Kachchh: Land of minimalism

Summer may not be the best time to visit these arid plains, but it's perfect weather to check out how people have learnt to subsist on meagre resources

Bhuj is thegateway to aunique landscapethatdoesn't existanywhere elsein this world. It's calledKachchh. The vast expanseof these endless arid plainslooks like a desert, but it'snot a desert. It's not made ofsand, but soil encrusted withsalt. The British coined anew word for this new land.They called it Rann, theRann of Kachchh.

Mythology has it thatmany centuries ago, most ofthe land of Kachchh wassubmerged under water.Needing more land to liveon, the people of Kachchhwent to a saint calledDhoramnath and requestedhim to help them. To answertheir prayers, the saint wentup the hill of Dinodar andmeditated standing on hishead for 12 long years. Themeditation is believed tohave created so muchcosmic energy that the searetreated, leaving behindenough land for people tolive on. Now, there is ampleland in Kachchh.

What's scarce is waterand food. Yet, distinctiveflora and fauna survivedhere, adapting to these saltyconditions, with the uniqueability to subsist on meagreresources.

And as you drive downfrom Bhuj to Banni, praythat you come across anamazing wanderingcommunity called theRabaris. These friendlygypsies lead a pastoral life,rearing either camels orsheep. Knowing too well thatfodder here is sparse and farbetween, they wander fromone oasis to another, comingback to a place only afterthey have given natureenough time to recoup.

The shelters they makeare basic. There are nodoors and no windows. Infact, they spend their entireday outdoors, returning onlyto sleep at night. When theyleave the place they inhabited,there's no trace of theirhaving lived there.

The cooking is doneoutdoors with dried twigsand branches, which theytake great pains to gather.The greens are strictlyreserved for the camelsand the sheep.

The way they conservethe scarcely available wateris very interesting. Afterfinishing their meal, theywash their hands in theplate, then wash the platewith that water, and thendrink that water. A littleshocking to the uninitiated.But to the discerning, it'swater conservation at itsbest. In one go, they completethree activities withthe same quantity of water.

Rabari men wear whitedresses but the womenwear black. There's aninteresting story about whythey wear black. A fewcenturies ago, a Hindu rulercalled Sumro, who hadprotected them fromMughal rulers, died fightingfor them. From that dayonwards the women startedwearing black as a sign ofperennial mourning.

On the way to Dinodarhill, we saw an ecologicaldisaster of an unimaginablescale. In the early '60s, itwas noticed that the soilfrom the farmlands near thecoastline was eroding intothe sea. A shrub calledProsopis was imported fromAustralia and it successfullyprevented the erosion. In theeuphoria of success, nobodybothered to check out theexact nature of the shruband its propagation. And in amoment of madness,quintals of the seeds ofthis shrub were procuredand aerially seeded acrossthe coast.

Before anyone couldrealise it, this shrub hadspread uncontrollably like agreen cancer. It invaded thewhole of Gujarat andRajasthan, and is nowadvancing northwards toPunjab and Haryana. It hasalmost wiped out theindigenous vegetation ofKachchh that took millionsof years to adapt and surviveon minimal resources. Thisshrub has no use for man oranimal; and with roots thatgo as deep as 25 feet, iscontinuously depleting theabysmally low ground waterlevels of Kachchh. TheKachchhis call it 'GaandaBawal' or the Insane Babool.

And as you gently sipthe salty tea offered by thehospitable Rabaris, you maybegin to wonder if there areother instances in naturewhere you have given ashrub an inch and it hastaken a mile. Nay, severalthousand square kilometresof it.

How to get there
With Bhuj as the base, you can travel around Kachchh. If you don't have your own vehicle, you will have to hire one from here.

Places of interest: Banni for a hopeful tryst with Rabaris. Bhujodi for weaving. Khavda for block-printing. Ludiya for handicrafts. Dholavira for Harappan excavations. Than for the monastery of Dhoramnath.

Where to stay: Plenty of options in Bhuj. Log on to gujarattourism.com to take your pick.

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