It was Christmas Eve and the plan of the day was to visit the White Desert in Dhordo. Sanjay Gadhavi pulled strings and ensured that we get 'invited' to spend a night at The Tent City and that too in a premium tent. His reach is such that he does what he feels is best for us to enjoy to the hilt. However, before leaving for Dhordo Rajiv and I had decided to take a round of the Bhujodi handicrafts village, which we did after breakfast. Breakfast of two
stuffed paratha stuffed me to the gills.
Bhujodi was a revelation. It is one of the premium handloom weaving centres in the country. The products of the village travel far and wide and designers from various parts of the world come here to get their creativity expressed. The village with 150 looms is a pride of India. The young owners of Rakhiyo Hastkala explained how natural materials, dyed and colours are used to produce the finest pieces that were on display in their shop. I wanted to pick up almost everything they showed me. They were so good and, I suspected, cheaper and better than the ones in shops in Chennai.
Next door to Rakhiyo is Vankar Vaas. Arjan Vankar, the current owner, is a President's awardee for an exquisite spread he took two years to weave. He mentioned that the eight hour day shift and the possibility of working from the home village makes it attractive for even youngsters to take to the art. Khushi was on hand to take us through the weaving centre as she had also done a project on the centre.
The Vande Matharam memorial in Bhujodi, maintained by the Ashapura Group, is a journey through the freedom movement of India and has superb recreations of the Parliament building, India Gate, Red Fort and a humongous statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Besides, the memorial is laid out over 12 acres of manicured landscape with haats and resting places. A part of the grounds is reserved for the Hiralaxmi Craft Park, which houses local artisans from across villages in Kutch-Bhuj and helps them to hone their talents and showcase their crafts to buyers from all over the world. Indeed, a fantastic contribution by the Ashapura Group through its NGO.
The 1971 memorial in Bhuj is a tribute to the valiant civilians, mostly women, of the city who helped repair the runway of Bhuj airport in the aftermath of carpet bombing by Pakistan in the 1971 war. Sanjay told me that an Ajay Devgan film recreating the great sacrifice and risks has already been canned. Sanjay has his office bang in the centre of town and has restructured his business in the aftermath of the pandemic. With the travel agency business taking a hit he obtained the necessary permissions to open a pharmacy in the ground floor of his office building. To state the obvious, the pharmacy business, in a short time, started outdoing the travel agency business!
After a delicious
Dabeli, a popular Kutchi snack made of pav bread, mashed potato, special masala, peanuts, sev and chutneys, in Sanjay's office we left for Dhordo with Sanjay pointing out important sites in the city and on the way such as the Rani Laxmi Bai memorial, the Bhujio Hill, Aaina Mahal, etc.
Kalo Dungar (Black Hill) is the highest point in the Kutch region. On the way up the Kalo Dungar Mountain is a signage which marks out the Magnetic Hill, an optical illusion where gravity is defied and vehicles seem to roll up the slope. The presence of BSF is palpable almost everywhere you go in the region because of its proximity to Pakistan, the air base and other sensitive detachments. From the highest point of the Mountain one gets a panoramic view of the Rann of Kutch, as nowhere else in the region. Selfie takers defy jutting rocks and steep falls to capture the beauty of the surroundings and themselves. Kalo Dungar is famous for the Dattatreya Temple, which is more than 400 years old. It is said that when Dattatreya walked the earth he had rested at the Kalo Dungar and found a band of starving jackals. He offered his body for them to eat and as the jackals feasted on his body it regenerated. To this day, after the evening arti the temple priest offers cooked rice and prasad to jackals.
The salt flats of Dhordo are open between November and February every year. The Tent City in Dhordo has been popularized by Gujarat Tourism with Amitabh Bachchan as its Ambassador. The Tent City is built, as is to be expected, with tents. This is the ninth year of its operation and the facilities provided are top class. We were just in time to catch the lunch, after which we lounged around a bit in the tent allotted to us with an extra bed. The premium Tent is in three sections. The first section is a large sit-out with an easy chair. The middle section is a large bedroom with oversized double cot with side tables and a living room with study table. The third section is a large change room and toilet with shower. There are about 350 rents of different types in Phase 1 of Tent City. The organisers arrange pick up and drop from Bhuj, organize cultural shows, sunset and sunrise experience trips, sightseeing to local attractions and give lovely local food spread out in a very large tent.
The drive from Tent City to salt flat is just a few minutes, after which we were transferred via a camel cart to the centre of the White Desert. This year rainfall has been more than normal. We were told that the salt flat visit had opened just this day. Due to the excess rainfall the thickness of the salt flat was lesser than it usually is. Beyond a certain point visitors were told to stay away due to slush and to prevent any unforeseen accident.
Musicians and dancers entertain those who are in the mood. The glorious sunset was a feast for the eyes. A crew of Gujarat Tourism asked me for a short interview. It became dark quite fast and we returned to Tent City for a wholesome meal of traditional Gujrathi cuisine. The cultural shows kept us mesmerised for quite some time before we decided to adjourn for the night.
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