Drive to India’s Last Railway Station – 1000 Kms in 31 hours
So how do you plan to spend a Sunday, which is just 3 days away from India-Pakistan semi-final?
Though I have no clue about your plans, a friend and I decided to visit India-Pakistan border!!
Now, that was an exaggeration. 
So coming back to realities – Both of us wanted to take a long drive away from the routine life. And for this very reason, we zeroed onto Barmer, Rajasthan].
On a Saturday, we drove around 350 Kms from our starting point to reach Barmer. On checking into a hotel and enquiring about the places to visit in Barmer, the reply which we got was not pleasant at all. To my horror and my friend’s disgust*, the receptionist told that Barmer was no tourist destination and there was nothing to see here.
[* - as it was my idea to drive into the Thar]
Though I had checked it on internet and I very well knew that there was not much here apart from disputed oil fields (Cairn-ONGC-Vedanta fame), I remembered having seen pics of border & railroads closeby. At this juncture, a friend AA, powered by Google ;-) informed that there is a place called Munabao in Barmer, which is very-very close to the border.
With nothing better to visit, we decided to go to Munabao the next day. All we had with us were the following tools –
- A list of towns + map of the state
- My friend’s mini monster*
Journey was totally ‘sand’alacious and full of dust. We just kept on ticking one checkpoint after the other as we passed it.
The only continuous reminder of we being a part of civilization was the railway track, which led to Pakistan.
We eventually did make it to the border. Unluckily, BSF did not ‘officially’ allow photography. But, as usual, there were alternatives…
And finally, the picture that said it all…
You Are At Last Indian Railway Station
As I have already mentioned, the heat was hellish. We did take a temperature-gauge with us and what it told was beyond belief
50 degree Celsius!
And if you see closely, our gauge had been designed to measure temperature upto 50 degrees Celsius only. So I am not sure whether the temperature was exactly 50 degrees or higher…
Being a bit statistically inclined, I realized later that we had driven a total of 1012 Kms in 31 hours! A year back we had done a biking trip to Jaisalmer and had done around 1200 Kms in 72 hours.
So this was one hell of an improvement
As of now, we have another trip being pre-planned. But I better keep it under wraps
Cool dude…BTW did u make any oil survey…
DD
March 28, 2011 at 9:53 pm
@DD
I had expected such a comment from you DD.
No. We could not strike any oil or gas. ;-D
Dev
March 28, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Dev……wait for it…….
‘LEGENDARY’
Excellent again! and the shoots as usual are awesum.
adi
March 28, 2011 at 11:02 pm
To do all this, pagalpan zaroori hai bhai and you have it. Carry on
manoj
March 28, 2011 at 11:19 pm
AWesome. As usual a very interesting post and pictures are beautiful.
B K CHOWLA
March 29, 2011 at 7:48 am
@Adi
As you know, the trip was powered by ‘Google’
Dev
March 29, 2011 at 9:49 am
@manoj
Yes partner-in-crime! We shall carry on!
Dev
March 29, 2011 at 9:50 am
@B K Chowla
Thanks
Dev
March 29, 2011 at 9:50 am
Finally, u guys did it….
* New record of 150 KMPH
* Again reached INDO- PAK Border
* Covered the last Railway Station
gr8 going doston, i missed the trip, plan for next pagalpan……..
SauSi
March 29, 2011 at 11:09 am
@SauSi
Be a part of the planning phase too…It is on as of now
Dev
March 29, 2011 at 11:37 am
you cud hav visited cairn Barmer-salaya pipeline mother station and ofcourse u cud hav learnt something on “insider view of cairn india”
rakesh
March 29, 2011 at 2:00 pm
@Rakesh
Though we did visit the Cairn’s Mangla Processing Unit from outside, I have kept the ‘insider’s visit’ pending for the trip that we two may take in future.
Dev
March 29, 2011 at 3:00 pm
wow!!! quite an adventure, if i may call it that
scorpria
March 30, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@scorpria
Dev
March 31, 2011 at 12:46 am
Dev Always love your post. Thanks for sharing.
rupam
April 2, 2011 at 12:14 pm
@Rupam
Thanks Rupam
Dev
April 4, 2011 at 1:39 am
That was a fantastic plan!
Well executed!
I never knew of such a place.
25BAR
April 11, 2011 at 5:03 pm
@25BAR
I can assure you that there are innumerable locations of this kind in India. We just need to get out of our comfort zones for visiting routine tourist destinations…
Dev
April 11, 2011 at 5:14 pm
wow!! never knew about the place!! COOL!
Reema
May 16, 2011 at 1:25 am
@Reema
It was HOT!! lol
Dev
May 16, 2011 at 5:15 pm
I didn’t know last railway station was here! Then wasn’t it better to take a train instead? Just curious. Don’t say wanted to drive.
And people generally go to Wagah border if they want to see India-Pak border.
Your blog’s name is interesting, just read the full form.
Nisha
October 20, 2011 at 12:12 am
Love it. This is the second time I’m reading this and I absolutely love the idea of going to the last railway station in India on the Pakistan border.
PS: Congrats! You’re the winner of my travel books giveaway
Shivya
October 29, 2011 at 7:18 pm
@Nisha
It gives more control to customize the trip.
Driving was intentional.
And Wagah is on the cards. I shortlisted Munabao because I generally like travelling to places where crowds are rare.
Thanks for visiting.
Dev
October 29, 2011 at 10:03 pm
@Shivya
Thanks Shivya. Waiting for my prize.
Dev
October 29, 2011 at 10:07 pm
This is awesome man…really enjoyed the post, and frankly I didn’t even know that there was a station like this
As for the temperature…well it surely is hellish!
Siddhartha Joshi
November 11, 2011 at 6:58 am
@Siddhartha Joshi
India has a knack of surprising if you are ready to leave the beaten track
Dev
November 11, 2011 at 5:24 pm