Ahmedabad, 8 April 2012

Even after leaving Dholaveera, we were still contemplating on the fascinating treasure and time-less wisdom. We had taken a sort of impulsive decision to visit Dholavira a night before, and equally impulsive or audacious was to head back to Bhuj and if possible make it to tent city on the same day. Our major concern was to reach upto Bhachau before it turns dark. We tried to cover back the Flamingo land in hurry. Towards late noon, their numbers were waning but not their spirit. They were still there freely enjoying their life in this adopted land. After few direction check and breaks, we got down of rapar highway and moved towards bumpy labyrinths of roads leading to Bhachau. We were moving in the western direction and Sun was leading us from the front, it was a chase between Sun’s descending journey and ours towards Rapar. The sunset of such rusty locale is also a treasure, unlike urban horizons, you could clearly see sun gradually lowering down as if to kiss earth’s surface at horizon. The sky was turning crimson, something i would have loved to get down and breathe a bit of atmosphere. But we could not afford as time was the precious thing we could not waste. Or so we thought.

Even at speed, our driver noticed some movements in the bush and slowed the car to our surprise as if he was casted by some spell and stopped the car. Before we could ask him, we saw a a huge majestic beast in the bush. It was a Nilgai, the protected species of antelopes. A huge and well-built male wild Nilgai was starring at us from bush. As if telling us not to rush, and to take life easy. I have seen them before in north Gujarat but this one was bit different as it would not run away from humans. He almost hypnotized us with surprise act. Before my son could pull our Nikon SLR out, the creature quietly bowed to us and moved on. For some unexplainable reason, our hearts were filled with joy. Kutch surprise were never ending. They came in all size and shapes. Calm stare by nilgai in this wonderful backdrop, made us relaxed a lot and we started observing calmness around us too. Was this also part of Gujarat Tourism?Did Narendra Modi or Amitabh Bacchan knew about this? May be that’s what Bacchan means when he says, breathe a bit of Gujarat. This was indeed refreshing.

Somehow we made it in time to Bhuj and broke for dinner. It was already nine pm. Tired but not fatigued, like greedy kids in Disneyland we were looking forward to more while wondering what next? The day was full of Wows. Starting with kutchi hospitality, migratory birds, futuristic megapolis of past and not to mention last experience of majestic creature in the backdrop of perfect sunset. what more pleasant surprises you could have it in a day. It came from all the places, from ground, from water, from past from present. And the day was yet to end.

Dhorodo the artificial tent city was less than 80kms and roads were robust. As we set out, the landscape had completely changed. The changing face of desert was evident. The winds started getting chilly and night sky brighter. ours was the only car running on the road and after an hour or so we reached the tent city.

The waxing moon of 97% was looking majestic. But more surprising was the orion belt celestials. Just in the same line the stars were shining so brightly smiling from thousands of light years away, as if saying so finally you found us? If previous surprises were earth bound, this was all the way from sky. Could count many celestial and not so visible stars of urban area. As if they are all here for some sort of festival. The staff guided us to our tents block. We were allotted two tents in D Block. The panoramic view was stunning. As if there were small shape pyramids in circle form. And the circle was like as big big as Dandiya ground. In the center, there was command center, which stationed young house keeping staff, who could help 24X7. We were guided in to the room and fell in love with the coziness. Went to sleep and slept like a dead wood. The temperature dropped to less than 2 degree at night but well heated tents did not make us feel the cold. 600 KM journey in a day had its own effect and we slept well.

While previous day went in travelling into historical time sleep and wonder about marvel of past civilizations, today was the day to appreciate human endeavor for creating oasis in the desert. If you happen to visit Dhordo a month before or after the event, you may never reach that place. To think about having tourism in a middle of nowhere place, one has to give credit to state leadership and administration. We learned that due to Desert Festival, the ATM transactions at Dhordo for a month is more than whole of Bhuj transaction. Not only that, it gives direct and indirect employment to more than twenty thousand people. This year it is also going to break even and thanks to desert festival some entrepreneur have invested in building permanent tourism facility in vicinity.

