Roadtrip Day 27: Pali - Om Banna Temple - Jaipur [Sun Apr 4, 2021]
The day I felt overwhelmed & teary at Bullet Baba temple. Also completed 5k kms on my trip.
Contrary to what I thought, the previous night at Lodha Dharamshala actually turned out to be decent. I had interrupted sleep but by 6 AM I was up & was feeling in reasonably good shape. Deep down I knew that leaving at 5 AM for Om Banna temple will not be doable, I now had timeline of leaving by 7 AM. I got up, sat for meditation but quickly cut it short as I was excited to visit Om Banna temple. I manage to leave at 6:30 AM. It is worth mentioning that this is one of the time I was really excited / looking forward to a destination. Most of the days, I would get up & start the ride leisurely.
Some background first - I got to know of the Om Banna temple (also known as Bullet Baba temple) from the Malayalam movie ‘Kilometers & Kilometers’. The movie was also one of the trigger point for me to start my bike ride. The movie depicts a young debt ridden Malayali man who agree to take a western girl on Indian tour on his bullet as she had the wish. The movie had depicted human relations pretty nicely & both me & my wife were able to connect to the movie. I recommend reading up more on Om Banna on Wikipedia. There is very interesting story on how the Bullet kept returning to this place automatically & that is when villagers realized it is Om Banna’s spirit doing the job & constructed a temple here.
Earlier when I was planning the trip, I had put Jaisalmer as a major pit stop & I had thought that I would probably skip the Bullet Baba temple. While I was on my way to visit Bullet Baba temple, I remembered the dialogue from Morpheus in Matrix - ‘Fate, it seems, is not without sense of irony’. I wanted to skip a destination that inspired me to start the trip but fate ensured that I did not :).
Ride to Om Banna temple was quick. After oil change, now I can ride my bike till 70-80 kmph but I chose to do 60 kmph with some burst of 80, to ensure the engine does not have sudden shock. The bike was holding well & I have now started to love the ‘pure engine thumping sound’ without any clankering, which was prominent with the faulty piston. I was exiting city & caught a glimpse of rising sun on my right. I quickly steered on the road & captured the pic for memory.
While I captured the pic, a curious elderly person came & had a conversation with me about my bike, trip & where I am heading to. The conversation lasted only a couple of minutes as he rushed to talk to a fellow morning walker & did not want to miss that opportunity. I resumed my ride towards Om Banna temple. The temple is on Jodhpur road. The early morning ride was seamless & without much traffic.
I was at the temple by 7 AM sharp. Soon Arti started & I made myself comfortable at an establishment next to the temple, which seemed like dharamshala where folks could probably stay/sleep over.
During the Arti, I felt a sense of overwhelming. I could not describe the feeling very well, neither can ascertain that I felt some spirit. But my emotions did become prominent to the point that I was about to break into tears. I guess it could be the faith & fascination of the place that had lead to the outburst of emotion.
Soon Arti was over & I went inside to have closer look at the bullet.
I came out & went on the other side of the road to have tea. There I spoke to the guy who told me the location where Om Banna had died due to accident. I captured pic of that place as well.
I started my ride back. Once I entered Pali, I saw a big shop & board that said - Rs 10. I figured it is an eatery & turned back to eat something there. Curious conversations started with the shop owner (earlier I thought the big shop is the eatery but later I figured the cart in front of it, is the one). I asked for Kachori & they served it with a yellow curry. They also had bread kofta which wasn’t ready but seeing that I wanted to eat that too, he quickly cooked some from the batch. It was yummy too. Some other folks also joined the conversation & soon we were talking about tradition in Rajasthan (maybe in their community) where people (or kids) secretly visit Dwarka & once back, their family conduct some gathering & pooja to celebrate the visit. The folks were elderly & soon were suggesting me ways to ensure that I dont get conned. Their suggestion was - do ask for price upfront & dont just order :). They also suggested to enquire from others about good eating place rather walking into one. I was a bit amused but I liked the fact that they cared for me. After like 30 min of conversation & eating, I bade them farewell & continued back to Dharamshala. I somehow do not remember the names (or maybe I did not ask them). But I did take a pic of them with their cart.
