Reminiscing the trip after a year

I had lost steam since a year and got busy in the mundane life all over again. Recently visited a presentation by the artist Tushar Joag who had taken up a motorcycle journey from Mumbai to Shanghai via the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat and Three Gorges dam in China. The presentation has fired both of us up to do an exhibition/presentation in the near future. Until then I want to continue reminiscing the journey through this blog.

Lucknow - the veiled city

I was looking forward to visiting Lucknow through out the trip. I had an image of Lucknow in my mind - almost a collage, through the stories and hindi cinema, of a certain romantic cultured grandness, rich language, dance, music, minakari, colored glass.

Walls of 'The Residency'

We reached Lucknow after a long interesting journey through small villages, almost by nightfall. Just at the outskirts the snarls of a modern day Indian city hit us - congestion, honking, crowd, traffic jams, filth, dust and above all the exhaustion of an entire day journey. The romantic image was shattered for the time being.After 3 hours of looking for a place to stay we finally crashed in a UP tourism hotel. The next day felt better and so did the city though it was still congested, dusty and faceless but not unlike any other city of this scale.

The rich grandeur of Lucknow was not visible on the streets and in the daily life but was locked up behind the walls of protected monuments. We first went to The Residency. It was the site of the first mutiny of freedom in 1857. Around 10,000 British were held inside the 33 acre campus. Even today in its ruins it looked grand. Completely made of thin bricks about 5.5”x3.5”x1” the structures like villas, banquet halls, treasury etc. with its 5’ high plinths looked extremely grand. I hadn’t seen such exquisite brick masonry in the country with perfect flat arches, semi circular arches, columns, 2’ thick walls, high plinths with servant quarters in the basement and huge gardens. It was like mini Savannah (Georgia) but in ruins. The brick masonry reminded me of Roman ruins. Cluster of bricks together were dressed as stones on some walls and I think in its full glory it would be made to look like stone construction.The entire campus was filled with couples making out in each and every corner. 

After spending 3 hours there we tore ourselves away and headed towards Bada and Chota Imambra. The approach to the monuments was classical and its grandness could be felt from miles away.  Being a weekend the monuments were infested with tourists, school children and touts. We entered Bada Imambra after warding off the touts – even from inside the structure was grand. Except for the central hall the rest of the structure was closed off for renovation. The courtyard outside was enough to transport you into Lucknow’s golden era. Through out our exploration the touts kept bothering us saying that a couple is not allowed to roam alone and finally we were officially stopped from going into the labyrinth and were asked to be accompanied by a guide. This was the last straw – by now we were fuming mad. That sanctity of architecture was snatched away by the guides/touts. After futile argument for some time we stormed out and demanded for a refund of our tickets which surprisingly we got.

Entrance of Bada Imambra

We vowed to come back to Lucknow on a week day. The rest of the monuments we saw from our bike – no more getting off in a pool of school children and touts. The city had its grandness veiled in the form of gated monuments while the rest of the city de-evolved into a faceless 2^nd tiered Indian city with congested, dilapidated old city and  a misfit counterpart of a concrete, aluminum and glass clad new city. 

At the end of the day we headed towards Ambedkar Smarak couple of km outside the main city. It was a humongous campus of pink stone with its own dedicated entrance bridge over River Gomti. The entrance had a huge 80feet tall statue of Ambedkar on one side and of Mayawati and Kanshiram on the other. The 100 acre campus looked like a huge narcissist belch. The amount of money spent on this monstrosity could have helped in protecting and maintaining the veiled city – but such a logic does not work in urban planning!!

Mosque at Bada Imambra

We went back and ended the day in an urban respite of a movie, dinner and ice cream and hoped to come back to explore the city once again.

St. Mark's Residency School

Beautiful Kachch

We entered kachch via Jamnagar and Bhachau by late October. Not the ideal season for Kachch though, as the days were still pretty hot. By the time we had gone around Saurashtra and reached Jamnagar the landscape had changed. Trees were sparse, lesser water bodies and as soon as we reached Bhachau there were just the thorny bushes for miles.

Mosquito graveyard

The journey entering Kachch was eventful. At 2:30 pm in the afternoon somewhere around Bhachau we were melting in the heat, 3 lts of chaas down, tempers and temperature through the roof we realised that our elastic ropes holding our luggage secured had burnt off somewhere along the way. We were missing a sleeping bag and a small haversack with almost anything that was of value in it. Panicking we took the torturous journey back... after almost 20 odd kms @ 10 km/hr .. we were ready to give up but we pushed ourselves for the last 5 km and to our surprise found them exactly where they would have fallen off the bike. The sleeping bag was burnt (due to the exhaust pipe we believe) beyond use but the shoes inside were intact and so was our haversack with absolutely nothing missing. We estimated that it should have been lying that way for more than an hour.

concrete replicas

A week to ten days in Kachch is also not enough. It is a country of its own. Fishing and merchant towns in the south along the coast, the fortified cities of kot lakhpat on the western most tip of the country, narayan sarovar - a sea of sweet water in south west and the beautiful Banni region in the north with its colourful tribes.

