrubs and trees and it was impossible to find which trail to take. I could have been lost in there for days. Also it was so sandy that it was like riding in the desert in Rajasthan. 

Iris was all over place and we even slipped fell a few times. Finally the sand trails ended and reached the tarred road to Halvad. Original plan was to go to Junagarh from Halvad. But I had a stroke of sanity and seeing the way it was getting hot, I decided to cancel the rest of the Gujarat trip and took the Ahmedabad highway.

Following my shadow on the awesome highways of Gujarat..

The Man and the Machine..

Ahmadabad

If I have to describe the traffic here in one word, it would undoubtedly be “crazy”. And this is coming from someone who has lived all his life in Delhi!! The citizens of the city have collectively decided to boycott the concept of traffic signals. So whether the light is red or green, whether there is a traffic policeman or not, people just cross the signals. But don’t you think that the traffic police are incompetent. In Ahmedabad it is mandatory to put a yellow sticker on the right headlamp and it has been enforced so strictly that you will rarely find a car without this yellow sticker.

Why they have made this rule is a different question. The people I knew there, dint have the answer to it.

I was staying with a friend of my mom.
My hosts..





We went for lunch to a Lebanese and Moroccan restaurant. The most shocking part was that most of the menu was vegetarian. I am sure even Lebanese people don’t have so many vegetarian dishes in their cuisine!!
The salt and pepper shaker..


I was so tired that I slept till late the next day. No point leaving after 10 as it was very hot by then. So I decided to rest another day in Ahmedabad. In the evening I went for some sightseeing: the Jama Masjid, Jaali Mosque, Julta Minar.
Jaali Mosque..






Bhadra Fort..

Jami Masjid..




Jhulta Minar

These 2 towers actually sway when pushed at the top. I was very curious to see this but people are not allowed to go to the top now.
Returning home after the day’s work


On the way back I met this autorickshaw walla. I was shocked when he started telling me the difference between Mb and Gb. Many educated people I know aren’t so tech savvy. According to him, he could open mobile phones and repair them (this I felt was a bit over the top). He was also a self professed photographer. He claimed he had thousands of pics of the monuments in Delhi. It was an interesting ride back home.

Journey to Mumbai 
Next day I left for Mumbai. Plan was to visit the Champaner-Pavagarh Archeological Reserve near Vadodara and then spend the night at Daman or Silvassa. The highway was mostly good and I made quick progress.

I reached Vadodara by 8 and Champaner by 10. Champaner-Pavagarh is UNESCO World Heritage Site which contains largely unexcavated archaeological, historic and living cultural heritage properties cradled in an impressive landscape which includes prehistoric (chalcolithic) sites, a hill fortress of an early Hindu capital, remains of the 16th century capital, palaces, religious buildings, residential precincts, agricultural structures and water installations, from the 8th to the 14th centuries. The Kalikamata Temple on top of the Pavagadh Hill is considered to be an important shrine. For the next 3-4 hours I was just roaming around clicking photos. It was a huge site with many many monuments to see.