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Journey Udvada to Silvassa

Monday, June 25, 2012

After visiting the old Parsi houses in Udvada, I headed off to the rickshaw stand hoping to get a ride to Vapi station.

When I spoke to the rickshaw drivers about my ride, they warned me that I would have to hire a special rickshaw and that the fare would be high. Just then I saw a bus approaching. The rickshaw driver told me that it would take me to Udvada railway station. I immediately headed off to the bus stop 10 metres away from the rickshaw stand.

The bus was empty and the fare to Udvada railway station set me back by just Rs 7.

The view outside was good; all around was open country. There were houses in the distance surrounded by mango and coconut trees as well as fields. It was a refreshing sight to see, and made me feel relaxed and invigorated. I really enjoy travelling like this.

Outside it was hot as hell, as the expression goes. Seated in the bus, I could feel the hot air flowing in through the windows. Daman was so peaceful and now Udvada is so hot, as if I were in a desert. In 30 minutes, I was at Udvada railway station.

I alighted from the bus and headed to the train station, trying to figure out if there is a train that would take me to Vapi. There was none. What’s more, the ticket counters were empty and the platform was abandoned. A few people were sitting on the platform, clearly seeking to kill time until the train arrived.

One of these waiting passengers advised me to cross over as the NH8 runs parallel to the train tracks. From there I would get a rickshaw or a bus to Vapi. Luckily, I got a semi full rickshaw to take me to Vapi. It was like a tum tum which could accommodate around 11 people. I managed to get a back seat in it.

I enjoyed the view from here. The two -wheelers and four-wheelers were racing along on the highway and in the midst of all that motion, our rickshaw was plodding ahead at a very slow pace.
I saw a fort like structure up on the hills in a distance. I saw the bastions. It stood silent on the hill, watching the highway and the traffic on it. None of my fellow passengers could provide any information on it.

In about 30 minutes time I alighted at Vapi. The fare for the journey was Rs 20. My passengers told me to board a rickshaw to the railway station. When I told them that I wanted to head to Silvassa, they advised me to get back into the rickshaw. A while later, I alighted at the stop from where I was supposed to get a rickshaw to Silvassa.

The rickshaw journey was very annoying. The roads were very bad. To make matters worse, the driver was playing some raucous music in his rickshaw. The songs were playing on tweeters; there was no bass. The so-called music was blasting right into my ears, adding to the discomfort of my travel experience.  You see, we were four of us sitting on the back seat. But the hope of reaching Silvassa kept me going.

The songs that were being played were spoof songs of hit Bollywood songs and hilarious Gujarati songs. Who knows? The songs might have been fun to listen to. If only the volume were a little low.


Finally after 45 minutes, I reached Silvassa. Phew!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice blog...........

Liked it, Continue the gr8 wrk.......

MERWYNSRUCKSACK said...

Thanks

Subhash Nair

Unknown said...

Simply superb………..marvelous….
puneonnet.com

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