Rann Utsav and the White Rann of Kutch

(Read and see more photos here and here)
(More on Lippan work and Mud wall art of Kutch here)

I have been living in a 'let's go back to Ahmedabad' mode ever since we came back home from R's convocation. So last week when we packed our bags and were headed to Bangalore, I couldn't help but notice that the Delhi airport metro has been plastered with Gujarat Tourism advertisements. A regal Amitabh Bachchan in the middle of the pristine White Rann of Kutch on a full moon night. And yet again I slipped into the year of which only memories remain and one such being our trip to the Great White Rann of Kutch. I remember having read K.N Daruwalla's "Love Across the Salt Desert" over and over again as a part of the curriculum while in school and the White Rann has been on my bucket-list ever since. The year was drawing to a close and before the grueling placement season set in for the students, we decided to spend our few days at the Rann Utsav. A few phone calls to Akshar Travels and the three girls were set to experience and revel in 'Khushboo Gujarat ki'.

A part of the Great Rann of Kutch or simply the Kutch Desert is the White Rann of Kutch. It is 16,000 sq kms of saline wetland which floods up during the monsoon. The water starts drying up around the month of October leaving behind white crystals of salt. The phenomenon is one of the most beautiful works of nature that I have witnessed, snow white land with nothing else except the setting sun. Much to the dismay of a few cousins, I have been quite dismissive about romanticizing the sunset. My general stance has been that the sun sets every day and I find nothing extraordinary about that, but this was definitely a sunset worth a thousand words. 

Every year, beginning from the first full moon night in December, Gujarat Tourism organizes a Rann Utsav in Dhordo, the very last village in the Great Rann of Kutch. A sprawling tent city is set up with the best of amenities, tourists, mostly Gujaratis, flock to experience a bit of their culture and heritage. The 2 nights 3 days package for the Utsav is packed with a plethora of activities, planned and executed better than most government based tourism bodies. The camp is set up 5 kms away from the beautiful White Rann. The festival organizers have facilitated for buses that haul tourists to and from the White Rann for the sunrise and sunset everyday of their stay.

After a back-breaking overnight bus ride to Bhuj and frantically looking for the Gujarat tourism office at 5am, we were handed over our tent tickets, meal coupons and directed to another bus that would take us to the camp site for our two nights and three days extravaganza. Our itinerary looked quite packed with visits to the kutchhi villages, cultural programs, and an option between visiting the Indo-Pak border or the Mandvi beach all included in our holiday package. The tent city was beautifully painted with rangolis on its makeshift walls. Our tent was yellow, comfy and cozy. A huge tent had been erected to work as a dining hall that served great pure vegetarian gujarati food and drums of cold spiced chaach. 

Our first trip was a visit to the neighboring villages of Sharm -e - Sahad and Hodko where the ladies had neatly laid out their handcrafted colorful wares for sale. The round mud houses called Bhungas were intricately decorated with small mirrors and little girls in their traditional outfits ran around posing for the photographers. We spent the afternoon talking, exploring and soaking up the colors of these tiny kutchi villages and their intricate crafts. We spent the evening mooning over the setting sun in the White Rann and came back to find a lit up tent city and a cultural program in progress. A day well spent!

Between a visit to the Mandvi beach and the Indo-Pak border, our definitive choice was to visit the border. We were again put into a bus ride that lasted almost five hours into the heart of the desert with a lunch at the last Border Security checkpost. The dry arid hot land and nothing in sight filled me in with a new found respect for the BSF jawaans who spend hours guarding the national boundary. The bus ride was definitely worth it, the tourism authorities have permission from the army for daily visits for the Rann Utsav tourists into an area which is otherwise not open for civilians. This was my first experience at the national fence demarcating the Indo- Pak border in the middle of the Great Desert. Interestingly, the desert falls only into the Indian territory and the other side is green vegetation, the BSF was very friendly and showed us around with detailed inputs and enthusiastically answered our many questions. Cellphones and cameras are not allowed so the picture remains in my memory. 

The organizers facilitate the trip back to Bhuj on the third day with a visit to the Kala Dungar on the way. Kala Dungar or Black hills are supposed to be the highest point in Kutch. Once in Bhuj, we took a de-tour to the Mandvi beach to spend the afternoon before catching an evening bus back to Ahmedabad. 

The trip was jam packed with visits and bus rides that made up the 2d/3n tour, but was well worth it. The State tourism has put in efforts to make this event a successful one and promote tourism in the state. I can safely assume that they have managed to grab the attention with the many NRGs on our trip - NRG short for Non Resident Gujaratis which we learnt on the trip. The campsite is well managed and run by the authorities and small details have been taken care of like hot water in the attached bathrooms and a small cyber cafe on the premises. 

