Adventures of Venom - 2!!!

Day 2: 13th November 2007
------------------------------------------
We wake up at 6.00 AM to leave. But VS is unwell – has a stomach infection. Already!!!! And someone talks about me being dainty darling!!!
VS is in a bad shape and no medicine seems to be working! Finally the Gharelu Ilaaj & Dadi ma ke nuskhe come to his rescue. After having a horrible tasting kaadhaa & some heeng (eeeks!!!), he seems fine (or at least claims to be).

We leave home at 1100 AM. Still debating whether he is fit to ride for such a long distance.
My bums are stiff and I have come up with a brilliant idea. Remember the hot water bottle that I had packed for back aches? Well, it’s now being used for bum aches. I use the bottle as a water bed. :D – fill it to half, press it to push the air out and close it. Your water-bed is ready; and trust you me – it is SO VERY helpful ;) Don’t forget the hot water bottle if you are planning a bike ride!!!!

The next stop is scheduled to be Mt. Abu. We ride smoothly and having ball of a time (It’s on the highways that you realize that India is REALLY changing). I am busy hogging sitting in the pillion seat. And then, as is inevitable and expected (Suruchi can vouch for this), I need to use the loo. VS is pissed, and gives me “I told u not to hog like a pig, but you wouldn’t listen to me” expressions!!!

Then the search begins. I am getting anxious by the minute and he is getting annoyed. Finally we spot a “highway authorities” office. It looks like it’s been closed for ages. But fortunately the loo isn’t locked. But there’s another challenge – the way to the loo is covered with thick bushes and thorny ones at that!!!! Well, desperation is the mother of all adventures – so I decide to tread the path. 5 minutes and I am back – relieved, but wailing like a baby – I have thorns all over my body, jeans and some of them have been daring enough to be found inside my jeans (how, is a mystery). Then the mission begins, to pick each one of them. And VS is doing a good job at it. It takes 30 minutes for me to be back to normal and for him to pick out all visible thorns.

We are already late – it’s almost 200 PM. We rush off on our journey. I am too scared to talk about lunch now so we have to skip it!

We are on our way to Abu road (it’s a small town which is the “flats” for Mt. Abu). There is a steep climb to Mt. Abu from Abu Road. The road to Abu Road is quite bad – ‘Four-laning’ in progress and practically half the road is closed down. The truck drivers in this part of India are crazy – they take sharp turns and cut from tiny spaces; they will drive on the wrong side of the road (there is no divider to mark change of direction) and while you are cruising away, you will suddenly see a truck right in front of you, who will not budge nor respond to your light indication. Finally, if you don’t want yourself crushed, you will have to get off the road on the mud (if you are lucky) or in the fields (there is no shoulder) and stop by till the truck is gone.

We reach Abu road by 430 PM. The stretch between Abu Road and Mt. Abu is beautiful and steep. We manage to reach Mt. Abu at around 5.30 PM. Our aim is to get to the famous ‘Dilwara Temples’ before 600 PM. (It closes at 600). We reach at our destination at 5.55 PM, and I run to queue up, while VS searches for a parking space. We have to leave our luggage on the bike (no place to keep your bags). We are amongst the last batch that was allowed to enter (thank God!). The ‘Dilwara Temples’ live up to their reputation and only when you are inside do you realize why they are famous the world over. The marble carvings are out of the world and the temples are more than 1200 years old. It’s a pity that what has lasted for 1200 years is damaged in 100 years – thanks to the pollution that our comfortable lives result in!!

Sorry, no snaps – no camera allowed!!!!!

By 630 PM we are thrown out of the temple, though I couldn’t get enough of it! The next stop is the lake. It is a sure disappointment – too commercialized and artificial (maybe honeymooners will enjoy it!!!). Didn’t even spend 15 minutes there, and are already on our way back. By the time we reach Abu road, its dark and cold and we are hungry. We stop by in a small dhaba for food. Either the food is just too good or we are too hungry, I can’t decide – so I concentrate on food. Now the important question – where should we spend the night? There are no hotels available in Abu road (the entire Gujarat is in Mt Abu - they have 5 days vacation after Diwali). We decide to push off towards Jodhpur and stay in some motel on the highway wherever we find one.

The journey is chilling! Its cold, visibility is bad and the truck drivers in this part are worse at night!!!! We ride on for what seems like eternity – no motel in sight. Finally at around 1145 PM we spot a restaurant (more like a dhaba). We walk in to ask for directions. We are told that there is a motel around 5 kms down the road.
Those 5 KMs took us 15 minutes but the anticipation made it much longer. We finally stay in a motel called “Arbuda” (what a weird name!!!). The name is bad, but the motel was decent. It turns out that the motel was the official guest house for many a JK cement employees. We thank god that the factory is closed for Diwali vacations and that there rooms available. We don’t even know the name of the place – guess it was Sirohi if my memory serves me right!
----------------
Day 2 ends. Trip Meter reads 857.. 11 more days to go..