We could see lot of young people working behind the scene. There was sort of yes culture. Any requirement by tourists has to be met with smiling face. Probably it was one of the finest schools for hospitality MBA aspirant. Your wits, your skills, your zeal, everything was on test and the young kids were doing their job excellently. I was curious about their background. Considering everything was arranged by Govt. how did they get so much enthusiasm. The young men were from many places besides kutch, such as Ahmedabad, Saurashtra, Surat, some even from neighbouring Rajasthan. We learned that most of things have been outsourced so that explained brutal efficiency and second was zeal of young people. We were highly impressed with the arrangements.

Previous day was spent in travelling, so we tried to follow a different schedule today. And decided to travel to Banni Village, world famous for their art of Kutchi Embroidery. The Bhungas in which they live is an iconic design for village dwelling. We were lucky as the otherwise tourist crowd had opted for day long tour. The neat and clean village grabbed our imagination. We were greeted well and could freely move from one house to another. My daughter and wife chose to dress in Kutchi attires as suggested by them. They whole process was filled with joy and excitement. The community’s revenue stream mainly was from agriculture and for remaining time they would make handicrafts. Thanks to this campaign, their lull period is also covered with either tourism or selling handicrafts to visitors. We traced again here footsteps of Amitabh Bacchan, as one of the village family had started a permanent Bhruga cottage for tourism. We could see Bacchan’s photo with them. The tea cooked in earthen vessel was very delicious.

Post lunch we went for adventure sports and rode an All Terrain Vehicle. The unending desert and thrill to drive ATV at speed only seen at racing scene was and experience for which words are not enough. Release of brain Adrenal reach peak and we were having a great fun. In the middle of desert, there was so much to choose from. The icing on the cake came from visiting Salt Desert. As DG had already covered, we also tried our hand at trick photography. As many people have written a lot about white desert, shall refrain here. But day was still not over. In the evening, we came to performance stage. One by one very interesting performance were presented by local school kids to natak mandali.

In the midst of very enthralling performances i discovered something very interesting. After each performance someone from audience would send message across to the anchor. Initially i thought it was one of things, but when it became regular custom after every performance, i could see pattern. After each and every performance, someone from Audience will announce Puraskar (prize money) for the performer. This was very touchy thing for me. Love for art has high regards for this people. And more so love for their motherland. Kutchis have migrated all over the world but through their art they unite and when they do, they also encourage more of it. I really thought Puraskar was very interesting aspect, not seen lately.

Quite enthralled by the overall enriching experience, we were on our journey back home. The oasis in desert had really won over us. We were just admiring the capabilities of Gujarat Tourism who had done commendable job. While running a campaign is one thing, sustaining on the ground is another. Mr. Mitra and his team does deserve great kudos. And I am sure God is also with Gujarat Tourism as one special help in the form of Mr. Sanjeev Kaul an IAS officer from God’s Own Country (Kerala) is also part of taking Gujarat on new tourism height.

While we were driving back, we thought there is something good GTCL can do on the road. While the road infrastructure in Gujarat is great, that can not be said about the road side Eateries. From Bhuj to Ahmedabad, we were finding very difficult to locate DHABA which can be trusted for food. We got down at one place and to our utter surprise found that food, premise and even toilets were clean. The Muslim Vohra owner told us he took over this property 3 months back and first thing he did was to clean the toilets and first thing he does in the morning is to check by himself whether they are clean or not. Obviously his food and premise were clean as this old man was concerned for his customers. My wife thought, GTCL should now start giving ranking to Dhabas based on their cleanliness as Gujarat has much better road infrastructure, the Dhabas should also be part of tourism experience.

As I end the article, i learned that Khushboo Gujarat ki is turning out to be great success and last year almost 20 million people visited Gujarat. The impact of this success can be measured from the fact that there are many cloning advertisement in metro cities aping voice of Shri Bacchan and selling their product in the tone of Khushboo Gujarat Ki. Its a fresh air for Gujarat that such campaign should run in larger metro cities and it does create lot of positive vibes for promoting brand Gujarat. But I fear, if state and especially people are really ready for more tourists? Dhordo notwithstanding, its may be the first and last place. What about hotel infrastructure elsewhere? Global Cuisine? People’s attitude? Still Gujarat has lot to catchup. May be Mr. Kaul will show us the way in which Kerala did. Till then even if Khushboo is bit chaotic, kindly bear.

Enjoy your journey to Gujarat.

(two article series of Kutch travel completes)
Writer is a current affair analyst who studies Gujarat affairs in international perspective.