Gujarat has some delightful flavors and colors to offer. The state has been ranked as the third best unsung tourist destination of the world by Lonely Planet and they are not wrong!

Some pictures below and see more here.

We were at Dhorado, the edge of the Great Rann of Kutch. Also went up to the Vigha border for a real Indo-Pak border experience.

One of the tent clusters in the Tent city

Our yellow tent

The Great White Rann

Sunset at the White Rann

Inside a Bhunga mud house

Adorable Kutchii girls

Mud and mirror work on the walls

Our little souvenir from the colorful villages

At work with beads, thread and mirrors

At Sharm -e- Shaad

See more pictures here

  

Vibrant Ahmedabad!

R officially finishes his MBA day after and its now almost time to pay the pending bills, close the accounts with our various domestic helps on campus and move on into another chapter. As R and I drove into the New campus last night after a movie and dinner, I was reminded of the immense amount of joy that I had experienced driving into the IIM A for the very first time in April last year. Through the ups and downs of the life on campus, R managed to survive the grueling pressure test that he was put into. So proud of him!

For me Ahmedabad is my 'City of Joy'. I am overwhelmed by the kind of effort that the people of Ahmedabad put into celebrating and enjoying their festivals, culture and their life in general. Just one night of Garbha and dandiya was enough celebration for me but for them, it almost bordered fanaticism. They were dressed up and danced every night for nine consecutive nights with the same fervor and energy. Its a feat not everyone can achieve. The dancing goes on into the wee hours of the night, even early morning, all without the help of inebriating liquids. The crowd at the various clubs in the city can give the Shakiras and Spears a run for their money. I was amazed at the energy in the jam packed clubs. Strangers like me, especially with two left feet were quickly pulled into a huge dancing circle formed around a Ganesh statue and coached with the garba steps that the crowd was performing. The co-ordination amongst the 'circle' was a delight to watch.

The Uttarayan kite flying festival was another spectacle that just engulfed my attention. The streets were patched with makeshift stalls selling colorful kites in unimaginable shapes and colors. The vibrancy of these paper kites hypnotized even the non-flyers like us to walk up on the terrace and spend hours listening to the calls of 'kai po che'. In the evening, the sky looked brighter than usual witha lot more stars much closer to us. When I noticed carefully, these were small hot air balloons being sent up in the sky! Absolutely marvelous!

Every year for the past three years, a small village in Kutch called Dhordo holds a Desert festival called the Rann Utsav. Three of us managed to plan an all girls trip into the heart of Gujarat and came back with an unforgetable experience. The surreal White Rann of Kutch remined me of the short story "Love across the Salt Desert" that I have read and cried over may times. The event is well planned and executed by the Gujarat tourism and reflects their enthusiasm and involement to promote tourism in Gujarat. The Rann Utsav deserves a whole blogpost and hopefully I will be able to write about it soon.

I knew that my stay in Ahmedabad would be incomplete without a visit to the Calico Textile Museum. A museum of age old textile pieces collected and preserved with utmost care by the Sarabhai Foundation. Some of these are almost 300 years old. The museum restricts entry to 20 people per day and bookings have to be made in advance. There is a fixed time of entry everyday and a well informed english speaking guide conducts the tour. I am glad that I finally made it, the trip was definitely worth my morning.

For the love of their food and liberization that the state provides its women folks, most restaurants are usally always crowed especially during the weekends. I have heard it many times over during the past year that just like all other businesses that take weekly holidays, Gujarati housewifes take off from their kitchens on weekends. This explained the never ending waiting line outside any restaurant and the funny fact that most of these places don't take reservations on phone! And ofcourse why most of these places have great food! I am yet to pinpoint a restaurant in Ahmedabad that serves really bad food.

The city is engulfed in a cocoon of vibrant culture that I in my so many years have not witnessed anywhere. I am happy to take a part of this vibrancy with me and hope to be back soon to witness it first hand yet again!

Xmas fun!

Its seems like light years since I last celebrated Christmas. So when the idea of organizing a funfair for the little ones on Christmas was floated around, I was all set to jump in and relive the school days of running behind a Santa - this time it was slightly different, I just watched Santa being chased around the lawns. We decided to put up a face painting and tattoo stall and it turned out to be a big hit. Others had great ideas too - popcorn, corn canapes, sandwiches, samosas and lots of games! The afternoon turned out to be a warm pleasant fun -filled one.

Senti!

Nostalgia hit again! Today was the last day of my penultimate semester at Raffles Millennium and I couldn't help but feel Senti. In no time I would move on from one of the best workplaces till date and just the thought of it left me wondering if I should shed a tear or so. It's crazy. Then, the other day I was reading Sammy's blog where she neatly outlined the "signs of growing up", I guess my over-the -top Nostalgia of things related and unrelated is a sure shot sign of an upcoming "turning 30" crisis that needs to be fixed.... pronto!