Bhuj is like any other city but just few km outside the city limits, Kachch welcomes you with open arms. The earthquake was a boon for most of the people (post facto). Infrastructure in the form of electricity, houses, water supply(however limited), roads have flooded the region. The quake has put it on the tourist map too along with the Gujarat government initiatives no doubt. Along with the boon there is a downside. The new architecture flooding the region has wiped away the traditional earth 'bhungas' except for the banni region and has replaced them with cheap concrete blocks and mangalore tiled replicas. Few people still prefer to build a small earth-thatch roof home next to this concrete 'gift' where they retreat during monsoons(as the concrete homes leak and mangalore tiles make too much noise) and extreme winter or summers.

Migratory birds

The Rann of Kachch is actually Arabian sea for 5 months of the year, from June to October, and becomes a white salty stretch from November on. We caught the sloshy phase of the desert with millions of migratory birds. The road to Dholavira in the northern Banni region is literally a bridge on ocean for 12 -16 km that connects the dholavira 'island' to the mainland. Post November 4x4s can actually go from Khavda to Dholavira through the rann but we had to make a painful journey around for about 200 kms. Further from Dholavira are four other islands with India bridge being the last one on this side of the boundary (of the movie 'Refugee' fame) then lies about 80 km of no man's land. Military officials actually travel all the way to Jaisalmer from the Rann of Kachch via their 4x4s. The archeological findings in dholavira are any historian's dream site but much more remain to be excavated. The architectural perfection achieved 5000 years back still remains unparalleled in today's world.
 

Mud work in banni

Metal work at Nani Reha

Meghwals of Banni region

Kachch is a land of crafts. The traditional mud art is now a skill possessed by 80+ old ladies but it is being modernised by few artists from the Banni region. Ajrakhpur is a new town established by the uprooted Ajrakh print workers close to Bhuj. Ajrakh printing is a beautiful art where a cloth is block printed by vegetable dyes into a 'negative' and finally converted into a 'positive' by dipping it into Indigo. Depending on the kinds of colours required, various dyes are used, and the actual colors are revealed only at the end by the blue dye. The famous Kachchi embroidery is the forte of few distinct tribes. The ahirs, rabaris, harijans (meghwals) all have their distinct style and stitch. All of these are nomadic tribes and embroidery is closely linked to their culture. The quality of embroidery and its density was the currency of the past. The more delicate, colourful and detailed one's embroidered clothes, the richer they are. Slowly the craft is detached from its original context and has become a product for the urban fashionistas. For the tribes, cheaper polyesters have taken over at most places. Copper bells of Nirona are exported all over Europe. Nani reha which is still a complete stone and earth village, supplies knives, daggers to a large indian market. Wood work, leather work and many other textile crafts are seen in abundance in tiny hamlets.




By all means Banni region is the heart of Kachch - still untouched by the homogeneity of today's world and still virgin of the commercial tourism - though the desert festival that started this year had a great response. The journey from Kot Lakhpat to Hodko through the desert was one of the best journeys of the trip. Guided purely by the tyre marks in sand and few verbal directions of a nomadic shepherd along the way - you submit yourself completely to the landscape. A distance of two hours would take you almost six hours if guided well so a stock of petrol, water and a compass is a must. Further from hodko to dholavira via khavda would also be a similarly thrilling journey that we hope to make some day in future in a season when the sea dries up to give way to the white desert.

Mundra

 
 

bhunga under construction

Kot Lakhpat - western tip of the country

Mandvi and Mundra in south are mainly fishing, port and boat building towns. Mandvi has a beautiful beach front with the prominent Marwadi architecture in the form of Jai Vilas Palace (of Hum dil de chuke fame). Mundra on the other hand is literally a town on a cross street within fort walls. Mundra is recently being modernised with huge SEZ coming up in the vicinity. Kot Lakhpat on the western tip of the country is a ghost town within a robust fort... Beautiful architecture lies derelict in this ghost town with a few handful people surviving purely on tourism. The fort (kot) marks the boundary between 'civilisation' and barren desert beyond into the no man's land and further beyond into Pakistan. Narayan Sarovar is a pilgrimage stop for many devotees and a good dip for the tired travellers. The local temple provides accomodation and food for free for lakhs of people travelling through. Here we met a group of 60+ retired men from Ahmedabad travelling on motorcycles through Gujarat.

