10th Nov 2004 – Ajmer calling
07:30hrs, alarm rings and I’m up to start the beginning of another day of mile munching. It was a good sleep last night and now I’m fresh for another day. After getting ready I settled the bill, checked engine oil and loaded the lugguage onto the bike. At 08:45hrs with odo showing 15,907 I’m out of the hotel parking, finding my way towards Amhedabad. Without much of trouble, thanks to the directions given by hotel manager, I’m on the road towards Amhedabad. There is a lot of truck traffic on the two lane road. Riding for few km’s I got to know that most of the trucks are going at speed around 60km/hr, so I started to use throttle to control my speed while negotiating the traffic. Occasionally I have to apply brakes while overtaking a faster moving truck. The road is having tress on both sides almost all the way, which reminds me of the roads in UP I have travelled during my childhood.
Soon I entered Amhedabad, with no bypass present I have to ride through the traffic filled road to cross the town. On the way I saw the expressay between Amhedabad and Baroda, unfortunatly here also two wheelers were not allowed. It took me some time to cross the city and I wished I could also ride like some of the local guys who were able to just zip through the traffic as if there is no traffic on the road. I’m once again on the open stretch of the highway. Sadly this stretch is also under construction and there are lots of diversions and incomplete stretches to ride on. The speed has dropped again to around 40-50 and I’m wondering as to how long this kind of road is going to be. The bike again comes into reserve with odo showing 16,084. I again started to look for a gas station. Found one at a place called Salal near Prantij, stopped at 12:00hrs. Since the gas station is not looking too good, I decide to fill only little amount of fuel. Luckly there is a hotel next to the gas station so after filling up my baby I headed into the hotel Sarvoday to fill my stomach as well. Being in Gujrat I decided to have some farsan, etc.
The food costed me Rs 25 and after a break of 35min I’m back on road. Having asked the hotel owner about the road condition and got happy to hear that in next few km’s I’ll be riding on smooth 4lane road. The hotel owner was right, few km’s of bad stretch and after Himatnagar I’m back on smooth 4 lane road with almost no traffic. The road now gets a bit twisty with some small climb and then downslope. I’m able to maintain a speed of around 80 very easily. The road makes me feel to keep on riding for ever and ever. Now it is time for me to cross Gujrat border to enter into Rajasthan. Here I got a bit confused as there are lots of marked lanes for trucks, cars, etc but nothing for a two wheeler, so I took my own lane and carried on. Since I have not tanked up last time the bike soon comes into reserve, odo showing 16,214, breaking the beautiful ride into a search for a gas station. I crossed a few gas stations on the other side of the road and hoping to find one on my side, I carried on riding until I realised that I have ridden for over 40km’s. Situation is that I need a gas station badly and got one, again on the other side. I then took the cut in the road to head back to the gas station and refill. It is near Rakhabh Dev and Udaipur is now very close.
After filling the fuel I got back on the way to Udaipur, which is hardly any distance so I decided to stop there for luch. It is getting hot and I took a small halt at 15:00hrs. After stopping I realised I have stopped in the middle of no where. Well after a 10min break to give myself a bit of rest from the heat, I resumed the ride. In another 30 odd minutes I entered the limits of Updaipur. Fortunatly there is a by pass using which I’m avoided of riding through the city. Hoping to see some hotel I carried on riding on the bypass but kept on getting marble stone shopes one after another. I started to feel hungry but unable to see any hotel/resort close by. Looking for a hotel I crossed Udaipur and started to climb a ghat. Here I meet with some amount of traffic. At the top of climb there is a big door made of stones and we have to ride through it. Crossing it I saw a dhaba, Bhairu Nath, on right side and decide to stop there. Clock is showing 16:10hrs and I’m very hungry. Placed a big order and lied down on a bed, wondering if I should carry on for Ajmer or stop here only, as it is impossible to reach Ajmer in day light. While having food I meet his young policeman Roop Chand, very friendly and talkative. He started to tell me about himself before hearing to my ride plan. He then started to advise me on the route to Ajmer, gave me names of some cops in police station at Bhim who will help me, if needed. He advised me not to stop on the route once it get dark. After the lunch (Rs 29) and wishing each other best of luck, I started at 16:50 towards Ajmer.
The road is now a two lane with not the smoothest of surface. There is very little traffic here, unless I’m riding through some small village/town. In this part of country there are lots of marble stone shops, reminding me of the fact that Udaipur is famous for its marble stones. As expected soon sun, after wishing me luck, started to go to rest. As light started to fade away, traffic also reduced with occasional vehicle being seen on the road. Once it got dark it got a bit scary. I looked around and is not able to see any light source as long as I can see in either direction. This gave a feeling of being all alone for the first time and suddenly the accelerator got twisted and speed went up to 80+. Entering the next town Rajsamand, I thought to fill up some fuel, as the current amount is not enough to take me till Ajmer, so after a quick stop I’m back riding on the unknown road in night. Around 19:15hrs I reached Bhim and with Ajmer ~100km away I decided to carry on. Road now is having some more traffic making it a bit difficult to ride in dark due to the highbeam of oncoming traffic.
Around 20:30hrs I enter Ajmer town and headed straight into the city. Following my own judgement I reached Ajmer Railway station odo is showing 16,570 and clock 20:45hrs. I started to look for a hotel and soon I’m standing next to Hotel Nagpal. The rate for a room is Rs 150 so I decide to check in. Once settled into the room, I decide to go out for dinner and have a walk to near by area. After having dinner at Hotel Jai Bhole for Rs 60 I took a small walk in town, as I was sitting for the whole day so a walk will be good. Returning back to hotel I watched movie on TV before calling it end of day.
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