KUTCH - Abode to Lesser Known Treasures (Part III)

Day 6 (26/12/2019)

Route: Roha Fort (50.7 km) - Chadura (50.7 km)

Distance Travelled: Approximately 101 kms

Due to extensive travelling in the coming days, to avoid getting over-exerted, we decided to visit only Roha Fort. We started our day by visiting a nearby lake with kids for some bird watching. The lake was beautiful with lots of birds swimming in the water and some trying to catch fish. After spending some quiet time here, we went home for bath and breakfast. Before heading for the fort, on request of our hosts, we went to the temple of their principal deity at a small village named Mothala. After a small pooja at the temple, we started for Roha Fort.

Stairs leading to the fort

This fort is not a popular / tourist destination. We came to know of this place during our research online. Not even Raju Bhai was aware of its exact location; though he knew its general location. As we approached the destination, we saw fort walls in a dilapidated condition on top of a huge hill. The entry to the gate was visible as well but the route to reach the gate was not visible. There were no proper directions to direct us towards the fort. We encircled the base of the hill twice trying to figure out the route. Finally we asked a local man (staying at the foothills) regarding the directions and following his advice we started heading towards the direction we came from and saw

Girls enjoying the view

a narrow kuccha road on the left that led us to the parking space. We saw stairs leading to the fort. The view from the parking area was beautiful with endless view of mountains providing a beautiful background to green shrubs and windmills. We couldn’t see any vehicle parked here nor we could see any human here. On spotting the peacocks and peahens our dear girls screamed in joy.

Amazing view while climbing the stairs

We started climbing the stairs. The stairs passed through thick shrubs on both the sides right till the fort. This path itself provided some outstanding views of the surrounding region. Finally we reached the entrance gate of the fort which surprisingly didn’t have any doors and was relatively smaller than the gates that I have seen at other forts.

View from fort entrance 

Dilapidated walls of Roha fort structures

 The first structure that we saw was a small temple with exquisite sculptures on its pillars and on all walls. The small windows had jaali work with eye-catching geometrical patterns. The temple was closed so we moved ahead and decided to go clockwise from this point. The walls of the structures and the structures itself were in a dilapidated condition (because of devastating earthquakes) however, it’s not hard to imagine the magnificence of the structure which was standing there at one point of time. As we walked ahead we saw a palace like structure with battered walls and lots of windows and Jharokhas. I totally fell in love with the exquisite jharokhas which can be rightly called a work of art. These structures are exceptional, super gorgeous and easily noticeable for their beauty even from a distance. Just in front of this palace is a leafless tree looking as scary and gloomy as it can but it facilitated us to take some beautiful photographs of the jharokhas. One of the photograph that we took reminded me of an old serial by the name ‘Kille Ka Rahasya’ that used to come on DD.

Roha structure which appears like palace

Beautiful Jharokhas

Tunnel to inner structures

We saw a small tunnel and after a lot of thought we decided to walk through the tunnel and enter the inner structures. The tunnel was narrow and we had to duck down while entering the rooms. Not knowing what lies ahead I decided to enter first and kept the kids in between my parents and my SIL. The rooms were small, windows had small holes in them; these rooms looked like jail to me. It was little spooky to walk through this deserted structure. After coming out, we came across lots of rubbles and had to cross a wall to reach the other side. Jumping over the wall was exciting and all of us had funny moments while doing so. I couldn’t help notice the emptiness of the entire place and experience spine-tingling sensations every now and then.

Inner Structures

Victorian Style Building

On crossing the wall, we saw a Victorian style building with an arched construction on its top. The lower part of the structure had pillars and beautiful archways which were simply beautiful. We saw weeds and creepers growing in the crevices of the pillars and walls which is an evidence of nature taking over the manmade structures. On climbing a small and narrow staircase we reached what we can call as an open terrace. The sight from here is spectacular with the view of the whole landscape, with the small village at the base.

View from the chajja (terrace) 

We decided to wait here for my husband and brother who were venturing the area at their own speed and so I started reading about this place in details. Below are some extracts from it.

Roha, 800 feet from the sea level, was the leading Jagir of Kutch state with 52 villages under this Jagir. Rao Khengarji I established Kutch and became its ruler. His brother Sahebji set up Roha village and died after a battle with Raysinhji Zala of Halvad. After his death, his successor Jiyaji built two big tanks on the Roha Hill and his son built a fort on Roha hill. Thakore Kalapi, a famous poet of Gujarat, wrote romantic poems at Roha hill because of its peaceful atmosphere. There are many stories related to this fort and below are few of them.

