Friends,
Last
evening I was told by the Police Sub Inspector that he would be ready by 4.15
am to attest the departure from Koteswar. He further told me that he was
staying in room number 27 in the same Jain Inn where I was staying too in room
number 1. I was ready, after priming up the car and loading the luggage by 4
a.m itself. I went to the room of the PSI and found it locked. A slight concern
gripped me. I drove to the police station and was told that the PSI is on a
night combing operation. Panic replaced concern. However, I was assured that
‘saab’ would be there as decided. And indeed, Mukesh Choudhary showed himself
up a few minutes thereafter. I was relieved and we drove to Koteswar. The PSI
had taken prior permission of the BSF to ‘flag off’ the expedition and to take
photographs. All went off as planned; the attestation and the photographs. The
GPS tracker was also working well – the GPS data could be used to supplement
the Limca documentation, particularly at places where documentation would be difficult
to obtain. I shifted gears at 4.30 am; the Coastal Expedition had begun – 6600
kms in 8 days.
The
routine planned for the day was for nearly 1000 kms. The check points included
Jakhau, Mandvi, Gandhidam, Bhachau, Jamnagar, Dwarka, Porbandar and Diu. All
through to Diu the contacts provided by Manoj Sasidharan, IPS worked. In most
places police personnel waited on the highway to pilot me to the stations where
the attestation would be done. Precious time was also saved by the logistical
fine tuning. I was provided detailed inputs about the road condition by Cherian
Abraham, who had toured the parts extensively. His eye for detail and
photographic memory helped me considerably.
The
86 km drive to Jakhau from Koteswar proved to be the loneliest – darkness, the
road was narrow, with steep drops and not a soul on the road. However, the road
was well surfaced and road warnings were adequate. I kept my eyes peeled for
the Nilgais till I got to the diversion from the highway for the police
station. I found a check post where I disturbed the snooze of the lonely
constable. He was upset that he had been ‘caught’ by a superior officer on a
night inspection. When I asked him for direction to the police station he
breathed easy. At that point a person appeared on a bicycle. The constable
asked him to guide me to the station. The PSI was expecting me at the station
and I was on time. At Mandvi I was taken to the residence of the Police
Inspector for he had gone home to freshen up after a night operation. By the time
I finished the attestation at Bhachau at 10.20 am I was feeling quite hungry. I
docked at a wayside eatery for a light snack. The reason for spending extra
time at the eatery was to get the car washed – a few people were engaged in
cleaning cars of customers who patronized the eatery – for Rs. 50 they did a
very competent job; the car had not been washed for nearly a week and I had
traveled 2400 kms to Koteswar from Cochin.
I
wished I had more time to explore Jamnagar (the Oil City), Dwarka (the capital
of Lord Krishna’s kingdom) and Porbandar (birth place of the Mahatma). By the
time I left Porbandar it was getting dark. Driving in the night is extremely
stressful due to the ‘flood lights’ of oncoming traffic. However, the high beam
is partially arrested by the stipulation of the yellow band across the right
side headlight. Even then, by the time I got to Diu my eyes would not close!
Cherian had booked me into the Radhika Beach Resort. Fortuitously, I found a
short cut that took me faster to the Beach Resort. The friendly staff ensured
that I was warmly received and comfortable in the room in a short time. I got
the arrival attestation done by the front office staff. I announced an early
morning departure. The manager asked if I would like to have my breakfast
packed. I agreed, even though I was skeptical it would be ready in time.
I
had traveled 956 kms through the day in 17.5 hours. My eyes were tired, but the
rest of me was in decent shape. I was getting ready for bed close to midnight
when a friend called after checking my status on the GPS tracker. He asked
where I was. I mentioned that I am “in Radhika”. From the tone of his voice I
could make out that he was a wee bit envious of the man who moved to Deepika
(the newspaper) from Beena (my wife) and was now in Radhika (the beach resort).
Without the words in brackets, one can imagine why!
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