Jain derasar at Tera

Mangalor tiled compound wall

earthern bhungas in hodko

The landscape, crafts, culture and above all the people is what makes this region so special. Hope its innocence and genuineness remains untouched for many generations to come.

IN and OUT

Disclaimer:  There is probability that you might find it offensive. Not for the weak hearted!

WHAT:

Two basic necessities of human existence after breathing are Eating (IN) and Crapping (OUT) Both a joyous occasion if the spices are right, which we painfully realized.

WHERE:

We rarely took national highways and stayed on smaller inner roads… hence when we would get hungry there would be no restaurant… Your choice of IN would be dhabas or village lunch homes… where you cannot order rather you ate what was cooked … and what is available depended on the region, the season, and the latest harvest….

The lack of choice though frustrating taught us the need to ‘give up control’…  Life felt great once we accepted that. Once in a while we would be served food by someone we would have befriended. These experiences were the best as it was served with a lot of love, affection and tons of questions.

Within the first week on the trip, out of necessity the OUT had to happen out in the open. Having experienced the pleasure of ‘doing it in the open’, we never sought European or Indian toilets again.

WHEN:  

There was more or less no routine to the IN. However OUT had a routine. It would happen around mid morning/early afternoon…. by then we would have had 2-3 cups of hot tea which would get our bowel movements kick started combined with about 4hrs of even vibration out of sitting on the bike (kinda would feel like workers mixing concrete with a vibrator to make sure no air gaps are left) a bunch of nice big potholes to give the extra push, jerk…. And presto!!! We are ready….

The OUT experience:

You are on your way… cruising comfortably between 80-100 kms/hr… somewhere with enough tea, vibration you know you are ready…. 

You down throttle to a scouting speed of about 50-45 km/hr. Observe and understand the topography, and isolate specifics (be it trees, bushes, open fields) and you are ready for selection.

You idle the engine to an immediate stopping speed of about 35-30 kms/hr and have to be alert to look for a specific spot.

Stop…. 

Hopefully you have done it in time and there are no emergencies… you untie the emergency bag with a snap and out pops the toilet paper. Initially a leaves were used instead of toilet paper but were discontinued due to the following reasons:

1.         Need not be available within arms reach. Resulting in squat-walk with pants down, not exactly desirable.

2.         Might not be locally available in all areas  i.e. rann of kutch

3.         You might run the risk of them being contaminated due to worms etc.

4.         Ones next to dusty roads in UP, Bihar had dust settlement and were dirty.

Sometimes its hurried sometimes not…. But before the release… if and when you get a ‘thanda hava ka jaukha’ the feeling is indescribable in words…. 

One of the greatest experiences that I miss coming back to urbania from this trip is the greatness of the feeling of crapping.

Factors affecting OUT: Mostly it was dependent on the IN, however it was also dependent on the following:

1.         Outside temperature: When it would be too cold/hot  it would ensure limited time exposure of sensitive skin. However, when the temperature is right and

2.         The wind: Mostly in the Saurastra and Kutch belt when it would be hot and a nice breeze would blow by

3.         Location based:

i.          Behind a tree: every once in a while the fields would have been harvested, the land flat and the only option one is left is to try and hide behind a tree… this would lead to an embarrassment based anxiety output lest someone would drive past or worst someone would ride by / walk by merrily singing a song.

ii.         Open field with a tall crop (i.e. sugarcane): This though being visually secure would lead to a squeezed output due to a constant trying to make space for yourself within a close grid of crops. It would be a pleasant surprise to find a small clearing amongst the tall sugarcanes.

iii.        Open field with a tall crop harvested (i.e. sugarcane, bajra etc): Beware! This situation is the most dangerous for the first timers. Make sure you look before you sit down… the freshly harvested stems are real sharp!

iv.        Behind a shrub: This is the most desirable especially if the shrub is more than 36”-48” high and covers you visually. Note: make sure the bush is not thorny (ref. point above)

Other things to keep in mind:

1.         Keep a stick handy. Lest a inquisitive dog / fox would pass by

2.         Be quick or be ready for flies. Especially the blue bottle flies. They love the smell and most of the times before you finish they are there.