• Sumari Roha – King Sumro of Umerkot decided to make his younger son (Goga) the King, instead of his eldest one (Chaanesar). Chaanesar decided to revolt against the kingdom with the help of Allauddin Khilji (Sultan of Delhi). As Khilji’s army attacked and killed people of Umerkot including King Goga, Chaanesar came to his senses and decided to fight against the Khilji to protect his family. In doing so, Chaanesar was killed but not before trying to save his sisters by asking them to leave for Abdasa. The princesses decided to rest at Roha where their rescuer Abada sent his people to bring the princesses safely to his palace. These princesses mistook them to be of Khilji’s men and in order to escape them, they sacrificed their lives. After their death, their Samadhis were built at the very spot. Since then this place is also called Sumari Roha.

• Broken Promise – During the reign of Thakur Vijay Singh, a fakir used to come everyday for food. One day the hermit did not get any food, on asking the reason for it, he was told about Thakur’s death. Fakir asked the people to take him to Thakur’s body, he then sprinkled some water on the Thakur’s face and the dead man came to life. For this favour, the fakir asked the officials to make sure that when he dies, his body should be buried on the top of the hill and not at the foothill. But when the fakir actually died, the Thakur’s people buried the fakir at the foot of the hill. It is said that because a promise was broken, the fakir cursed Roha. It is said that due to this curse the then Thakur of Roha’s male heirs did not survive.

Besides these legends, the ultimate reason for the destruction of this powerful Jaagir was a series of poor rulers.

Other structures

What makes the place more fun to visit are the stories associated with it. Venturing further, we came across many beautiful and exquisite structures. We took the pathway outside the structures and started walking till we reached a small durgah and a shrine. The small walking path with bushes on both the sides came to a stop. It started getting a little dark and we decided not to venture further and return to our bus. With this brief visit, I was convinced there were many more area that we had not explored.

Trail towards the shrine

Whoever finds comfort in aloneness would definitely want to spend hours in the out-of-the-way and isolated fort of Roha. This is a place which I would insist people to visit and experience the architectural brilliance of this fort. Photography enthusiasts who like to capture historical ruins in frames should visit this fort.

On reaching home, a musical evening was planned by our hosts along with a full-fledged dinner. Bhanushali uncle sang some beautiful bhajans which was followed by surreal classical vocal by my father. Meanwhile, we packed our bags for the further journey as this was the last night at Chadura.

Day 7 (27/12/2019)

Route: Kalo Dungar (165.4 km) - White Rann of Kutch (49.9 km) - Bhuj (86.5 km)

Distance Travelled: Approximately 302 kms

Our day started as usual with breakfast and few group photos since we were leaving Chadura. We headed for Kalo Dungar, which literally means Black Mountain. The way to Kalo Dungar conforms to the usual topography of Kutch region — Parched lands with little to no vegetation.

Krishna Dhaba

Just before Khavada, we decided to have lunch at a small Dhaba, Krishna Dhaba. This place only offers Gujarati Thali and the cost of it is only ₹100. The location of this dhaba is beautiful and they have small swing to sit and enjoy. After having delicious food, we started again for Kalo Dungar.

From Khavda, Kalo Dungar is approximately half an hour away and the route is quite scenic. We started climbing the curvaceous road which gave a glimpse of why this place is known as Kalo Dungar. Though not completely black, the huge black boulders and dark colored soil gives the mountain a tinge of black. Suddenly we saw lot of vehicles stopping at a point and people pouring water on the road. On enquiring, we were told that this was a magnetic hill. I wanted to get down and check this phenomenon, but due to lack of time we gave it a miss.

Kalo Dungar

Finally, after lot of twists and turns, we reached the parking area of Kalo Dungar. Since tempo travellers are not allowed till the top, we had to park our vehicle. The walk till the gate is relatively steep, there are options of either hiring a taxi, or riding a camel or simply walking till the top. Half of us hired a taxi while rest of us decided to climb and enjoy the scenic treat while climbing.

Dattatreya Temple

We met others near Temple of Dattatreya, a Trimurti god (i.e. having faces of Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu). It is said that the temple is nearly 400 years old but the structure itself didn’t look that old to me. This temple has a history of feeding cooked rice to jackals after evening aarti. As per the legend, Dattatreya while perambulating around earth, stopped at Kalo Dungar where he saw pack of hungry jackals. Since he had no food to offer them, he started offering them his own body to eat and as the jackals ate, Dattatreya’s body regenerated itself. Hence, the tradition of offering Prasad to the jackals. Just outside this temple was a stage where the locals were singing folk songs for the visitors. Apart from this, there were locals, who were renting out colourful Pagdis and gorgeous Chaniya Cholis to people who want there pictures to be clicked in the traditional attire.

