Glimpses from Tirth ’12

555am: I am packed and ready for the 10-hrs trip ahead.
Outside it is still dark. But the streets are already busy with devotees and people going about their day.
I make my way through the winding street to Dwarkadheesh.
Inside the temple, there is not much of a crowd and practically no queue.
I have my Darshan and it is still only 645am. Plenty of time for me to make the bus on the long trip today.
At the bus stand, the driver expresses surprise that I am taking this route to Ahmedabad.
He tells me I could have traveled in greater comfort and saved a few hours of the journey if I had taken the “fast” bus.
But it is too late to change.

Route map from Dwarka to Ahmedabad

The “fast” bus only accepts advance reservations. I take my seat next to the window then get down for a quick cup of tea.
….
Half an hour later, I am enjoying the cool morning breeze and an incredibly beautiful sunrise on the flatlands & salt pans.
…
Today is a long day. If all goes well, I should be at Ahmedabad by 530pm, well in time for my flight to Delhi at 7pm.
And then the train from Delhi railway station at 1130pm which will get me into Roorkee at 3am in the morning, from where I shall head to Haridwar.
The inter-connections are tight: barely 1.5 hrs between the bus and the flight at Ahmedabad and 2 hours between the flight and the train at Delhi!
But eleven Jyotirlingas later, I am far from worried, convinced I will complete this trip without hiccups…
**
This is an excerpt from my forthcoming travelogue of my “Yatra” covering the 12 Jyotirlingams….
..and here is the map of the 12-hour bus journey through one end of Gujarat to the other!