As mentioned earlier, this trip is all about balancing work and pleasure. The work element stemmed from the search for appropriate building structures and amenities for setting up leisure homes in two company owned properties that abut forests. One of the requirements in such sensitive locations is to ensure that the structure is temporary, yet sturdy, liveable and economical. With this in mind, Rajiv had carefully chosen where we halted. The first was to explore traditional Bungas, which are earthquake resistant houses and cottages, in Bhuj. The Tent City in Dhordo had been another such foray. Today we are travelling onwards to Barmer to explore and experience a container resort.
Water in Dholavira is brackish. It was indeed a struggle to brush my teeth in the morning. Instead of having a bath I restricted the exercise to a thorough sponging. Sunrise in this season in these parts is after 7.30 am. Right behind our resort room was the vast expanse of the Rann of Kutch. A few minutes before the scheduled sunrise I walked to the edge of the salt flat and marvelled at the magnificence of Nature yet again. The interplay of colours, its magical overlay on the salt flat and the sheer promise of the rising sun are all fuel for a galloping start to a new day. All self-doubts, negativities and anxieties recede with the rising of the sun.
Fuel was topmost on the to-do list of the morning. Sanjay arranged that with no fuss at all. He induced Praveen Ahir, the young manager of the Rann Resort, to part with 5 litres of his generator set fuel reserve to tide over the crisis we were faced with. That was readily acceded to and we were ready for a healthy breakfast of
Poha and
Khamman. A couple of cups of hot masala tea and we were ready for the road.
The plan was to drop Sanjay at Rapar, 90 km from Dholavira, where his car would come from Bhuj to pick him up. His company over the past three days had enhanced the value of the trip and his contribution to the twin objectives of it, of work and pleasure, had been exponentially high. While awaiting Sanjay's car at Rapar Rajiv and Sanjay partook of a portion of
Dabeli from a wayside vendor.
At Balasar I turned into an Essar fuel station to fill up fuel. While the attendant was topping up I met the leader of a biking team that was on a ride in the region. Deepak Gupta is known as The Mountain Man. He told me that he had ridden in all the Stan countries and Mongolia as well as from Alaska to Antarctica. He said that he had not followed the Pan American highway, but had done 51,000 kms on the North and South American continents! When I listened to that awesome achievement the seeds of a fresh adventure was certainly sown.
From Rapar the road to Barmer was through horrible stretches on NH68 and SH127. It was impossible to believe that Gujarat, and for that matter an Atma Nirbhar Bharat, had such lousy roads. In many places they could not be called roads. They were just huge craters. When we cannot make and maintain even standard roads I wonder why we give a call for Make In India. The Ministry of Highways takes pride in reporting 30 km of highways built every day. Do they even inspect the facilities they have built, I doubted?
The Kiri Container Resort is not exactly in Barmer, as we had originally thought. It is about 80 km short of Barmer, at Nai Undari village, Gudamalani. On the way we had a glimpse of why the place is important. The Rageswari gas fields are in close proximity and the container resort catered mainly to personnel working in the gas fields. We were booked to stay at the resort so that we could thoroughly inspect the facilities. That was done in the company of Vipul, the General Manager of the resort.
The resort is spread over an area of over 10 acres, in two sections. One is called the Camp, which is meant for those on deputation with gas fields’ works. That has a separate kitchen. The resort, which is open to public, houses modern facilities of a swimming pool, jacuzzi, bar, gym, et al. Sadly, with the pandemic all such common facilities are unavailable. The large meeting and recreation facilities are housed in 40 feet by 20 feet containers.
Two types of accommodation are available. The suite room is well laid out in an odd sized container with a mid-size living room, large bedroom and toilet. The rest of the rooms are in 40 feet by 10 feet containers partitioned into two living quarters, which has a bedroom cum toilet. Further security cabins, reception and other offices are also made out of containers. The blend of Rajastani and modern architecture is the highlight of the resort. The visit was most informative.
Kiri da Dhaba is a large restaurant at the entrance to the resort that caters to the resort/camp residents as well as casual visitors. We tried the
Schezwan Noodles and
Paneer Chilli Dry for dinner. It was a bit too spicy for our palates. That did not deter us from taking proper rest overnight, though.
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