“The man was walking miles & miles on
a long, thin & unwinding road!!!
He had been walking on foot many days…many
nights; he had been walking through
hail & storm, through scorching heat, through biting cold….and now he was
almost there;
Where he came from, he had heard about a
White Sea!!!
A White Sea on which he could walk, miles
& miles into oblivion!!
He kept mumbling “white sea…white
sea…white sea” under his breath;
Days of hunger & thirst were nothing
when he finally saw a jaw dropping sight!!!!
IT WAS TRUE!!!
The White Sea did exist!!!
But now, that he was there…he just could
not get himself to go up to the sea;
Instead, he just sat at a distance &
wept!! Tears of pure joy!!!
He was finally One with God!!!”
- Hasina’s musings
26th Dec: 10.30am
Yes!!! We are back!! And in pursuit of the mystical White
Sea ourselves!!!
Come to think of it, isn’t walking on a White Sea, an
absolutely overwhelming thought??!!
Well it was to us, and with this thought in mind, we left
Devpur Homestay at 10.30 am to start for Rann of Kutch.
Let us tell you a bit about Rann first.
The Rann of Kutch is divided into two parts: The Great Rann
of Kutch & the Little Rann of Kutch!!
Both are some 200 odd kms apart. The Little Rann of Kutch
has the Wild Ass Sanctuary and you can see Lesser Flamingoes & many exotic
migratory birds there, which is quite an experience. The Great Rann of Kutch
has the gorgeous White Rann & it hosts the Rann Utsav, which is an
experience in itself too.
Due to our limited time, we could not do both Little Rann
& Great Rann, therefore we made our choice to go with White Rann & Rann
Utsav!! Going to Kutch & missing White Rann is nothing short of criminal!! J J
Contrary to popular perception amongst many people I conversed with, The White Rann is not a white sand desert. It is a dried up sea bed. Some 7000 years ago, certain geographical changes on Earth made this sea recede back to several kilometres, thus leaving behind a dried up salt bed in its place!!! Therefore, this is actually dry sea with salt crystals on its surface!! These salt crystals reflect back any colour they catch, therefore Photography in Rann at various point in the day is a dream for any photographer!!!
Like we have mentioned earlier in our blogpost, we chose to
live in Rann Utsav at the Tent City, Dhordo, which is the Rann Utsav. Our
purpose was also to click the pictures of Rann at different time of the day,
therefore we needed to stay at a place with easy access & through which we
can visit Rann whenever we want, without getting into the hassle of permit
being made again & again.
So, staying in Rann Utsav means you can go to Rann anytime
you want during the duration of your stay & you just have to produce your
confirmation voucher of the Tent City, instead of a permit.
If you do not want to live in the Tent City, as it is quite
expensive an affair, you can stay in Mud Bhungas (mud huts) situated nearby,
which is also an experience. The White Rann is merely 3-4 kms from Dhordo.
Therefore, with our voucher comfortably secured, & no
stress of permits getting made, we reached the first check point of Rann Utsav
around 12.30pm. Dhordo & Kalo Dungar were both 30 kms each from this point,
but in opposite direction.
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| Rann Utsav!! |
Cars go upto quite a height in Kalo Dungar, and post that
you just have to walk to find a nice vantage point. We will now let the
pictures & videos do the talking :) :)
Breathtaking, isn’t it??!!!
It was very surreal an experience to see the milky white
vastness disappearing into the horizon, to the point where it was impossible to
make out where the White Rann ended and where the sky started.
After soaking in this breathtaking view we started back to
Tent City. We had not had time for lunch, so instead we snacked on some local
street food from nearby carts.
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| Dabeli, the local Kutchi snack, is like Vada Pav, but with peanuts & sweeter sauce |
We finally reached Tent city, Dhordo at 4.30pm & the view was stunning to say the least!!
This was the Rann Utsav venue, and living in the Tent City
means you are living in the Utsav 24x7, which was a great feeling. It was like
living in a partyzone all the time, and that feeling was enough to give a
thrill factor.
