Kutchh – of Great Rann White Desert, Kalo Dungar Black Hills and Pingleshwar White Surf Beach

The road from Bhuj to Khavda is a smooth blacktop that goes straight like an arrow. You could put your car on cruise control and read a newspaper. But the Kutchh landscape is mesmerizing and you do not want to miss a thing. On an early morning you have set out from Bhuj to see the Great Rann of Kutch. Kalo Dungar or the Black Hills which is Kutch’s highest point provides the awesomest aerial view of the Rann.

Few days prior, you have to come to Ahmedabad. All you hope to see are a couple of local baolis and maybe the UNESCO heritage site of Champaner. Next morning you are in a Volvo bus gliding over Gujarat’s unbelievable roads to Bhuj. You cannot believe your luck. There is no way you are missing seeing the marshy sands of Rann of Kutch. You have seen Amitabh Bachchan walking the white sands with clothes fluttering and intoning “Kutchh nahin dekha? to kuch nahin dekha” – If you have not seen Kutch then you have not seen anything.

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Kutchh is the Rann.

In visuals you have seen it as white, featureless and stark landscape where not a blade of grass grows. Quick research of net has shown that you can enjoy two views of the Rann. First the aerial view from top of Kalo Dungar and the second is to actually walk on the white terrain at the same site where the annual Rann Mahotsav is held during full moon nights in winters.

It is May and it is hot. You have few hours only and have started early and are now racing north. The driver wants to take the car aerial but you have to keep reminding him that you want to see Rann only from a few hundred metres up and not all the way from the top!

Few months ago you wanted to cross Tropic of Cancer in MP and the wish remained unfulfilled. Your wish is granted but about 950 kms to the east. Just coming out of Bhuj you will see the board announcing the imaginary Tropic of Cancer passing through the road. You stop to take photos. A month later you will encounter the Tropic again in MP on your way to Sanchi from Bhopal.

Kalo Dungar is about 90 kms from Bhuj.

Khavda is about 70 kms from Bhuj and serves as the check post for White Desert to which you will come back later. The land is increasingly becoming bleak. It is as if you are heading into nothing. For company you have the whistling wind.

Occasionally, there are patches of arid vegetation and settlements. Once in a while you are surprised by the colourful attire of the people. Kutch women resplendent in their multicoloured mirrorwork ethical wear and men predominantly wearing deep aquamarine pathan suits.

What surprises you the most is the number of robust domestic buffaloes you see here. They are everywhere. It is apparent that Amul’s white revolution is huge success in this part of country.

Going past Khavda the straight road takes you to India Bridge – the frontier point which leads into Pakistan. But you turn right. The breeze has suddenly picked up. You snake your way up the Kalo Dungar. The rocks are turning dark.

A canopy of dark clouds is forming on the top. Soon you reach the highest point of Kutch at 462 metres. An army post is built here. From the car park you hurry up the tourist friendly steps that take you to the top where few observation decks are built.

And then you see the first panoramic view of the Great Rann of Kutch. Spreading from west to East is a huge swathe of white. From the top it seems like a flowing river of milk. Maybe the milk from all the buffaloes you saw on the way is emptied here. This is the world’s largest salt desert.

The view is incredibly liberating. On the top of Kutch, with the wind blowing you peer down at vast nothingness of nature. Then you realize that there is no horizon. It has disappeared. The whiteness of Rann merges with the grey of sky. You have seen the horizon indistinguishable at the sea. But here on the land, it is amazing.

You want a closer look at the whiteness. You come down the deck and hang on the edge of the hill. There is something unrelenting about the Kutch breeze. Especially here on the top it has turned into a gale. You are billowing up like a balloon, with the wind threatening to lift you up and deposit below on the Rann.

You have to make efforts to keep the camera steady. Zoom shots are almost impossible. It is just you, the wind, the rapidly moving clouds and the white marsh below. India with its claustrophobic cities also offers nothingness. Here you feel standing on the ledge of the world with nothing beyond.

In the distance you can see the India Bridge connecting land masses over the channel that brings Rann of Kutch Lake water from the east to west.

Millions of years ago these hills were under the sea. The rocks still carry fossils of marine life. The flowing sea has receded into the distance leaving the salty marsh behind. You wish you had a couple of hours more to spend some time among the rocks to find those fossils. You spend some time just soaking it in and marvelling at it all.