I was at the dharmashala by 8:30. I was ready to leave the place by 9:30 after having bath. I was hoping the bath will keep the bouts of drowsiness at bay but I was not really concerned as I had a decent sleep the previous night. I met the other manager of the dharamshala while packing my luggage & answered his curious questions. He promised to give me bill of the payment but then I realized he conveniently ignored it thinking I have forgotten about it. I just decided to leave & not waste my time on procuring the bill :).
Outside the dharamshala, I noticed that A1 motors (the shop with whom I had spoken earlier about oil change) is open. The shop was next to dharamshala only. I spoke to Salim bhai the owner & told him about the oil change that I got done previous night. He did a quick inspection & asked if I have any problem with the bike, to which I said no. We exchanged smiles & I started on my ride towards Jaipur.
One thing I noticed in Pali, is that the auto rickshaw has an amusing shape. They were leaner & longer. They are also well decoarted. Somehow, they reminded me of scene from Harry Potter movie where the bus had to squeeze between vehicles & ends up taking some funny shapes.
I had started a bit late & soon started to feel the heat. It has become pretty bright & sunny too. The sun glasses that I had, had the brownish tinge which seem to magnify the brightness & I decided not to wear them. I also decided to buy a new one at Beawer (ideally it should be spelled as Byawar but all the signboards had the spelling as Beawer). I googled for an optical shop at Beawer called Shree opticals & made that as my destination.
On the way I encountered this bike where the guy seemed like sitting ‘way higher’ . I remembered ‘Chhakda’ from Gujarat & thought it to be another local Rajasthan’s innovation.
Only after crossing the vehicle, I realized that he was the pillion who was sitting on a pile. The pile was put on backseat & hence he looked elevated. No innovation here :).
I suddenly got remembered that I had not checked petrol. I also remembered that Palanpur to Pali was a short ride of 250 odd kms & I should have enough petrol. But today’s overall ride will be 300+ kms so I should fill petrol appropriately. Also, I was not sure with the engine overhauling, what kind of mileage I am getting, which means, how far away I am from being empty on fuel.
I stopped & changed destination to a reliance petrol pump which was around 20+ kms on the highway. I filled petrol there & noticed that the odometer reads 9067 kms. I remember that it was 4067 or so at the start of the ride. I realized I had just completed 5k kms :).
I was entering Bar & started seeing prominent stone hills. My friend Gordhan had earlier messaged me that he has his brother living there but I had decided not to take a stopover at Bar.
I crossed Bar & entered Beawer city (I am always tempted to write it as Byawar but I guess I will just stick to social convention here). I remembered that I had lubed my bike’s chain at 100 km mark in Surendranagar & thought it might not be bad idea to get it done again. I stopped at a 2 wheeler repair shop where they agreed to do grease the chain. Post the work I asked the price & the guy said Rs 30. I expressed my surprise as how I got it done for Rs 10 in Gujarat. He tried reasoning it with Rs 250 per kg grease cost eventually charging Rs 20 only. I remembered the words from Raju Namkeen owner of asking the price upfront. I smiled in my mind & moved on.
I missed Shree Opticals the first time & then had to turn back to reach there. It was a small shop & easy to miss. I bought a pair of sunglasses for Rs 400 . I wanted to buy Polarized glasses but decided in favor of this fancy & cheaper one. I felt the cooling effect on these were more prominent compared to some others that I tried. It was 3 PM by the time I left Shri Opticals. I decided to have lassi at a cart placed outside the shop & decided against having anything to eat, to save time & drowsiness. It wasn’t that hot either so I thought of continuing with my ride. It also seemed like decision to not go westwards towards Jaisalmer & going inwards/eastwards seemed like a good decision as per daytime riding.
