Dwaraka to Somnath.

The trip to Somnath was not in the original itinerary of this pilgrimage.The distance between Dwaraka and Somnath which is 250 kms to be made by road was too daunting a thought to one who is no longer young and i had to travel another 450 kms there after to Ahmadabad by road.So in all i would be travelling 1200 kms on the road within 2 days!It also dawned upon me that in days to come as i get older there would be corresponding loss of health and energy.Hence i decided to bear the tedium of the journey to visit the temple known to me from childhood and to nearly all of us as the one that was continuously raided by Ghazni in the 11th cent ad.

It also the foremost of all the 12 Jyotir lingam sacred sites spread across Bharat.

The advt of Amitabh B on TV with a the characteristic shawl wrapped around his shoulders beckoning every one to visit the temple also goaded me, in a small measure to undertake this trip.

So after a trip to Bet Dwaraka and back and after a quick lunch we were on the road again.The landscape became more arid ,with a lot of cactus plants and very few habitations.The huts are rather cottages in here are generally built with stones or hollow blocks or wood as elsewhere enroute , in this state.
For most part the road was good but for the remaining ,I'll put it at 30 %,it was absolutely bone rattling.
After one such shake up i grumbled aloud from the back seat that the roads in Tamilnadu were much better at which the cabby a surly man who was tight lipped all through ,bristled and burst out saying that since these roads were very near the sea it corroded quickly and added to that trucks with heavy loads plied regularly on these roads which though well laid caused the rough patches and further added that Gujarat had a excellent network of roads.

I bit back the retort not wanting to court the risk of being offloaded in the middle of nowhere with a sparse population of mirror worked [gorgeous] back less choli,lehenga and chunni wearing tribal women and men with ear rings and nose rings with huge turbans and lazy camels pulling carts as the only company by further denting that stone wall of 'Gujarati pride'.The husband interceded that the state administration though at odds with the centre has achievements aplenty whilst at Tamilnadu they were coalition partners, for long. Then he turned around and asked 'all through our journey did the power fail even for a second at the places ,city or remote, we stopped or stayed?'The answere was in his question itself. It didn't.I let it go at that.

The cabby then put a full stop to the brief conversation with the confident assertion 'Woh Ajayenge'---he will win again.

We came across a very picturesque village an oasis amidst the aridity called Chorwod.A queer name for a nice looking place ,so i wondered when the surly cabby the man of very few words again burst out now with ill concealed pride in enlightening us that it was the ancestral village of Dhirubhai Ambani and looked as pleased as a cat that had its cream.As if to say another son of soil who has done the state proud!
Earlier we passed through Porbander ,the birth place of Ghandhiji.A big town ,with terrible roads.
Then i spotted pink flamingo's in the back waters of the Arabian sea which runs parallel to the road most of the way.A Nilgai crossed the road casually and disappeared into the thicket even before i fully registered the wild life's intrusion .A colourful swami narayan procession also passed us by.

As we neared Somnath[ 70kms] the landscape changed amazingly from scrub and cactus to lush coconut groves that rolled on as far as the eye could see, .Line of phatphatis were transporting the bounty of the land in steady streams.
Finally we reached Veraval which is the nearest town of Somnath.,that had the distinct odour of drying fish that reminded me of Rameshwaram.The cabby pointed to fishing boats bobbing in a inlet touching the road ,and glowered at them in anger and said that the boat used in 26 nov '8 attack was hired from there.If looks could kill , he would have burnt down those boats as well as the perpetrators to ashes then and there itself.The moment passed and we reached Somnath .The pungent smell of drying fish assailing my nostrils..

Photo.Mool Dwaraka temple,on the way to Somnath.Krishna and Siva are both enshrined in this temple.