Kachchh me if you can - Day 2 exploring villages

Our last day in Kachchh was supposed to be one of adventure and a final attempt at purchasing handicrafts from those who produce them. Prior to setting off for the day, we covered every square inch of our skin to prevent burn from the beaming desert sun, and purchased 5 litres of water. We were planning to ride 90 km north to the southern edge of the Great Rann of Kachchh to view the salt plains, and, stop in a couple of villages along the way to hopefully spot some more artisans at work. We set out early and baked in the morning sun for an hour before stopping for a break at the village of Sumeraser. In our usual form we began roaming around the village taking pictures of the buildings and of the people we met. Rozy chatted with several different folks and we even popped into a couple of peoples’ houses as they were eager to show off their decorations.

After roaming for a while, a man approached us and asked if we were interested in taking a peek at his handloom. We followed him to his house where he began discussing shawl designs drawn on paper with a couple of folks while Rozy and I took a peek at what he currently had working on the loom. He invited us into his house (the handloom was just outside his house under an awning) for drinks and to take a look at some of his previous work. He pulled out a number of scarfs, his wife (who did embroidery) pulled out some of her work including pillow cases and clothing, and, a neighbor even stopped by with a bag full of her work. We looked through everything and in the end we purchased a hand-woven scarf for 500 Rupees. The scarf was woven from individually colored cotton string with each string dyed with alternated colors every 6 inches. The effect, once woven, was a fading zig-zag pattern that ran the length of the 6 foot scarf with little tassels at both ends. The man said the piece takes 5 to 6 days to make and, obviously, was a steal at $12.5 USD, his asking price. We attempted to bargain (as the folks in Bhuj said this was necessary) however, the man was not interested in compromising his price and wouldn’t accept anything less than 500. We paid up the money and he showed us his first place prize for a design that he won from the Gujarati Ministry of Textiles in 2006. His craftsmanship was top notch and he and his family were incredibly cordial making for a nice afternoon.

Craving some more heat, we jumped back on our motorbike and gassed it towards the Great Rann of Kuchchh. Our little bike hummed north as we passed several more villages, the Tropic of Cancer (yeah, there was a sign for it), and lots of very parched fields before arriving at a police checkpoint just beyond the village of Bhirendara. The sleepy cop dutifully rose, threw his rifle over his shoulder and invited us into his tent for tea. Unfortunately we had to decline as we were running late, so, he checked our passports and our permission slips and gave us the wave to continue heading north towards Pakistan. We drove for another 30 kilometers until we arrived at the village of Khavda, where the signage is non-existent and nobody speaks a lick of English. After running around to several different vendors (meanwhile my translator was uselessly sitting on the bike…hmmm, time to sack her), I found one who was capable of pointing when I said the village of interest, and, we were off again.

We headed towards the village of Kuran, but basically, we were more interested in finding the edge of the Great Rann, somewhere up near Kuran. After riding down mangled roads for about 30 minutes, we finally crested a hill and saw the beautiful nothingness of the salt plains. At this point, the hot winds were whipping our little bike left and right and my arms were sore from trying to keep the thing on the road. We stopped, grabbed our cameras, and ran out towards the plains to search for cobras and wide-open spaces. Unfortunately, we didn’t spot any cobras, but we did get some great views of the wickedly inhospitable Great Rann. The terrain was absolutely devoid of plant life, and was completely flat all the way to the shiny horizon. The burning hot wind knocked us off balance and sucked all the moisture out of us, forcing us to re-hydrate with the cache of hot water stored on our bike. This far north, the only vehicles we saw were a couple of military trucks carrying water up to a military camp farther north. Apart from these couple of passing trucks, it was just us, our wobbly little bike and the plains….beautiful isolation!! The grit in our teeth, the burn on our face, and the ache in our butts was well worth the chance to view such a unique landscape.

Our ride back south from the Great Rann was long, hot and tiring, but we continued on in spirited fashion to search for one more village that sounded like a good target for exploration, Ludia. Once again, signage was poor, so, we were left to our own devices to sort out the way which proved to be rather difficult. We turned off on a couple of different dirt roads that looked to lead to a grouping of huts, however, both times we ended up struggling through deep sand on the little bike only to arrive at a very small cluster of huts which basically looked like the residence for a family or two…we didn’t feel comfortable intruding. Instead, we continued back to Bhuj and stopped at a village just a few kilometers outside of the town that featured a heavily decorated exterior wall adorned with painted flowers and mirrors. We once again jumped off the bikes and began strolling around the village, however, this village was a bit different than the others we had visited in the past couple of days. Straight away, the kids that approached us asked for pens, biscuits and money…frustrating. Then, once we got farther into the village, women walking by asked for ridiculous sums of money just to take pictures, and, when we ignored their requests, they walked around backwards to prevent us from taking photographs of them. The environment was not welcoming, and, it was obvious that this little village close to Bhuj has had its fair share of tourists that have made a serious impact on village life…the charm seemed gone! So, we packed up quickly and buzzed off on our bike back to Bhuj.

By this time we barely had enough energy to swallow down our dinner and take a shower before crashing out. This, sadly, marked the end of our travels around Kachchh. This area was an incredible place to visit not only for the unique landscape, tribal life and textiles, but also for the chance to escape the usual thrust of tourism as we were 2 of 6 tourists we saw the entire time in Kachchh. Will will miss you Kachchh and hope to have the chance to visit again someday!




STATISTICS

• Flights taken = 10
  
• Intercity trains rides taken = 17
  
• Intercity bus rides taken = 37
  
• Times lost = 24
  
• Total instances of diarrhea = 7
  
• Total number of requests for pictures with Daniel = 36
  
• Total megabytes of pictures taken = 34,350
  

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