Tourism in Gujarat — a Wandering soul of contrasts.
This is the proud jubilation of Gujarat, sitting atop the Arabian Sea, on the coast of India. Gujarat, that place in the Arabian Sea of India, does not fit neatly into a neat sentence. You get there in the image of deserts and business-oriented locals, and on the Rann of Kutch you find yourself stumbling along on a camel in a sky that’s so white in color it resembles the sun’s bathroom light. You think you’re here to study history, but someone says you must try ten types of farsan before noon, and all at once your curiosity about history turns to digestive regret. The city is both a curious mix of heritage and honking. It’s home to Sabarmati Ashram, where Gandhi spun cotton and dreamed, and yet only a couple of minutes away you might be stuck in a traffic jam loud enough that even Gandhi himself might question the noise. There are the old city pol houses, beautifully restored and carved wooden balconies that slant slightly as if gossiping about foot traffic. It’s charming, in a sort of slightly chaotic way, like a Bollywood set where all the kids never remembered to call out “cut”. And there is the Rann of Kutch, that salt desert that Instagram travellers describe as surreal (because “blindingly bright and slightly sweaty” doesn’t sound poetic). But quite frankly, it is magical. It’s like walking on powdered diamonds when the moonlight strikes the salt flats. If that doesn’t inspire you, there are some local craftspeople working nearby whose embroidery is so beautiful you’ll have begun to question your own productivity. And if you catch a glimpse of things during the Rann Utsav festival, prepare for color explosion, music and enough selfie sticks for constructing a bridge to Pakistan. Gujarat has grandeur, too. By the sea, the Somnath Temple is standing proud and looks timeless, majestic, but it has been restored several times.
Dwarka, the ancient city of Lord Krishna, seems like it’s suspended between myth and memory. You begin to see pilgrims bathing in the sacred waters and you’ll likely speculate about how spiritual everybody would appear before someone offers you a seashell shaped like Krishna’s conch for a “special tourist price”. And then, in high view, is the Statue of Unity. It is, to be fair, the tallest statue the world has ever seen, though there is hardly any competition. Standing before it, you’re just gonna feel awe but also a little bit of amusement at human ambition. It's remarkable, but also begs the question: what are we ever compensating for? However, Gujarat is not a land of monuments and moonlit deserts. It's also about food. Each meal appears to be accompanied by a moral about overindulging. Through dhokla to undhiyu to jalebi-fafda, the state has perfected the art of making you both happy and lethargic. You might attempt to diet, but that will only last approximately until someone offers a second helping to you “just to taste”. At the end of the day, Gujarat is a state you’re drawn to by being bold, loud, spiritual, entrepreneurial and a bit unpredictable. You come out sunburnt, full, a bit puzzled and oddly happy. And somewhere in between the salt flats and the sweet shops, you know that’s exactly the point. |