Just across the parking lot is the 400 years old Dattatreya Temple. The legend goes that Dattatreya, the deity encompassing the Trinity of Brahm, Vishnu and Shiv was walking the earth when he came to Kalo Dungar. Here he found a band of starving jackals. He offered them parts of his body to eat and while the jackals ate his body continued to regenerate. Even today, the golden jackals come in the evening to the platform a little distance away to feed on the prasad and rice prepared by the priests.

Back at Khavda there is a Kutch Police Post. Here you fill a form, produce photo ID, pay for yourselves, the driver and the car and you are driving west on the way to White Desert. For fifteen kilometres you drive on an empty road interspersed with some vegetation and barren brown land. And then you hit the BSF post.

Your papers are checked and you are waved off to the parking lot. All around you is brown and black packed earth. But where is the White Desert? In the horizon you see a shimmer – there it is. The sun has come up and the coolness of Kalo Dungar is gone. A SUV full of people has arrived. They are not too keen for the trek to the White Desert under the hot sun. You cannot go back without walking on the white marsh. It is time to walk.

The wind intensity as compared to Kalo Dungar has lessened but it is continuous with no slack. The dry brown earth seems to be turning marshy. The sun has dried the top but just below you feel the wetness. Army truck tyres have made tracks where you can see the moisture. You are walking into nothingness. The BSF communication towers have disappeared in the horizon on east.

Just beyond it seems snow has fallen. The land is gradually turning white. The ground is scrunching under your soles. You bend to pick the white crystals. It seems like the packed ice of Wisconsin winters. But this is Rann and these are salt crystals. The entire landscape is unbroken white.

Again the sky seems to have melted into the whiteness. The horizon is gone. You have a fair idea how people feel when they stand on top of Arctic Circle – just whiteness and desolation all around. This time there is no escape for you. The second time this morning you have hit the edge of the world.

Clock ticks and reluctantly you begin your walk back to the car. On the way out, go through the resort with cottages. In December, the entire area is packed with tourists during the Kutch Utsav. Under a full moon lit sky, the glinting white desert will be a sight to behold. You know this wish will also come true.

Since you need to see different topographies of Kutch, this time you head out west. Down south there is a long sea coast but mostly it has industrial ports. You are looking for something quite and reclusive. Kothara is about 80 kms from Bhuj. The road again is a breeze. Just beyond Kothara is the Naliya Air Base.

On the way to Kothara you can see the Raho Fort perched on a hill on the left. It is reported that Lagaan was shot here. You are short on time. Waves beckon you and you give the fort a miss – cardinal rule number one broken.

From Kothara drive for another 18 kms west bound towards the sea. This is a season of wishes coming true. So far you had seen these huge wind mills churning on the hills way beyond your reach. You always wanted to stand below them to hear the blades slicing the air. Here on the flatland there are scores of windmills all the way to the beach. You cannot believe your luck.

You run to the nearest one just yards away from the road. You stand next to the tall pillar and look up to see the huge blades lazily revolving. Standing right below, the sound of the blades is kind of ominous. You just hope the blades do not choose this particular moment to drop on you. When you look up, the slicing blades and the moving clouds above are an unmatched sight – it is both exhilarating and eerie.

Going past the wind mills, you can smell the salt in air. Just like the bat droppings smell in the dark tombs, the smell of sea releases some feel good hormones in your blood supply. You think you can hear the lap of waves. There is a sand ridge in the distance.

You walk up the ridge to see one of prettiest beaches below. The waves churn up the whitest surf. Cool breeze blowing in from the sea powers the wind mills just beyond. Except for a couple of friendly dogs you have the beach to yourself. Looking at the pristine beach it is apparent that thankfully it does not get many visitors. The beach gets its name from the Pingleshwar Temple in the neighbouring village. You wish you could become a beach bum for a day.

Kutch is indeed special. Kutch gives you the space – whether it is on top of Kalo Dungar, or walking on the White Desert or the waves lapping at your feet on the Pingleshwar Beach. If you want to lose yourself in empty vastness of nothingness, come to Kutch. The Gujarat Tourism website describes Kutch with its surreal charm as a symphony of salt and stones cuddled by desert and the sea. The symphony leaves you in raptures.