Decorated Camel

From this point, we were on foot, making our way upwards towards the highest point of the entire Kutch. The road, though steep, was an easy walk and we were hardly challenged as we reached the top viewpoint within a few minutes. People who are unable to climb, can avail the use of beautifully decorated camels, who carries them to the top. Interestingly, some of the camels have been given names of Bollywood stars and the same is tattooed on the side of their necks. As we climbed, we saw bright coloured Bandhani sarees and vibrant coloured duppattas fluttering in the air from a rope. The clothes, handicraft items, sandals, bags puts up a colour riot on both the sides of the climb. Suddenly we heard a melodious voice of an old man sitting on one of the steps. Just before the lookout point, we saw lots of artificial animals on both sides of the steps mostly depicting the story of jackals and prasadam.

Surreal views of the Rann of
Kutch Lake and the land beyond

Reaching the highest point, we saw a gazebo like structure from where we got the most stunning and surreal 360 degree view of the entire Rann. The barren hills met the shore of the Rann of Kutch Lake, which in turn is lined with the wide sheets of white whose other end is not visible. On the other side of the hill the salt flats of the Rann lay bare, which made it impossible for me to distinguish the land from the sky. Even the widest camera will not be able to capture the vastness in one frame. Standing here it felt like standing right at the edge of the world and experiencing nothingness which is something I can’t really express. One has to be here to experience what I was experiencing at that moment.

On the white Rann, I could see Indian Army posts which was obvious as this area is very close to Pakistan. Far on the left, we saw the famous India Bridge, beyond which lies the international border. I couldn’t help wondering how difficult it must be for our Jawans to be vigil all-round the year, protecting our nation from any unwanted situations. Proud of our Jawans…

Colourful Pagdi

Siddhi (my SIL) wore the complete traditional attire while me, my husband and my niece wore the colourful pagdis and asked my brother to click some photographs. My daughter was least interested in what we were doing instead she wanted to just play on the steps. On our way back down, we had some tea and sweet sugarcane juice while girls had some ice-cream.

On way to Rann of Kutch

Wanting to experience the sunset at the Rann of Kutch, we headed for the most famous spot in the entire Kutch. As we drove down to the Rann, the colour of the terrain gradually changed from a wild green to a patchy one, to a brownish yellow and a sandy brown before it became a dirty white. On reaching the parking area, we saw lots of vehicles parked and more people waiting to enter the Rann. We saw a road that has been constructed especially for visitors to reach the Rann. While walking is any excellent option, we decided to hire an entire camel cart as we had kids and elders with us. Again the camels were beautifully decorated with colourful fabrics and bearing tattoos on their neck, hump and tails. Our camel went by the name, Shehenshah. Girls had too much fun sitting on the cart. On reaching the end of the road, we asked our cart driver to pick us up at the same spot after sunset. We could see white and only white around us and couldn’t wait to walk on the white Rann. There is a tall tower for visitors to get a bird view of the entire Rann and witness the sunrise and sunset.

 

Surreal White Rann 

Girls enjoying playing in the Rann 

We entered the Rann, and all we could see was white. As far as I could see, it is just white salt desert. At some places, there was a thin layer of salt and black marshy land beneath and at some places, it was crystallized salt that cracked as we stepped on it. We were completely OK getting our shoes dirty. Our girls finally had a place to just run wherever they felt like; not getting in a way of anything. They just couldn’t stop running and getting their hands dirty in the black marshy mud. The endless vast flat land covered with a blanket of crystallized and glittering salt reached out till the horizon and looked beautiful against the contrast of the blue sky. Calling the White Rann ‘surreal’ does not give justice to what was before us. The fact about what makes the desert White is even more interesting. The low lying marshy salt flats fill up with water from the Gulf of Kutch during the summer-monsoon every year making the entire desert resemble a sea. The water evaporates by December, crystallizing the salts, giving the area its remarkable white appearance.

Enjoying the emptiness

Enjoying the sunset

Mesmerizing Sunset

Finally the drama started unfolding in the sky. The sky started to change its colour from blue to vermillion hue. The red Sun came out with all its glory and slowly dipped below the horizon. Sunsets are always surreal and when that happens with a huge white foreground, it is mesmerizing beyond words. To our surprise, the land started shining slowly even though it was dark. Watching the sunset against the vastness of the white salt flats was one of the most awe-inspiring experiences in my life. All throughout our time spent here, we experimented with perspective photography and tried to capture the astounding beauty of white Rann.

Promising myself to return and experience the Rann on full moon, we headed back towards the parking area sitting royally on the camel cart. We wandered around for some time in the nearby shopping and food arena which was put up for the Rann festival. Everything being sold here was extremely over-priced. We just had something to eat and had a hot cup of tea before heading towards Bhuj, where we were staying for the night.

We reached the Shiv Hotel quite late at night so we settled in our respective rooms quickly. Thinking about what we had witnessed today and recalling the experience of the entire day, I fell dead asleep.