TODAY WE TRAVELLED by road from Udaipur in Rajasthan to Ahmedabad in the neighbouring state, Gujarat. The 158 mile journey took us about 4.5 hours with a brief stop for tea.

The hilly scenery between Udaipur and the frontier between Rajasthan and Gujarat was pleasant. It was mostly rural with few industrial buildings.

On entering Gujarat, everything changed. The terrain became flat and the countryside was liberally dotted with industrial structures, both small and large. In addition, there were plenty of fields for growing crops. Many of these fields were equipped with elaborate irrigation systems. Compared with the delightful, almost ar arcadian landscape in south5 Rajasthan, the landscape in the part of Gujarat north of Ahmedabad is far from attractive.

Until we reached the outskirts of Ahmedabad, the traffic on the dual-carriageway highway was light. Most of the vehicles we met were trucks. We saw only a few private cars.

After passing Ahmedabad airport, we entered the old city via the recently constructed Sabarmati Riverside road. This passes beneath a bridge being constructed for the new Ahmedabad to Bombay superfast railway, which should e running in about 2 years time.

Although the journey was not the most fascinating we have made on Indian roads,we were driven enough superbly by Rajesh, a driver engaged for us my the helpful Mr Yashwant of PP Tour and Travels in central Udaipur.