Day 5 – Junagadh to Ahmedabad
Day 5 – Thursday, 31/10/2013
Recap – In the past few days, we have visited Girnar mountain and Junagadh city. Today, we leave for Ahmedabad via train.
As a kid, I used to hate waking up after the alarm rang. I wanted to be the one to beat him. This habit led me to be an early riser, I suppose.
So now a days, I still keep an alarm for 6:30 am but my eyes always open a few minutes before then. My mind is trained enough. If you would like to attempt this, try a small exercise – Set an alarm for the time you want to wake up and before going to bed, chant 5 times that I wish to wake up at 6:30 am (example). Your mind will set an automatic alarm and you will wake up before the alarm can wake you up. I feel happy when I experience this and that’s what I call eternal happiness.
It’s 6:30 am, my eyes open and in a few minutes, the alarm rings. wah la! I look around and our bags are all packed, few odd bits lying around. It reminds me that it’s time to move on to our next city. We finish our morning duties, some observations – I see people brushing their teeth in the open with a Datun (it’s a neem twig) used by people for oral health.
It’s 8:30 am, we have finished breakfast and take a stroll in the town for one last time. We visit all the Jain temples once again. On our way back, we complete the check out formalities at the Dharamshala. Most Dharamshalas in India still work on a charity basis. They might have a fixed price for the room rent but food is offered to guests. You can donate any amount you feel appropriate.
It’s 10:00 am and Vijay Bhai (rickshaw wallah) is here to take us back. I ask him to take us to any shop where they sell Junagadh speciality. It’s the Dudh Peda (milk fudge) and we purchase a 500 gm sweet box for our hosts in Ahmedabad. We reach the station at 11 am and the train arrives on time at 11:30 am. How can I thank Junagadh enough but to tell you the truth, they offered us a 4 gun salute for visiting.
Junagadh station
We board the same train we arrived in – Somnath Jabalpur Exp. We have a 7 hour journey and as it was a day journey, we had booked Sleeper class.
Train route
It’s 1:30 pm and we interact with our co passengers who were from Madhya Pradesh, they were going back home to Bhopal for Diwali vacations. They seemed to be a fun jolly group. I invited them for a game of cards. We started playing Mendicoat – It’s played by 4 people and you preserve the hand with 10 in it. If you collect the maximum, you and your partner win. For these people, this game seemed a piece of cake. They invited me to play another game – called Dehela. It’s again the same concept but you need to win two continuous hands and have a 10 in the deal you make.
It’s 4:30 pm and we are still playing this game. How time passes when you are having fun? The train starts to get a bit crowded and local people enter reserved compartments and there is nothing you can do but share your seat with them. This is India, my friend.
It’s 6 pm and we speak to Jitu Bhai, our host in Ahmedabad and he is coming to pick us up at Ahmedabad station. Yea! For those who have not been to Ahmedabad, it’s a major junction with around 15 different platforms at one level. There are thousands and thousands of people. We slowly chart our way out and meet Jitu Bhai. He takes us home in his Toyota Etios in peak traffic but hey, we got to see the city and various markets. It’s a 10 minute journey but took us 45 minutes.
We reached our friends house and it was a 2 storied bungalow. We freshened up and had dinner with them. Ah! I love home made Gujarati food.
It’s 9 pm – we settle in the verandah and see Diwali lightings in each house. Diwali is in a few days and people are in an upbeat mood to celebrate.
After making plans for the next day, we call it a night.
Hope you enjoyed this piece, please write your comments. I enjoy reading your feedback.
Best,
Paras