It was a memorable trip to a land of unsungbeauty.........kutch.We traveled to 'Nakh
trana' a remote town by night bus.And for the first time ever we had the pleasure of travelling by sleeper bus.O! May I say it felt like being on a caravan.There were cubicles in the bus with well laid carpet covered bed and curtains to give privacy.And as the bus embarked on its journey we laid down to rest .At first the excitement did not allow us to sleep and we kept peering out of the window.But as the night progressed sleep over took us.We were not used to travel of this kind and I often found my daughter asking if we were all on bed when the bus overtook another vehicle or turned round the corner.
trana' a remote town by night bus.And for the first time ever we had the pleasure of travelling by sleeper bus.O! May I say it felt like being on a caravan.There were cubicles in the bus with well laid carpet covered bed and curtains to give privacy.And as the bus embarked on its journey we laid down to rest .At first the excitement did not allow us to sleep and we kept peering out of the window.But as the night progressed sleep over took us.We were not used to travel of this kind and I often found my daughter asking if we were all on bed when the bus overtook another vehicle or turned round the corner.We reached Nakhtrana at 7.30a.m .On day one, we headed for Mandvi beach.The virgin beaches with unspoiled beauty was all we needed at that hour.Lazing on the beach with sea crashing at our feet and wild sea gulls flying over us was a sight to beckon. Later we moved to Vijay Palace,a beautifully maintained palace with a past and a present.I say present as still the palace is used by the royal family.The first floor is closed for the public but the rest of the area is open for all.Many films are shot here on regular basis and the palace guide was more than happy to show us around.Later we moved to Godhra and visited Ambaji temple and Rudreshwar temple.It was evening and we were tired so we headed for early dinner and bed.
Day two,we visited Bhuj a district famous for its handicraft all over the world.And how could we forgo our chance to shop.The bright color of kurtas, Sarees, Blouses and Torans kept us enthralled for hours.Driver's voice 'sahab palace baand ho jayega,jana hai kya' made us realize that we also wanted to see it.We moved towards the palace whose large part had been destroyed by the massive earthquake Bhuj had suffered.The Victorian architecture of theRamjas Palace was captivating.There was a clock tower just like the Rajabhai Tower in Mumbai and Aina Mehal with a huge collection of relics from the past.Each with its history standing tall in glory.
Post lunch we started on our journey to white desert............Rann Of Kutch.The local have a tale about this place.It is said, once a saint Dhoran Nath Maharaj sat to meditate by balancing a beetle nut on his head for twelve long years.he had been fasting for all these years.and when it was time for him to come out of meditation,he called his disciples and told them that they should make him sit in the direction where there was nothing, before he opened his eyes.For the glow from his eyes would burn everything,as far as twelve kilometers.The disciples did just that.They made him sit facing the sea as all other direction were inhabited. When the saint opened his eyes in the direction of the sea,the water ran dry and as far as the eyes could see there was white sand............Rann ie.Desert.
This was the most remarkable and most enjoyable journey.We saw several small hamlets.The colourful Raebaris with their herd of cows and flocks of sheep.In no part of India we had seen such a large number of cows.There were permanent milk tanks on the roadside where the nomadic Raebaris deposited the milk from their cattle's,which were later collected by the various milk co operatives operating in Gujrat.It truly appeared like a land of white revolution. As we moved towards the Rann habitation dwindled.At the last check post of kutch we were advised by the police not to travel further as the white salt had almost dissolved with rain. However we did not want to go back and hence moved ahead to try our luck. The beauty of Rann was amazing.We had reached the last check post of India where the BSF jawans were posted.the jawans were surprised to see us at that hour and in that season when most of the white salt was dissolved .Yet looking at our enthusiasm they gave us permission to move ahead and advised us to avoid the wet muddy patch. Boy O Boy!! On reaching there we realized it was a chance well taken.There was white salt in some parts the sea lay behind us and the sun set was breathtaking.It will live in our memories forever.
The last day of the tour had us visiting several temples like Mata ki Maath, koteshwar, Narayan Sarovar where we could see devotees dressed in bright colours as it was also Navami that day.Later we traveled Lakhatia Fort ,which was falling apart due to negligence .Yet inside the fort, was a small village with one of the most splendid mosque we had ever seen.Later we climbed thousand steps to reach the top of a mountain where there was a Shiv temple.We could see from the hill top, small villages of Pakistan and lights from Karachi.
One trip was over.We saw a lot and thanked our local driver who took pleasure not only in providing us information about the land but also introduced us to local hospitality and kept us entertained with his bag of jokes.He was as good as the trip itself.Truly Kutch is A Land of Unsung Beauty worth exploring.
