Even though we were scheduled to stay two nights in Kiri Container Resort Rajiv came up with the idea of including Statue of Unity in the itinerary. After meeting the owners of the resort in Barmer we would travel this day to Ahmedabad, it was decided. With that revised plan in mind we left for Barmer close to 9 am after breakfast of
Paneer Paratha and tea.
By quarter past ten we were at the appointed place to meet the Kiris. Despite it being a Sunday Pawan and Lalit had agreed to meet us in their office. A very large tract of land served as their manufacturing unit, storage yard and office. Naturally, all their offices were in containers. Kiri Logistics do not refurbish old containers. They manufacture new ones as per requirement, furnish and transport them to places even as far away as Assam. They mainly cater to needs of the oil and gas sectors and most of those requirements are on long term lease basis. Pawan told us how they have been in the business for over 15 years manufacturing 40 by 10 feet containers and others sizes based on demand. Over the years they have honed their expertise and, with a dedicated set of skilled workers, they seemed capable of handling any design and specs. I have been exploring the possibility of mobile homes for Company properties in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Kiri Logistics is now certainly on the shortlist and the visit was indeed most productive.
It was after 2 pm when we started for Ahmedabad from Barmer. We had over 360 km to cover and Pawan confirmed it could be done in 6 hours due to good road conditions. The initial stretch to Gudmalani was a breeze and the first 100 km went by in an hour. The next took two hours. Indifferent roads and heavy cargo movement were the reasons. NHAI must be held culpable for such horrendous infrastructure. Many vehicles had broken down on the highway due to the poor road condition. Google Maps guided us via Deesa and Palanpur to Ahmedabad by 8.30 pm. The city, as with a few others in Gujarat during the pandemic, has curfew between 9 pm and 6 am. Rajiv was relieved to have beaten that deadline.
I have had very poor experience with the ICICI Fastag I had secured in Chennai. While it took me a couple of months to get it due to address glitches, the incorrect logging on the OMR toll plaza had me filing for reversal of debited amounts. The toll company and ICICI were so lethargic handling the reversal that I ended up losing money. In complete frustration I had taken down the ICICI Fastag. Wide publicity was being given to total enforcement of Fastag with effect from 1 January 2021. This left me with no alternative than to get one again. At most toll plazas in Maharashtra and Gujarat agents were present to instantly activate Fastag without much documentation. Rajiv had helped me obtain one from a toll plaza between Somnath and Bhuj. I had only to download the PayTM App and populate the wallet to get the account activated. Since Gujarat State Highways are free for all vehicles other than commercial ones my Fastag had not been tested to this day. And, my experience today surprised me. There were just two NHAI toll plazas between Barmer and Palanpur. At both toll pazas the Fastag lanes were unmanned. The reader performed flawlessly and I was through in seconds. Mighty impressive.
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