The Colourful Diaries of Gujarat

Well this was a long time plan to visit the cultural delicacies of Gujarat and we finally made the trip..Visited the Modhera sun temple, Patans Ran Ki Vav, Rann of kutch, Did a safari in Little Rann of Kutch and then the Marvels of Ahmadabad...Lovely trip it was with a amazing group.. Gujarat is a must visit especially during the Rann Utsav... It has many amazing places to visit and cherish especially if you love Architecture and Arts.. The Gujarati food was also a big plus during the trip...



 GUJARAT-TRIP Day 1

Ahmedabad Once we settled and nestled in,we started to get ready for a drive to “Adalaj Village”. Before starting to Adalaj we all were famished, because it was a long flight from south India to North-west part of India and quite honestly we want to relish the food of Ahmedabad and filled our belly with famous “Dokla”, a staple food of Gujarat for anytime of the day. After the food somewhere bit woozy for a bit, while waiting for our local cab for sight-seeing. In a giff driver honks with high spirit or maybe he wanted us to cheer up from the dizziness. He stops with a grin face with full excitement and says “Chalte sir” in local language. 

                                         

Everyone with cheer assembled and hoped into the ride with a joy. It is 30kms which is hardly 20 mins away add another 10 mins just in case to adjust to traffic. I was mesmerized by the thought of pain and effort put by those sculptures to bring out this majestic beauty to stand for centuries to come. Walking by the aisle I had a profound feeling of people whispering and listening to sudden gust of wind ,while sun rays in golden colour striking from top to shed the light to the bottom of well. I bewildered by the precision architecture aligned with the path of the sun which sheds light inside the well until it rest in the horizon and a flurry of leaves disturbed my contemplation. I plodded up and stood on the pinnacle to look down the well for one last time. We hopped into to the van for the drive of 2 hrs (80Kms) to set next stop to “Modhera Sun Temple” built in the banks of pushpavati in 1026-27CE by reign of King Bhima-First of Chaulukya dynasty. I was gazing through window for next 2 hours thinking about strenuous effort of the men to build a wonder! 

Though the roads were humpy dumpy, it didn’t bother much because the view from the outside is spectacular. BY the time the whirr sound of engine stopped same as the eyes stopped capturing the beautiful sights. We couldn’t snap the moment from the city to the village when vehicle halted, because we reached in no time. Everyone alighted with a cheerful faces to the land beauty. We started to tread few miles ,down the village to the “Adalaj or Rudabai stepwell” down the walk people welcome you with a smile on their face (as I felt the meaning of smile is a mix of custom and a hidden pride that, this great stepwell is erected and built in their land by their ancestors). 

The White desert - Rann Of Kutch

As we were passing all the happy faces we could see the splendid view from a distance, while the excitement triggered we ran to the sight and stopped with gasping, only to be awestruck by the grandeur of the structure. Everyone walked around and started to explore the magnificent structure built in the memory (only this one was built by a queen Rudabai for his beloved husband Rana Veer Singh). Another monument for love (I would proudly say only in India).I walked down the well stunned by the picturesque structures around me. Each pillar carved with intricate details embedded in it which adds to the aesthetics of the architecture. The enjoyed tactile memory from the carvings of sculpture. 

Day 2: Bhuj We are off for another (350kms) to bhuj with collected memories from last day of the “Great step wells”. By the time we reached the buhj town the sun was at high and some were tired of the drive due to heat. Since the sun is scorching we need energy to keep up for the day, so we decided to have early lunch and found a nice place which serves Gujarathi Thalli. In some time we started to visit Dhordho the salt desert which is about “80kms” away to dhordo village. 

The desert is one of the kind in the world with sheen of the white desert is a beauty. But whenever we hear the word desert it gives a dismal mood, that’s because the arid land doesn’t produce any vegetation for mankind. It’s a part of the design by the Mother Nature! This would be the moment to think about the creation , as said and believed in “ Yugen” , a Japanese philosophy which explains this profound feeling about nature and its beauty with mysteriousness and that includes the beauty of human sufferings, by the concepts . But, I came to believe that this barren sheen land with scorching sun is all part of the universe and I started believing in the Yugen philosophy. 

I like to quote to those who read my blogg and unaware of these Asian philosophical belief systems .The common Chinese religious belief and teaching called “Tao” is another discipline explains us , we the mankind is part of being have to accept the natural course of events without disturbing and giving in to the rhythm of cosmos. I felt and realized all these in a moment gazing at the white salt lake and came to truce with the nature for this geography and beauty for this moment of realization.

 You must be wondering I got side tracked with this philosophy, but I’m not, but I want each individual reading this to experience the moment like had. We, all know that words alone cannot explain the emotions and feelings we go through, finally the universe wins with the mesmerisation. Later we did camel ride which is a habitat of the terrain trained and domesticated well around humans. The ride was joyful by the time the day started to fold to darkness and we started back to bhuj for the night stay, lingering to thoughts!

Day 3: Little Rann-of-Kutch We started off to little-kutch, it’s an overnight journey (330kms). Everyone was ready for the safari irrespective of the morning heat, all displayed enthusiasm. We waited for few minutes for the forest officer to signoff the permission for safari ride. 

It was a treat for the nature enthusiast watching those rare animals from the habitat. It was spectacular to enjoy those flocks hoping, running - Asiatic wild Ass, Flamingos, Hyena etc. While enjoying those scenes a catastrophe occurred – yes, over vehicle stuck in a mire. After trying we decided to seek help from forest department. In sometime help arrived and we were rescued back to safe-zone. In spite of the little mishap, we enjoyed the experience thoroughly. Later, we started to Ahmedabad city for the night which is (170kms) 4 hours’ drive. It was quite a day! 

Day 4: Ahmedabad city We woke up bit late because it was a day dedicated to explore the city which transformed from British era to modern India.  

Our first sightseeing set with Jain temple followed by Sabarmati Ashram, Dad hari ka vav step well, Jamma Masjid and last stop to a shopping in Lal Darwaza, which is flooded by locals and tourist which is filled with din! Though it was lovely to shop in a carnival like neighbourhood, we felt bit cheated because the products are not quite genuine like they said. After happy shopping we were all set to bid bye to city until next time! We all cogitated the memories on the way to Airport.