For every working individual, a long weekend feels like a breath of fresh air. It is a time to regroup your energies, dedicate time to your personal life and focus on new areas. This weekend, we booked ourselves at the Rann of Kutch, Rann Utsav Tent city for a two night, three day package and let me share with you it was nothing less than spectacular.
It is located in the Thar desert, in the Kutch district of Gujarat. It is about 7500 square km in area and reputed to be the largest salt deserts in the world. We travelled by train towards Bhuj and in the morning we entered a special tent built outside the station by the Tent city staff with amenities offering good care.
Once the crowd gathered, we were whisked off in a bus to travel towards the Tent City. Along the way, the guide shared a very interesting incident which happened during Indo - Pak was in 1971. The airstrip had been destroyed by the Pak army during airstrikes and the Air Force people were very perplexed as to have to get the runway repaired in so short a time. They asked for help but none came forward as they were apprehensive and scared. 300 women of Madhapur village in Bhuj Tehsil came forward, worked day and night and in 72 hours reconstructed the air strip for the Indian Air Force. Salute to these inspiring women. A movie is coming soon on their story. Truly women power!!!!
Read more at:
We reached Rann Utsav a good one and half hour later and the sight beholding us was spectacular. The entrance was grand and band of people you find yourself amidst men and women dressed in traditional Kutchi clothes regaling you with folk music.
In the evening we visited the white desert and standing between the huge expanse of white salt all around you humbles you. Temperatures here can vary from 12 degree Celsius to fifty degree Celsius. The rains arrive in Kutch by the end of June and last all the way till September. Nature is truly astounding and its secrets never fail too surprise you.
The questions pounding my head were:
Q. How was this vast expanse of salt desert created?
Q. How do people harvest this salt under such harsh conditions?
Q. What variety of plant and animal could survive these scorching temperatures?
Video - https://youtu.be/Hi-v-nyBfGI
If you are as curious as me, then this site will offer you many answers. https://www.thebetterindia.com/73603/agariyas-salt-farmers-rann-of-kutch/
The next day we travelled towards Kala Dungar, a hill located near Khavda town, 46 km from Rann of Kutch. It is famous for the 400 year old Dattatray temple and how he observed a band of starving jackals and offered them his body to eat and as they ate, his body regenerated itself.
Even today, the jackals and humans live in coexistence and are fed twice a day by the local community even though with expanses of barren land, food is a real challenge.
https://www.thebetterindia.com/5163/the-jackals-of-kala-dungar-where-a-community-has-kept-them-alive/
While returning home in the bus, I kept looking right and left for concrete developments which have become a part of our daily life but all I saw was vast lands of flat grounds interspersed with clusters of greenery every few kilometers with animals grazing away. Life seemed to have come to a standstill with nature beckoning us to relax. You know that this is how the earth might have looked hundreds of years too without the advent of humankind. Fortunately with technology and river Narmada, water is no more a scarcity but reaching every common man's house. Sometimes step out of the concrete jungles and soak in nature's presence for only when we tune in to its vibration will it share it's secrets.
It is located in the Thar desert, in the Kutch district of Gujarat. It is about 7500 square km in area and reputed to be the largest salt deserts in the world. We travelled by train towards Bhuj and in the morning we entered a special tent built outside the station by the Tent city staff with amenities offering good care.
Once the crowd gathered, we were whisked off in a bus to travel towards the Tent City. Along the way, the guide shared a very interesting incident which happened during Indo - Pak was in 1971. The airstrip had been destroyed by the Pak army during airstrikes and the Air Force people were very perplexed as to have to get the runway repaired in so short a time. They asked for help but none came forward as they were apprehensive and scared. 300 women of Madhapur village in Bhuj Tehsil came forward, worked day and night and in 72 hours reconstructed the air strip for the Indian Air Force. Salute to these inspiring women. A movie is coming soon on their story. Truly women power!!!!
Read more at:
In the evening we visited the white desert and standing between the huge expanse of white salt all around you humbles you. Temperatures here can vary from 12 degree Celsius to fifty degree Celsius. The rains arrive in Kutch by the end of June and last all the way till September. Nature is truly astounding and its secrets never fail too surprise you.
The questions pounding my head were:
Q. How was this vast expanse of salt desert created?
Q. How do people harvest this salt under such harsh conditions?
Q. What variety of plant and animal could survive these scorching temperatures?
Video - https://youtu.be/Hi-v-nyBfGI
If you are as curious as me, then this site will offer you many answers. https://www.thebetterindia.com/73603/agariyas-salt-farmers-rann-of-kutch/
The next day we travelled towards Kala Dungar, a hill located near Khavda town, 46 km from Rann of Kutch. It is famous for the 400 year old Dattatray temple and how he observed a band of starving jackals and offered them his body to eat and as they ate, his body regenerated itself.
Even today, the jackals and humans live in coexistence and are fed twice a day by the local community even though with expanses of barren land, food is a real challenge.
https://www.thebetterindia.com/5163/the-jackals-of-kala-dungar-where-a-community-has-kept-them-alive/
While returning home in the bus, I kept looking right and left for concrete developments which have become a part of our daily life but all I saw was vast lands of flat grounds interspersed with clusters of greenery every few kilometers with animals grazing away. Life seemed to have come to a standstill with nature beckoning us to relax. You know that this is how the earth might have looked hundreds of years too without the advent of humankind. Fortunately with technology and river Narmada, water is no more a scarcity but reaching every common man's house. Sometimes step out of the concrete jungles and soak in nature's presence for only when we tune in to its vibration will it share it's secrets.
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