3.         Be on your toes or be exposed: You never know who, when and from where might be passing by.

4.         Look around before you sit: You don’t want someone running after you with a sikle with your pants down.

5.         Look on the horizon before you sit: While you are chilling lost in thought you don’t want to wake up to find yourself next to a herd of cattle

6.         Lastly make sure you are squatting on a higher ground and the free fall is  on lower ground to avoid smears.

Sasan Gir at night

A friend of our family friend owned a farmhouse at Sasan Gir - so we were told; and we were to call him up when we get there. And so we did. We had no idea who he was. Couple of his acquaintances were to receive us on the way to Gir. We soon realised that the friend of our family friend was a big political figure of the region and a trustee to the local and many other schools.

Over the edge and into the river, and the bike follows

Our escorts were secondary school teachers. They told us that it was not possible for us to go any further on the motorcycle and that they were arranging a tractor for us!! We did not ask any questions and went with the flow. A tractor arrived in the next half an hour and we transferred our luggage from the bike and perched up. Our first time on a tractor. Soon we realised why. We left the tar road and went into the forest and then suddenly we were at the edge of the earth. Without halting the tractor went full speed (20 km/hr) over the edge and we were rolling down a hill and into the river, crossed the 3 feet of water and up the hill again.

Sasan Gir at dusk

We were hoping that they might be getting our bike by a longer way around but before we could think any further our bike was following the same path. Mentally we bid a silent goodbye to our bike and held on to the tractor for dear life. We reached the farmhouse after 45 mins of a jittery ride. It was beautiful, we were in the middle of the forest with no tar road coming to this place. 

 

There was a village nearby and some villagers had come to pay respect to the 'trustee's friends' and told us about an injured lion nearby that the forest officials were trying to move. As per the villagers lions were harmless as long as we did not come in their way. The scarier animal was the leopard. According to them a leopard would not discriminate between cattle and humans while the lions were only interested in the cattle. The other animal to watch out were the snakes. 

Left:Holding on for dear life; Right : mp3 player being fitted

Tractor resting at the village, Gir

 

By 6 pm it was almost dark and the tractor was ready with an inbuilt mp3 player fitted for our enjoyment. We were to go on a night safari!! The forest closes to the public by 6:30 pm and no one is allowed on the safari trails. But for us everything was fine since we were already inside the forest. We climbed aboard the tractor once again and started off with our bike right behind. As soon as we entered the forest the music blared out from the tractor - Aashiqui, Saajan with Jhankaar beats.

We reached the village where 2 more bikes were waiting for us. We were to abandon the tractor now and get onto the bikes. We entered the forest in the middle of the night escorted by two bikes one in the front and one in the back in a complete state of shock and mortal fear. We drove in complete silence through the chilly air and the scary forest noises for an hour till at one time the bike behind had disappeared and we badly needed to pee. What followed were few embarrassing compromises and we made it to the next village. We had dinner at a local's place and drove all the way back.

Though we did not see any animals, the thought of that night still sends shiver up the spine.

October heat in Gujarat

Our routine was set in a couple of days. We would always promise ourselves to start early but end up getting up by 8 or 9 and within an hour of packing and tying the luggage would be off right at the time when sun is high.

Zarwani forest lodge, Narmada, Gujarat

The trip was more Zen and art of tying the luggage. In October we had left with 2 sleeping bags, One big backpack, a smaller backpack and of course camera bag on us at all times. Tying the luggage on the bike used to take us at least 20-30 mins in the begining which was reduced to flat 7 min by the end of the lap. Usually the tying ritual would attract a small crowd around us with a list of questions. Some of the time that would end up in a meaningful discussion but more often than not it would just delay the start time. On top of that if both of us had decided to tie the bags our independent ways then there would be a nice verbal fight entertaining the crowd.

Once on the road ten mins is all it would take us to be in good spirits. Endless road is magical - it takes one into a complete meditative trance only to be interrupted by the herds of cattle or deep potholes. In Gujarat by 11 the heat would be unbearable. We would take a break every hour and gulp down a litre of chaas. After lunch by 2 pm it would be unbearable and we would look for a classic nap spot. On the way to Kachch was the hottest stretch where even trees had disappeared and all that was left was dust, thorny bushes and scorching heat.Our ropes touching the exhaust pipe gave way somewhere and we lost a sleeping bag with our shoes in it. Just to retrieve the shoes we headed back in search and 20 km away saw a completely burnt sleeping bag but with shoes intact.

Afternoon siesta

A rabari home, Chatadia, Gujarat

Windmills on the way to Porbander, Gujarat

Bumlas drying at Jafarabad, Gujarat

In the belly of the beast - 135 footer at Porbander

All my life I had never considered my sense of belonging to be tied intricately with a language. But in Gujarat language was a big connector - it immediately established intimacy and also a right to demand the same from others. In the beginning we would politely refuse invitation to tea, food but soon realised that it was taken as a rude gesture. Soon we started stopping and accepting invitations to various homes.