I resumed my ride & soon got thumbs up from a RJ vehicle . Getting thumbs up in Rajasthan seemed like a rarity & I wasnt expecting one either. So it was a pleasant surprise.
While on the way I noticed series of temple on a hilltop & they looked beautiful. I was curious as to what this place & then noticed the entrance ahead. It seemed like a Jain Pilgrimage. I clicked pics & moved on.
I noticed that this stretch of Rajasthan has lot of Jain pilgrimages. That also explains Jain dharamshalas in Pali (the one where I stayed Lodha Dharmashala is a Jain dharamshala).
I reached the diversion point towards Ajmer & decided to take a stop at a shade soon after the flyover ends. Finding shade in Rajasthan is a luxury & you have to look very keenly to find one. I noticed a restaurant type of place next to it & ordered tea there. It was managed by a Sardarji & he graciously agreed to make tea with less sugar on my request. I had conversation with my wife & told her about the GoStop hostel in Jaipur where I intend to stay. She was concerned about Corona in big cities & suggested that I shudn’t stay in a shared accommodation. I looked up other hostels & found Jaipur Sundeck which seemed to have a rooftop. I called up the owner Arif & asked if it is ok to pitch my tent on the terrace & sleep in it, to which he agreed. I was happy that I do not have to shelve money on a room & found something which is conducive both to me & my wife.
It was around 5:30 PM & I had around 100 kms to cover to reach Jaipur Sundeck hostel. I stopped at 50 km mark to give cooling time to my engine & clicked this nice dusk pic.
I reached Sundeck at around 8 PM. Arif bhai heard my bike’s thump & called me up while I was parking the bike outside. He gave a quick tour of the place. Apparently the dorm only had one occupant & it seemed like the entire place will have only 2 folks. I also noticed how big the house is. On ground floor, it is Arif bhai’s family that lives. They also have rooms on the terrace. On 3rd floor is the hostel. The property overlooks a nice park which is frequented by morning walkers. Overall, the location & property was fantastic.
After having bath & washing my clothes, I looked up for nearby places to eat on google map. Arif bhai had told me about a place but I was not sure of tracing my way to the place. Plus it was going to be curfew time soon. I saw this place called ‘Ghar Ka Khana’ with some very good rating & I decided to ride to it. The person there seemed to be in a hurry to close because of curfew but on telling him that I had come after reading reviews, was open to serving items from the menu. I asked for Thali & he agreed. The food turned out to be pretty good for Rs 150. I paid, thanked the guy & then rode back to the hostel. I was at the hostel at 10 PM.
Back at hostel, I decided to spend time writing blog post. Around the time, the other occupant of the dorm came in. I do not remember his name. He was a 24 year old guy from Rajasthan, was working in Mumbai but intending to relocate to Jaipur. While we were having conversation, Arif’s wife came in & objected on the wet clothes that I had hung on a makeshift arrangement & insisted on moving them to the chairs & other furnitures lying around. They seemed dusty & I asked if there is an alternate place. She seemed pretty insistent & dominating. I called Arif bhai & he came after some time. He seem to resonate what his wife said & said something like - if I knew you are going to wash clothes, I would have probably said no. I was pretty pissed by then but I realized it was my mistake of not checking with him upfront. On my insistence, he in a very take-this-and-get-lost tone decided to give his clothes rack stationed on a floor above. I decided to just silently take it, move my clothes to it & decided to go back to writing my post. I realized I was disturbed with the incidence & could not focus on writing. So I decided to sleep. I started to put my tent & then suddenly the thought of Arif bhai’s wife making a fuss about it, flashed my mind. But then I thought that I had already got an ok from him so it should be fine. Thankfully nothing happened & I slept in the tent by 12 AM. When I checked in at Sundeck, I found the vibe to be great & thought of spending one more day. But with the incidence, I was determined to leave the place first thing the next day. With the resolve, I retired to bed.