We have
been lucky to travel and work in various parts of India. Each place gave us
some new experiences.
But, none
like Gujarat. After a four year stint there, as we bade goodbye to the state,
we realized that this is a memory we will cherish for a long time.
Be it the Rann
of Kutch, the Vibrant Gujarat event or way the Gujaratis celebrate their
festivals, I have been fortunate to share a few of my experiences in these
years.
This blog and
the next one share our experiences of the last few months of our stay there.
Like most
places of interest, Gujarat has many well known places and some hidden
treasures. This is the story of a temple, a well and a march.
A march that
gained prominence about a 100 years back and the temple and the well a millennium
back.
The Dandi March
If you have
ever been on a road trip between Surat and Navsari, you might find on some
stretches a sign board that reads “Dandi path (Interestingly path has the same
meaning in Hindi and English!)”.
Whenever I
travelled there, these signboards would always stir my curiosity, but for a
long period I did nothing about it. When we realized that our Gujarat stint was
ending, our son suggested that we drive down to experience a leaf of Indian history.
Being a
self-professed fan of Mahatma Gandhi, this journey proved to be a pilgrimage of
sorts.
In 1882,
the British had laid out a rule that Indians could not make their own salt and
they had to pay tax for this very basic requirement.
The Mahatma,
realizing the power of salt’s symbolism chose a 241 mile March from Ahmedabad
to Dandi, a village near Navsari to galvanize the country in its quest for
freedom.
As we drove
towards Dandi, we felt enveloped by history. We could visualize a large swathe
of mankind moving purposefully to right a wrong committed by the British. Each
signboard that reduced the distance to Dandi increased our excitement.
As we
reached Dandi, we could sense serenity.
Thanks to
this place not being a tourist attraction, it has remained unspoilt. The village
seems to have escaped the wrath of modernization and retained its charm.
The Saifee
Villa which housed Gandhiji has been maintained in its original state.
A decrepit
building, broken walls, leaking roof, but a proud remnant of the struggle that
shook the British. Every square inch of the place shared some hidden pebble of
our path to freedom.
As we
headed back, we could only marvel at Gandhiji’s greatness - A man in his 60’s
instead of wallowing in self-pity or whining about the prevalent conditions
took up the mighty task of making India free with a tireless journey in the
heat and dust of Gujarat’s summer.
And, we
felt happy that we saw an important chapter of India’s independence from up
close.
Of Temples
and Wells
When you
talk about the temples of India, thoughts go directly to the grandiose
architectural marvels of the South, the Konark temple, the Bhilwara temples or
the politically famous temples like Somnath.
Modhera Sun
Temple? – not many know about it. But, off we went.
At first
sight, the temple seemed like any other. Luckily for us, we engaged a guide and
that changed everything about the temple.
The erudite
guide showed us the Ramayana and the Dasavatara carved on the walls. He made us
count 364 elephants (were they days of the year?) that provided the foundation
of the temple. He showed us four different atriums each having 13 pillars (13 *
4 = 52 weeks of the year, we marveled?).
The most
astounding part – the main deity falls bang on the Tropic of Cancer, the
imaginary latitude at 23.5 degrees North where the Sun is directly overhead on
the 21s of June. The way the temple was designed was that when the first rays
hit the earth on the day of the equinox, the entire temple would light up.
Hard to
believe? We took out our fancy phones and lo and behold, our compasses showed
23 Degrees, 58 minutes.
It is
impossible to imagine the scientific advancements that India had, where the main
deity was built on an imaginary line, a millennium ago, with such stunning
accuracy.
While the
technological advancement stunned us, the barbarism of Ghazni and Khilji
saddened us. Every sculpture, every work of art shows a sign of destruction.
If a vandalized
temple retains so much of its glory 1000 years later, just imagine how great it
would have been when it was built.
Rani Ki Vav
– Patan…
Vav in
Gujarati means a well. There are quite a few stepwells in Gujarat, but none
beats the regality and grandeur of the Rani Ki Vav.
Built
around the same time as the Modhera temple, this place survived the savagery of
invaders thanks to Nature. Archaeologists talk of a flood in the 13th
Century that covered the temple with landfills.
In the 1950’s
– a chance discovery by villagers of
some carvings opened India’s eyes to yet another architectural marvel.
To imagine
how it looks like, just visualize the Mahishmati Samrajyam of the superhit
movie Bahubali. While the movie was an imagination, the Vav is a reality.
What stuns
you here is the sheer ambition of the Vav and the effort.
How on
earth could they made beautiful symmetrical carvings at a depth of 70- 80 feet
? what technology would they have used to stop the Ground water from seeping in
while working? That too for so many years?
The temple
and the Vav made our heart swell with pride, about being an Indian and about
the advancements we had 1000 years back, when the rest of the world was still
figuring out the basics of mathematics and science.
These trips
also showed us that there are more jewels to be unearthed if you are willing to
go beyond the well-trodden path.
