Vapi Trip

When you are falling asleep, thoughts become increasingly less connected (and hence logical), slowly.. until the consciousness completely fades away. I don't like to get disturbed in this state (I suspect nobody does), cuz then I cannot sleep for hours. This happened last Friday. We were to leave for Vapi (Khyati's native place) on Saturday morning (4 am, so it would be more appropriate to call it Friday midnight. Anyway.), and I wanted a good sleep before we begin. I left office early, and pulled the sheets over my head at 10:28. At 10:45, I heard Mithunda. In the TV. Being a Mithunda + DID fan, it would have been unworthy of me to sleep, so I watched the show. The sleep had left me though, so I read something after the show. Still no sleep. Thankfully Dushan Devta was coming on Max. I even sms'd people about it in case anyone else was suddenly hit by insomnia.

We left Pune pretty much on time the next morning (Thanks to Rabitt, who made a significant contribution by coming on time :p). The journey to Vapi takes about 6hrs but we did not feel it, because, surprise, surprise, everybody slept almost throughout. I remember stopping at a Kamath restaurant, where Sabudana Khichdi was rather good.

We reached Vapi by 11 IIRC. The town is an industrial center and a bit rusty look is to be expected. We were to stay at Khyati's place palace. This was my first experience of Gujju Aatithya. The high praise it has earned is not without reason. I almost felt like I was at my own home. Then I experienced the Gujju meal, again for the first time. Unsurprisingly I We ate like dogs (Kutte jaise khaya ka trans.). It might be my largest single meal till date. There was so much variety, and everything was so delicious. We automatically dozed off after (suspending the plan for Daman beach for a while).

We left for Daman beach (snap below) in the evening. It's quite close (an hour's drive max). We played on the beach, had a mast bhutta. Most of the junta didn't enter the water though. Can you believe they said it's dirty, like it matters? :p Daman port is worth a visit, and a good location for those interested in photography. Boats make an ideal backdrop. The church there is beautiful from the outside (and I heard that it is very beautiful on the inside).

Then we visited Mirasol, a garden resort. I think everybody, and I mean everybody has this fascination with trains. We jumped onto the toy train like kids! After that came boating. The artificial lake they have created is fundoo. Being the self appointed captain of the boat ship (see snap below) (I appointed Rabitt as the navigator), a dream had came true and we discussed Godzilla, Jaws, making dynamos, navigation using stars and other highly logical and related topics (people later wondered how come the fellow passengers of the boat ship did not revolt and throw the captain out. Did they actually tried doing exactly that is going to remain a mystery. And I must add I prefer it that way :p).

After this we went to the Jetty for food. Had anybody asked whether we wanted to eat, the answer would have been a resounding no. But then everybody hogged (again. Ab to aadat si ho gayi thi). The thing I most liked there was the statue of Saint Jerome (snap below). There are so many symbole there, and inscriptions in portugese and demons and stuff, I guess there is a job opening for a full time Robert Langdon. If only those cheapo groups wouldn't be there! I maintain that do kaan ke neeche (ulte hath se) a day will go a long way in solving their problems! Another thing I noticed was every board and sign was in Gujrati plus English. I actually asked whether there is a law mandating that. The answer was no, and I felt good about it (after all that we have seen happening in Maharastra).

After returning we fell asleep rather quickly, and two individuals provided the background score we absolutely did not want! The plan was to get up early next day and go for a morning walk, but then you know us. Half of the population maintained that they actually went out for a walk, a story that I am not going to believe.

The next day plan included visiting Silvasa. But before it came the Gujju breakfast. My definition of breakfast (after being a hostelite for 9+ years) includes a cutting chai + creamroll, but here you have scores of dishes just for breakfast. Dhokla, Fafada, Undhiyu, Khari, Khajli.. the list went on, and rather unsurprisingly, (again) kutte jaisa khaya!. Must mention that I hadn't had such nice Jalebi in years!

After the breakfast (and nap? I don't remember) we left for Dudhni. The road to Dudhni is scenic. There is boating facility in waters of Damanganga. I tried rowing but couldn't do it very well. It's one of the tasks that looks easy at a first glance, but is not.

So we made paper boats!


Thankfully(!) my wallet always has a lot of kachada (and very little actual money :p). We went for a sugar cane juice after the boating. The paryatak niwas at Dhudhni has two rather nice fish tanks. One of them had a kachua, and we spent a lot of time observing and clicking snaps. Discussion natuarally ensued on whether Kachua can breathe underwater. I don't remember how it was concluded.

We started our journey towards Pune at around 2:30 in the afternoon, and we were to make a halt at Amit's place in Thane. The journey was full of songs, laughter and even a few serious discussions. The lines of the song 'Dil chahta hai' kept coming back to me, and I thankfully had it on my mobile. I guess they were not that far from other people's minds too. My rather non-existant song compostion skills got me in a trouble though. Now I have made it mandatory for myself to wear helmet at certain places, even when not driving :p. After a brief halt at Amit's place which included pohe, ladu ani chaha, we started the final hop of our return journey. Reached Pune by 12 or so.

Nobody, absolutley nobody wanted to return to the mudane existence of daily life (read Monday at work), but then we hardly had choice. Thankfully we have these cherished memories! Thanks to Khyati (for taking the not insignificant risk of inviting us) and her family and also to Amit, Charuta, Lalit, Manish, Shruti and Zarin for making the weekend so wonderful!

Enjoy!

[The real yours truly].