Palanpur, here we come!

Like a child offered a toffee, my cup of excitement bubbles on the day of travel. Every time. Not that Palanpur is a new geographical dot in my nomadic life. Umpteen times, I had traveled on this route: sometime in a car carrier with Maruti Suzuki export vehicles from Manesar to Mundra. A couple of times by road with Selvan and Kausar from Delhi to Mundra.

As the saying goes, you cannot step into the same river twice, and my road trip experiences have been exhilarating. No two trips offered the same joy or excitement. How silly, you can be? What’s there is to rejoice while the carbon tire kisses the tarmac? No explanation is possible to convince the doubting Thomases. Travel karo, khud jaan jao!

Palanpur was never the final halting point. It was always one of the midpoints.

For a long time, Palanpur meant milk logistics for me. Between 2015 and 2017, I interacted with milk logistics tank drivers from Palanpur to Uttar Pradesh at the wayside dhaba we managed at Sonepat/Haryana.

A question that always popped up was: Why does the land of Yadav (cowherds) import milk from the land of Dwarkanath? The only possible link could be: both rajyas (Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh) belong to the leeladhar Krsna!

January 2020 was the last time I traveled with a Cogoport researcher visiting ICDs from Dadri/Uttar Pradesh (10km away from my home in Greater Noida) to Mundra/Gujarat over six days.

By sunset today, I will be boarding the 12958 Rajdhani Express from Delhi to alight at Palanpur, courtesy of HPCL, for a dekko at its retail outlet with Driver Rest Room facilities, less than four kilometers from Sanchore border town on the Gujarat-Rajasthan interstate.

Tharad, here we come!