Few months ago, I got the opportunity to organise a bike ride for a group of friends from Bangalore to the Great Rann of Kutch. In case you do not know or have never heard of the Rann of Kutch, this is how it looks:
The date was set as the last week of December, as the group was keen on visiting the Rann Utsav happening in the salt desert. All of us met at Ahmedabad on the day before the ride - Day 0.
Now, people think that Gujarat is a dry state with no alcohol and no non vegetarian. While this is true, there still are places where you get this stuff. One such place in Ahmedabad - Bhatiar Galli, Lal Darwaza; where you get some of the most yummiest non vegetarian dishes ever. Being a Hyderabadi - the land of exquisite cuisine, if I am saying this, you can take my word. After feasting on dishes like Chicken Afghani, Mughlai, Kabuli and others, we make our way to get our bike rentals. We got 5 bikes - 4 Royal Enfields and an Avenger on a rent of ₹1200 per day. Everything was set for the 6 day ride and we were excited to be doing this.
Day 1:
We start from Ahmedabad at 0900 hrs after having breakfast. Our first stop was the town of Patan in the Northwest of Gujarat where we were visiting Rani ki Vav - the step well built by Rani Udaymati of the Solanki Dynasty.
The roads of Gujarat - like butter. Mamma mia. You just have to hold the accelerator between your fingers and feel the beast between your legs rev up and gallop along at speeds upto 120 kmph. En route, you find a board that says "Tropic of Cancer is passing from here." We stopped and clicked pictures at this board for a half hour.
We reach Rani ki Vav at noon. Man, were we delighted at that awesome display of architecture in the well that is seven floors deep in the ground. Legend has it that during the flood of the Saraswati river that used to flow through this area, this stepwell was buried under sand and was discovered only in the late 1800s by the Archaeological Survey of India and restored to the glory it is in today. Some pictures:
Then, it was time to go off to the next stop - Modhera Sun Temple - one of the few sun temples in India, after catching lunch that is. Lunch is very important! :p
Modhera Sun Temple is yet another architectural bliss a seen in the below pictures.
At the end of the day, we reached our night stay - Desert Coursers Resort, which lies at the edge of the Little Rann of Kutch, a sandy desert unlike the Great Rann, through which we were supposed to ride the next day.
Day 2:
It was a very cold morning, the mercury hovering at around 10 degree celsius and we in our full armour, shivering while we made our way to Zinzuwada village, where the gate that opens into the Little Rann awaited us. We entered the Little Rann, in high excitements. It was a ride of 80 km through nothingness, which was supposed to cut the distance by 150km (if travelled by road).
TO BE CONTINUED...