But all that is nothing compared to when we entered the
venue. The sheer organization of the place is awe inspiring. We have seen
various handicraft fairs in India and we can say hands down, that the scale at
which Rann Utsav was made a tourist destination was something we have never
seen!!!
The minute we entered, our luggage got dropped at front
desk, and was escorted to our tents. The staff was extremely polite &
courteous & took all pains of arranging our check in to the tents, while
they escorted us to a High Tea that was being served in the Dining Hall!!! In
fact a staff person got us a “go cart” that could escort take us to the Dining
hall, so that we do not waste any time walking!!! Wow!! Now we were quite
kicked!!
The service inside the dining hall was also all politeness,
with we being supplied with tea, coffee, sandwiches & whatnots again &
again. We were just too impressed with the courteous behavior of all staff.
Post High Tea, it was our transfer the Tent, for which a Go
Cart was again hailed. The whole area was divided into 5 blocks and each block
was made into a big Tent Society; think of it like a building society. The
minute we entered our block, the view was jaw dropping!!!
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| Our Tent Block at night!! This is 1 of total 6 blocks!! |
After admiring our tent block & the facilities inside,
it was time to head to the White Rann to capture the sunset!!! It was finally
time to be one with Rann…the ultimate in our RannVenture.
Sunset time in December was 6.30pm, but it advisable if you
reach earlier as you can find a place to take photographs uninterrupted &
in peace.
Do NOT try driving too much near the Rann bed as well, as
your car might get stuck. Just try parking as near the parking point as
possible. Many cars got stuck while we were visiting the Rann, & taking
them out is a task!!!
If you really want to drive on Rann, there are Polaris
available in the Rann Utsav, & that can be one thrilling experience!!!
Finally it was Rann & Sun & us!!! Let the pictures
do the talking!!!
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| Ramp to the White Rann |
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| Rann just before Sunset...all White!! |
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| Pink Rann!!! The colour of the setting sun on the sky reflected on Rann |
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| Creamy Dreamy Rann!! |
It was like walking on the surface of moon!!! It was like a
true Interstellar moment…as though you have just gone to another dimension to
witness this wonder!!!
One of the most oddly satisfying feeling was to hear the salt bed crunch under you feet, as you walk on it. Regular spot shoes are your best here. however if you can wear comfortable boots, it will be even better...but try not wearing your expensive ones!! And no heels at all!!
Unfortunately post sunset, the moon that came out was a
crescent, and thus we could not see the fabulous Rann in moonlight, glowing
like a celestial planet, that we have so heard about. For that it is advisable
if one can come on a full moon night!!! Therefore we were out of Rann post
sunset, as it was completely dark!!!
But out of Rann & back to the Utsav it was!!!
The Utsav was in its full swing!!!
There were songs playing in every Tent Block. In a common
area we could see a DJ floor with numbers belting out. There was a Spa for
those who wanted to realx; There was also a Chocolate Room in the Tent City.
All cold from our visit in the Rann, we ordered hot chocolates – Belgian
Chocolate Chilli, Rum & Classic!!! They were absolutely delicious. The
Chocolate Room is located in the games area, where you can chill by playing
snooker, TT, etc. You can either sit indoors with your tea/coffee/hot
chocolate/cakes etc. or sit in a cosy outdoors sitout!! The Games Room also has
bi-cycles on rent, and a funny standing scooter sort of thing that Musafir
& Raahgir tried!!!
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| Game Area with cycles on rent |
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| Walk to the Tent City |
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| Game Room |
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| The Chocolate Room!!! They deliver at your tent too till 12.30 at night!! |
Lord, how boys can become little kids with machines!!! :) :) :)
After shopping in the Utsav for lovely handicrafts &
enjoying the fest to our fullest, we had a sumptuous meal & called it a
night!!
Next day awaited promise of a spectacular Sunrise & more
adventure!!!
Coming Up: A pictorial of Sunrise at Rann, which was blue this time; & a detour to turn back the pages of history to
Harappa!!! Keep visiting Ek Musafir Ek Hasina
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