Less Explored = More risk

Less explored place of Gujrat, Pavagarh

It was october 2^nd and I wondered how destiny had chosen this day for our first ever visit to Gujrat. Last to last year in october 2014, me and my family went to the southern part of Gujrat.We selected southern Gujrat for the trip as we cannot cover entire Gujrat in one week and we wanted to go to most celebrated temples of hindu religion i.e, Somnath and Dwarkadhish which lies in this part of the westernmost state of INDIA. It was occasion of Durga Ashtami and also Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. My family which includes my parents, and 3 sisters,took Metro from New Delhi Railway station to Aerocity. We were taking Indigo flight to Vadodra from T1 terminal and airport metro goes till T3 terminal. So we took feeder bus after reaching Aerocity to T1 terminal. It was 4 pm. We reached 3 hours before the given time. Around 6:45pm we took off from New Delhi and reached Vadodra in just 1 hr 30 mins.

Vadodra

We had reasons for selecting Vadodra. First, we wanted to travel in aeroplane as we had never boarded the plane before, secondly, we learnt that some hill station was also there in Vadodra named ‘Pavagarh’. And also there were no cheap flights to Rajkot. Rajkot was our next destination.We chose  Rajkot from where we could travel to Somnath , Diu and Dwarkadhish easily. We were in Vadodra for just 2 days.Vadodra airport is a small airport and one can get rickshaws or taxies easily after coming out of the airport. We took two rickshaws and soon we reached our hotel. After check in, we all retired to our rooms in group of 3 in each room. Tommorrow we were going to Pavagarh. We took non ac rooms as we thought october would be pleasant , but it was hot humid in the Gujrat. Entire night was spent under the fan. While sleeping in the room we realized we had made a mistake.

Lesson learnt : Never take Non ac rooms if you are travelling to Gujarat during September-October month.

Next day,Pavagarh,Vadodra

After spending humid night in the room, we booked ac cab for Pavagarh. It was Dusshera day. Our driver came exactly at 11 o’clock. We took the cab and started our journey to Pavagarh. We had our lunch in an ac restaurant as our driver suggested us to have it before we reach the destination. Around 12:45pm we reached Pavagadh. We saw driver parking the cab. We asked him why is he not taking us to the cliff? He answered that no cab or taxi goes to the cliff and for that we had to take bus. We shocked to hear that. Anyhow we took the bus which was horrible like any other roadways bus. After sometime we reached a point where all buses were parked. Then we came out off the bus. We walked and walked. So many people were there because it was occasion of Dusshera. We were held in a long queue for an hour. Area was unhygienic. We had to reach a point where the spot of cable cars was located. By god’s grace wefinally took the Cable car. But our journey was not ended there. We had to walk more. Then we took stairs and finally reached the spot where idol was situated. Pavagarh is not a hill station. It is like a small village on the height with lack of basic amenities. People living there are very simple. They are superstitious. Offering animal sacrifice to impress the Diety, near the temple. Also many self proclaimed Godesses were roaming in the temple premises. They were dressed like a ‘Devi’(godess). Many people were walking behind her. It was very unusual experience.Villagers runs shops and were selling handmade products like decors for home, bangles,wall hangings,ear rings etc. We took bangles and wall hanging. Anyhow we completed our journey and around 8 pm we reached our hotel. We all were tired and sleepy. We all had nausiatic feeling due to unpleasant weather. So we ate very less in dinner and soon retired to our rooms to sleep.

Lesson learnt:

1.    Never believe blindely on everything written on internet

2.  Always do homework about the place before  going there physically.

3. Never visit temples on the occasion of festivals in Gujarat