Infrastructure in Gujarat was really great. Not just roads but electricity, water supply and sanitation was made available to many of the remote places. All the off grid villages were given solar panels and the entire Saurashtra coast was lined by windmills. The only terrible highway was National highway 8E that goes parallel to the coast. Luckily for us we abandoned it soon after Una near Diu for the local internal roads.

The coastline of Gujarat was a nice surprise. Miles of fish drying - bumlas to be specific, windmills, and boat building dotted the 2000+ kms. Boat building was a treat to watch. From small fishing boats to big dhows that go all the way to the middle east and Africa were built completely out of wood and without a single drawing!! We hunted down a boat architect in Veraval named Narayanbhai and he gave us useful insights. The framework of the boat is out of 'bawal' wood and the skin is Malaysian teak. The length of the boat is measured at the bottom of its belly. 65 footers are usual fishing boats while 135 footers are big dhows that can go all the way to the Middle east and beyond 135 footers they come in Cargo category. The skin is fixed to the framework with iron bolts and nails and they are the first to give way. Stainless steel does not work at all with salt water and wood as it does not grip the wood and within a couple of voyages have to be replaced.

Junagadh was another pleasant surprise. This fortified hilly town still has its old charm intact within its fort walls. The layers of jain, buddhist, hindu and muslim culture over the centuries are well preserved and still used.

Food in Gujarat was no problem at all. Khichdi and chaas was available everywhere. Now and then we indulged in the spicy kathiawadi food. Fafda was the only available breakfast (we did not find Poha anywhere) and Jain dharmasalas were the cheapest options for night stay. Marzban had to be changed to Mahesh at few places.

After Jamnagar we turned towards Kachch via Bhachau and it was a completely different region. It is only fair that Kachch should be described in a completely separate post

Migratory species

One of the best things about the trip was the varied kinds of people that we met. Out of all these interactions interesting patterns of migration started emerging. Until now my definition of migratory species was limited to birds and animals. Slowly humans started entering the list and their varied reasons for migration has made this list very interesting. Here are few examples.

Rabaris at Okha, Gujarat

The Rabaris : Many people might be aware of this very interesting and mysterious group of people. Nobody has been able to pin down their origins but they originate in my knowledge from Gujarat and Kutch. They are essentially cattle rearers and travel with their livestock in search for pastures - one of the classic human migrations. In today's day and age they continue doing the same through urban and non-urban areas. They 'wear' all their belongings and lately they have started 'owning' homes, fields and settling down. They travel as far as Pakistan, Afghanistan to Karnataka, Andhra in the south and Bengal in the east. In an extreme capitalist sense their assets are worth lakhs of rupees with each rabari family owning around 40 to 50 cows, buffaloes and other livestock - each worth 40 - 50 grands.

Bee boxes in poplar field near Hoshiarpur, Punjab

The Beekeepers : Another human migration dependent on the 'livestock' are the beekeepers that carry their bees in boxes. We met this beekeeper in Punjab in a poplar field. He originated from Bihar and would roam from Nepal, Kashmir, Rajasthan to Orissa. He would rent a field that is at the stage of flowering and the bees would make/collect the honey from these flowers. According to him sarson flowers were the best bet for making honey.

Labourers from MP in Batala, Punjab

The laborers : Another classic human migration is of and as labourers. Here I want to distinguish immigrants from the migratory species. We came across interesting temporary housing in Punjab and stopped to interact with the occupants who were brick kiln labourers from MP. They would roam the states of UP, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana every 2-3 months before coming back home near Khajurao every June/July.

The mobile mochis at Garhshankar, Punjab

The mobile mochis : In Punjab early one morning we met an interesting group of people at a chai tapari. They were mobile mochis all from Rajasthan. They had customised bicycles and lunas on which they would travel from one village to the next, 9 months of the year before heading back home in the summer. All of them were from the same village in Rajasthan but knew of many such Rajasthani 'artisans' that roamed with their mobile shops through the country. They would start each morning with no fixed destination in mind but a general direction and which ever place felt lucrative would stop there for a day or two before heading further. Our obvious question was that wouldn't it be more profitable to carve a niche at a single destination for their business to grow. Their matter of fact answer was 'the hunger of the tummy can be satisfied even in Rajasthan but soul's hunger is satisfied only in a travel'. (it wasn't an awkward one liner but half hour long philosophical conversation)
And all this while we considered ourselves to be out of the ordinary for our travel hunger.

One of the major myth busters on this journey was that human beings engage in art, craft, travel, philosophy, etc.or in life beyond the basic survival only after their food, shelter and clothing is secured. But like these mobile mochis most of the people traveled because they wanted to travel.