Kutch
district,
Gujarat
The
different
tribes
that
live
in
small
villages
around
Bhuj
and
they
are
famous
for
their
handicrafts,
specially
leather
works,
weaving,
embroidery
and
pottery
are
quite
disconnected
from
each
other
and
from
Bhuj
so
we
arranged
an
autorickshaw
tour
with
the
curator
of
the
Aina
Mahal
(Old
Palace)
to visit
them.
Again,
after
traveling
all
night
we
arrived
too
early,
but
here
early
was
9am.
It
was
sunny
and
hot
and
dusty
as
only
a
desert
can
be.
We
woke
up
the
workers
at
two
hotels
that
we
checked (and didn't like),
we
walked
through
the
yet
closed
market
and
we
finally
arrived
at
the
very
cozy
Shiv
hotel.
Our
attempts
to
get
a
breakfast
before
11:30
were
in
vain
and
we
settled
for
some
coffee
at
the
hotel.
Kutch
District
is
almost
an
island,
it's
surrounded
by
the
Gulf
of
Kachchh
and
the
Arabian
Sea
in
south
and
west,
while
northern
and
eastern
parts
are
surrounded
by
seasonal
wetlands,
and
it
was
historically
pretty
cut
off
from
the
rest
of
India.
The
result
is
that
there
are
lots
of
different
communities
that
still
keep
their
traditions:
clothes,
customs,
crafts.
 |
| This is when I went native |
On
the
next
day
our
driver
picked
us
up
on
the
morning.
He
spoke
a
very
basic
English
but
was
a
cool
guy
and
resulted
to
be
a
very
enthusiastic
photographer;
he
took
us
lots
of
pictures
on
his
own
initiative
and
now
and
then
he
would
told
us
Look!
Look
at
that!
Take
a
picture!
He
drove us
to
some
of
the
villages,
to
a
dam
in
the
middle
of
nowhere
where
we
swam,
we
visited
a
temple
that
had
people
living
there
and
a
106
years
old
woman.
(We
didn't
dare
to
take
a
picture,
but
our
driver
had the
camera
at that time and
took
one!)
 |
| Check the mirrors |
But
at
the
end
of
the
day,
the
tour
showed
a
pretty
sad
state
of
affairs
at
the
villages:
even
though
the
pieces
they
do
were hand
made,
most
of
them
looked
mass
produced.
In
fact,
most
of
the
excruciating
tasks
that
Kutchies
perform
by
hand
could
be
easily
done
with
a
machine
without
loosing
much.
Most
of
the
traditional
techniques
that
we
saw
were
just
people
sitting
and
cutting
and
sowing
and
that
was
pretty
much
it.
And
they
had
too many
pieces
already
done,
and then in
some
places
when
we
arrived
Kutchies would start
suddenly
doing
as
if
they
were
working.
We
spend
two
days
in
Bhuj
and
then
we
traveled
to
Mandavi,
still
in
Kutch
district.
Mandavi
is
a
small
port
city
located
where
the
Rukmavati
river
meets
the
Gulf
of
Kachchh.
Both
shores
of
the
river
are
a
huge
and
impressive
shipbuilding
yard.
It's
just
amazing
to
see
hundreds
of
men
like
tiny
ants
working, hammering,
cutting
wood,
that
is,
building
these
huge
wooden
boats
completely
by
hand.
We
stayed
at
a
strange
hotel
that
once
was
a
hospital,
but
don't
think
of
a
white
sterile
place,
it
was
a
comfortable
place
ran
by
a
very
efficient
guy
who
gave
us
maps
and
recommendations
about
the
city.
We
also
had
the
best
food
of
India
there:
fish
and
prawns
curry,
authentic
Gujarati
thalis,
the
sweetest
pineapples
and
fresh
coconuts.
And
we
finally
saw
the
sea
while
we
relaxed
at
the
exclusive
and
almost
empty
beach
of
Vijay
Vilas
Palace.
The
morning
before
we
left,
we
caught
the
dawn
at
shipbuilding
yard
and
we
rode
bikes
until
Iohi
had
a
flat
tire.
We
learned
there
that
every
kiosk
has
a
guy
who
fixes
punctures.
He
took
out
the
inner
tube
of
the
tire,
checked
with
water
where
the
puncture
was
and
put
a
sticker
over
it.
A
sailor
who
almost did
not
speak
English
served
as
translator
there
and
got
us
some
teas.
He
was
thrilled
that
he
had
something
to
do
on
his
day
off
and
invited
us
very
persuasively
to
eat
extremely
sweet
Indian
sweets
at
his
place
and
then
he
attached
to us
as
a
guide
for
the
rest
of
the
morning.
At
midday we
traveled
back
to
Bhuj
where
we
finally
decide
to
do
some
shopping
and
buy
some
souvenirs.
Unluckily
it
was
Sunday
and
absolutely
everything
was
closed,
we
had
completely lost
the
track
of
the
days.
Bhuj
to
Mumbai
This
time
we
took
our
last
night
train
with
RAC
–reservation
against
cancellation.
The
booking
system
in
India
is
quite
complex
but
basically
you
can
have
a
place,
that
is
a
bed,
or
you
can
be
in
wait
list
until
some
place
is
available
(or
not),
or
you
can
have
a
RAC
which
is
a
hybrid
state.
In
each
car
there
is
a
bed
that
can
be
transformed
into
two
seats
and
the
RAC
holders
have
those
seats
unless
there
are
free
places.
There
are
always many
cancellations and
the
times
we
bought
a
RAC,
it
became
a
regular
place
before we
boarded
the
train.
It
wasn't
the
case
this
time,
and
we
had
a
17
hours
ride!
And
for
the
first
hours
it
seemed
that we were going to spend the 17 hours sitting in too small
benches!
However,
there
was
a
place
for
an
8
hours
span,
so
we
were
relieved
and
we
could
sleep
there.
Mumbai,
previously
known
as
Bombay
Mumbai
was
the
only
big
city
in
India
that
we
found
pleasant
for
real.
It's
clean,
less
noisy,
and even
though
it
was
hot,
there
are
plenty
of
trees
and
shadow,
besides,
there
are
lots
of
good
places
to
eat
Indian
food
and
not
crappy
fake
tourist
food.
The
drawbacks
are
that
it
was
much
more
expensive
than
everywhere
else:
for
the
accommodation
we
paid
a
sum
with
an
extra
zero;
and
also the
city
is
so huge
that we
had
to
struggle
with
taxis
to
get
to
the
places
we
wanted.
 |
| The Faloodas were actually pretty good |
And
that
was
pretty
much
it,
we
sneaked
in
the
5-stars Taj
Mahal
Palace
Hotel,
where
all
the
celebrities
stay
when
they
are
in
Mumbay,
we
wandered
at
the
markets
and
at
the
quiet
alleys
of
Kotachiwadi,
and
we
quite enjoyed
the
food...
And
these
last
weeks
at
Rajasthan,
Gujarat
and
Mumbai
were
kind
of
a happy
ending
for
India...
(it's
not
that
the
beginning
was
so
terrible
but
anyway,
if
you
don't
know
what
I
mean
see
the
first
two
posts
of
India)...
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