We had arranged a tour to Pavagadh and Dakor on 12th December, 2010. We were 9: me, Ankit (my friend), Ankit’s wife, Ankit’s two sisters (one of them is cousin), cousin’s husband, total 2 children of the sisters and Ankit’s brother Gopal (cousin), excluding the driver; managed seats in Innova car. Pavagadh hill is a very popular for the temple of Godess Kali and it is located in Panchmahal district of Gujarat. While Dakor is a city famous for its temple of Dakor temple of Lord Krishna and it is located in Kheda district of Gujarat state.
We departed from Bhavnagar to Pavagadh at around 1:30 AM. We took halts at two restaurants in between the path. At around 6:15 AM, we reached to Pavagadh Taleti. We got refreshed at a Dharmshala. At around 7:40, we departed from the Dharmshala and reached to the hill base at 7:50 AM. I told others that we are very late; we should have started ascending at 5:30 AM, now some of us will not be able to go without rope-way.
After some discussion, we all decided to go by stairs. But after almost 300 steps, Ankit’s cousin (sister) told that she will not be able to go to the top only by the stairs. So, her husband and Gopal go down to the rope-way starting point with the Ankit’s cousin and her ~5 year old child. Meanwhile, we were going up. I have good stamina of climbing, so I decided to go faster then other. I reached to the rope-way ending point and Ankit’s sister and his son were waiting there. They had reached there just before 10 minutes and it was 8:35 AM. I had taken approx. 40 minutes to reach there. We waited for 15 minutes for Ankit, Ankit’s wife, Ankit’s sister and the sister’s son; and another 15 minutes for Ankit’s cousin’s husband and Gopal to arrive. Then we all started moving ahead. Now the way was almost flat up the top. At around 9:35, we all reached to the temple. I waited outside the temple for 20 minutes for others to complete praying and coming out. After that, at a flat area on the hill, there was a lake, known as “Dudhiyu Talav” and some huts. We roamed around for 30 minutes and then started descending to the base. Now all others, except me and Gopal, decided to go by rope-way. We took just 15 minutes to reach at the base but others were coming very slowly and I had to wait for Gopal to come there for 15 minutes and another 20 minutes for the other people to come.
Now it was 11:50 AM. Our next destination was Dakor. But it was a route of approx. 2:30 hours. So, we decided that we will take lunch at a restaurant mid way. The road from Pavagadh to Dakor was very very bad. It was just approx. 80 km but it will take 2:30 hours to reach there because of the extremely bad condition of the road. It was like a roller coaster ride.
We found a good restaurant at 1:30 PM. There was almost nobody at there except a truck, but after some time, the restaurant filled with many tourists. After taking the lunch, and passing some time in talking, we decided to left for Dakor. We had to pass time at the restaurant because we had completed lunch at around 2:20 PM and now the distance to Dakor was short. It would take less than 30 minutes to reach there, but if we reach there before 4:30 PM, we had to pass time there because the temple’s next opening time was 4:30 PM. So, we departed from the restaurant to Dakor at around 3:10 PM.
We reached to Dakor at 3:35 PM, parked the car at a parking plot and started walking of 10 minutes to the temple. After reaching to the temple, we still had ample of time to pass until the gates of the temple are opened. We roamed in the Dakor city’s market. Ankit’s sisters brought some kitchen appliance. I also brought a carry bag for just Rs. 10. Then, all, except me and the driver, took a ride in boats in a near by beautiful lake. My phone’s battery was drying speedily therefore I wasn’t taking snaps from its camera.
Now it was time of opening the gates of the temple. There were lots of people in queues to get a very short duration look of Lord Krishna. The gates are kept open only for an hour. It is the temple’s trust’s politics to show that there are lots of people visiting the temple by allowing only very short time duration for entrance and making a big crowd. It’s shameful.
All completed their worships and now it’s time to move on. It was approx. 5:15 PM, when we reached back to the car parking plot. My head was aching slightly and ache was increasing by time due to lots of noise, high-speed wind and especially because of continuous sunlight. Some of us were still wanted to visit another place, which I don’t remember as of writing this, but some were preferring to go back to home. That place’s closing time was 5 or 6 PM and therefore either that place could have already been closed or we will not be able to reach there on time or we will not get enough time to spend there. So, we decided to go back directly to Bhavnagar. Via Anand city, Baandhani Chowkdi (intersection), Vataman and a restaurant “Anmol” we reached to Ankit’s home, from where we had started the journey, at around 11:10 PM. All were very tired except me. Yes, I still had to work up to 3 AM after going to home!
Here are some pics from the Pavagadh hill:
(Below) Take a look, how bad Indian people are at keeping cleanliness
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