‘Goodwill Knows No Boundaries’ is a tag line of Record Drive.
I have had this since 2014, when I drove to London. I have experienced numerous
instances of the tag line in my life, particularly on my travels. This morning
it was no different. When the hotel vouchers were being prepared I went to the
car park to put my luggage and make the preliminary checks before starting the
day’s drive. The sight that greeted me there was of the security guard of the
hotel cleaning my car. I had not asked for it to be cleaned; the guard said
that he decided to clean it as the car had done a long journey! What can you
say of such an experience? Interactions such as these make a journey worth its
while and prove that, truly, goodwill knows no boundaries.
The road from Udhampur had been good, all the way upto Abu
Road. A lot is said about the excellent condition of the roads in Gujarat. The border
was just 10 km from the hotel. The border between Rajasthan and Gujarat was virtually
seamless, in that there was no hold up there at all, unlike most others I had
experienced on the way. The road condition did not
disappoint and it was top class till Bachau, after which it was quite ordinary
till Koteshwar.
A creeping worry as I was
motoring towards Koteshwar was the attestation of the log sheet there. I knew
that the place had no hotels and that the only recourse would be the police
station. I connected with an old friend who is presently the Commissioner of
Police, Vadodara, Manoj Sasidharan IPS. He was all grace and promised that the needful
would be done, which was in a few minutes. I had the number of the SHO and was
told that he would await my call. As I was near the Narayan Sarovar, which is
one of the five holy lakes according to Hindu theology, I called up the SHO and
told him that I would meet him in the station. I knew the location of the
police station from my earlier visits to Koteshwar on the Coast to Coast and
East West expeditions in Jan/Feb 2013.
The SHO wanted me to have snacks, lunch,
tea, etc. I politely turned down the hospitality and got to the business end of
the visit. The log sheet was attested. I had completed the third corner a day
in advance of the schedule. After the formalities were completed the SHO piloted
me to the land’s end in Koteshwar. Even though I had been there by foot in the earlier
visits, this was the first time I was there with the car. It was an awesome
experience. The Koteshwar Mahadev Shiva temple overlooks the Kori creek and its
earliest mention is reportedly in the writings of the ancient Chinese traveler,
Hiuen Tsiang. Well beyond is the Sir
Creek which is the boundary with Pakistan.
Three corners done, one more
to go. I was over the moon; the third was done within 96 hours of the second. I
even mulled the prospect of extending the day’s run to Ahmedabad; felt I could
do it, but decided against it in the interest of some extra rest. I had a
reservation in Click Hotels, just beside the Bhuj railway station. I reached
there without much ado after 725 kms in 11 hours; only another 3000 plus kms to
go to complete the expedition. The hotel was quite comfortable and was adequate
to recharge the body batteries before getting on the road for the final corner.
It was incredibly hot and windy in Bhuj. I had to do a lot of repacking for the
final days of the expedition. It was quite a task doing that in that windy
condition, but I managed. The restaurant gave me excellent veg pakoras and tea. After completing the documentation and before
turning in for the night I had a bowl of sweet
corn soup.
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