Kutch Kutch Hota Hai - Into Heart Of The Little Rann

[Majic]

keep them coming, enjoying your thread!

[genesis]

Originally Posted by genesis

And the environment became quieter, in preparation for sunset...

Yonous our driver and guard took us the deepest he was allowed to into the Rann, and we stopped and settled down waiting for sunset.


Two sisters, part of a salt worker family, setting up house near a new salt pan, walked over in their curiosity and we started chatting with them.


Their beautiful smiles won us over and the conversation in broken Gujarati and Hindi continued


We marvelled at their persistence in eking out a living in such adverse conditions




While still keeping a positive approach to life


The sun slowly started sinking in the horizon




Finally disappearing into the parched earth



We called it a day and headed back to camp...



As we were on our way back, I got an sms from my neighbor in Mumbai saying he and his family were headed by road to Udaipur, would we be interested in joining them on the road...?

[sudev]

Lovely pictures and wow to the people who live in such harsh conditions.

[rkbharat]

amazing picture, so lively

[Surprise]

The best start ever I have seen in Travelogue section @ Team-Bhp. I love such natural stills.

There is a tamil movie called "Pesum Padam" which does not have even a single dialogue in the entire movie, your captures are so wonderful that even without a word on this thread, I would have clicked 5 starts. I love it. Keep them coming...

[genesis]

Originally Posted by genesis

As we were on our way back, I got an sms from my neighbor in Mumbai saying he and his family were headed by road to Udaipur, would we be interested in joining them on the road...?

Sounded interesting. Driving another 300 plus kilometers to meet our neighbors who live less than 20 meters away. We decided to go for it but do it the scenic way. Zainabad to Bechraji to see a shakti temple which is famous as the mother goddess of eunuchs, then the sun temple at Modhera moving on to Rani Ki Vav at Patan, and then Udaipur...

Bechraji was an interesting experience. The temple is within a fort like structure.



With different temples inside the complex


Including one under a very ancient tree


The goddess rides on a rooster


Which explained the preponderance of beautiful roosters in the complex





The temple complex was in a state of renovation so we paid our respects and headed back through the courtyard


Into the streets and back to the car


But not before eyeing some mouth water jalebis and fafda, the staple of gujarati culinary culture


It was time to move onto Modhera to view the world famous sun temple...

[Majic]

Mmmmm, nice pictures, last one in front of the sweet shop is looking mouthwatering. Your pcitures has an element of naturalisim on it. Looking forward to more!

[d_payne]

@genesis: Great narration, honestly! To be able to do a trip and then come back with such detailed narration is not easy -especially with the 100s of photos that we click nowadays with our digital cameras.

I know the kind of effort and memory that goes into this, and I'm loving each and every post in this thread!

We were at the LROK (Little Rann of Kutch ) with Mr. Dhanraj Mallik in August during The Great Driving Challenge and we'd met Younus (the driver/guide) also. The Sallukis are very impressive dogs and Mr. Mallik is a great gentleman to meet.

These photos and moment-by-moment captures are amazing and I definitely want to revisit the place again.

[genesis]

Originally Posted by d_payne

@genesis:

We were at the LROK (Little Rann of Kutch ) with Mr. Dhanraj Mallik in August during The Great Driving Challenge and we'd met Younus (the driver/guide) also. The Sallukis are very impressive dogs and Mr. Mallik is a great gentleman to meet.

These photos and moment-by-moment captures are amazing and I definitely want to revisit the place again.

@d_payne: Here is a little tidbit which will make you happy (if you are who I think you are ) . I gave Dhanraj Malik a printed copy of your blog writeup about the camp that I had taken for reference. He was quite thrilled by it. Remembered you guys quite fondly. Small world indeed.

[Rudra Sen]

Absolutely fantastic! Now don't tell us that you're through with your photos here.

[genesis]

Originally Posted by Majic

Mmmmm, nice pictures, last one in front of the sweet shop is looking mouthwatering. Your pcitures has an element of naturalisim on it. Looking forward to more!

Your comment made me study the picture a bit more. Just realised that the old guy making the jalebi batter looks like Vijay Mallya...

[sen2009]

Sounded interesting. Driving another 300 plus kilometers to meet our neighbors who live less than 20 meters away.

Mumbai life... sigh!

Great going, need more accelarator.

[genesis]

Originally Posted by genesis

It was time to move onto Modhera to view the world famous sun temple...

If there is one place in Gujarat that people must absolutely visit, it is the Sun Temple in Modhera. Beautiful architecture, mind blowing engineering and exquisite statues. We took the services of a guide which turned out to be worth every penny. The narration made the stone come alive and the temple had so many nuances that we would have missed around 70% of it otherwise
.In fact we gave him more than he had asked for in the end.

The temple was built in 1026 ad by the Solanki Dynasty and has three parts.

The Surya Kund which is a massive tank with steps





And numerous small altars/temple dotting the steps on all sides



The tank and the temples have no cement to bind the stones but instead use a locking mechanism of metal/wood to keep everything in place. It gives flex and has saved the temple from many an earthquake.



The jewel in the crown is the Sabha Mandap temple which stands next to the tank, bordered by pillars




The entrances are decorated with intricate 'torans' a sign of royalty





Though the Sun Temple is the closest to the Konarak temple in Puri, it has some similarity to the temples in Khajuraho due to carvings depicting the carnal pleasures of our ancestors,
some of which were surely inspiration for savita bhabhi




To purify our thoughts we quickly shifted gaze to the many gods carved on the walls

Outside the temple


and inside




and sat down on the steps listening to some more stories


of how over centuries it has survived the ravages of man and nature...

[sen2009]

Is the story over? I don't see any "concluding" evidence!
Please shake off the laziness and get back to the good work.
Need a brick on that accelarator now!

[sudev]

To purify our thoughts we quickly shifted gaze to the many gods carved on the walls

Why hypocrite sense of prudery?

Lovely pictures do all the talking with just the suggestive title narration. Great travelogue, even as I say this again and again.