Christmas season and it was
shutdown time at our HP office. Gujarat
– it was to be and I reached Mumbai from where my friend, Sumit and I boarded
the Sayaji Nagari Express bound for New Bhuj in the Kutch district of
Gujarat. The train left at 2 50 PM and
reached New Bhuj station at around 7 30 AM the next day. The sun was still not out yet and it was
pretty cold outside. Right time for a morning snack and we feasted on the fafda, jalebi and khaman that were on offer at a roadside vendor just outside the station premises. Bhuj was a dusty town and we hired an auto to drop us at the bus station. After booking our bus tickets for the night's trip to Dwarka, we headed to find a backpacker's inn, just to drop our luggage and refresh before we began our sight-seeing.
The
places of interest in Bhuj are located close to each other and the best way to
see them is by walk. We started from the
guest house after refreshing and made our way to the Kutch museum to start off. The Kutch museum is a two-storeyed old
building that houses lot of antiques. With
an entry fee of Rs 10, the museum houses maps describing the area of Kutch and
models depicting the various tribes in the region. Also, available are antiques retained from
the period when kingdoms ruled over the area.
The museum takes you back in time as you wonder at the various
handicraft arts that co-existed at those times.
Each tribe specialized in a particular handicraft type and even today
you could go to their villages to see in person the creation of those art pieces. The Rann Utsav aims at showcasing the work of
these tribes and hence there is lot of focus on art and culture. You would need atleast three days to move
around the villages and have a peek into their art work. We were on a tight schedule and could only
catch glimpses of their work in the museum.
From
the museum, a straight walk along the Hamirsar lake takes you to the twin
palaces of Prag Mahal and Aina Mahal. Entry
ticket for each palace is Rs 20 and camera fee is Rs 50. The Prag Mahal palace built sometime in the
19th century housed some antiques used in those times. Of interest was the huge storage boxes,
weaving equipments, clubs and palanquins – all of these were made of wood. A path through a flight of curving stairs led
us to the top of the clock tower. At
various levels of the clock tower, we could see the pulley mechanism operating
the huge clock.
The top of the tower provided wonderful views of the entire town. One could spot the Hamirsar Lake on one side and the railway station on the other. We learnt that palace was used to shoot scenes in some Bollywood movies.
The
Aina Mahal palace stands next to the Prag Mahal palace, however, smaller in
size. “Aina” means mirror and the palace
was aptly decorated with mirror exhibits.
From old paintings to huge clocks to rare objects used by the emperors
of those times, the palace caught the eye of every visitor. There was a room where the musicians would
perform for the king. The room had a
center stage and a corridor surrounding it.
The corridor was provided with lamps for lighting.
The
palaces were busy with visitors, mostly kids who were being brought from their
schools on excursions. Once out of the
palace area, we saw the Old Swaminarayan temple. A medium-sized structure, the temple in the
interior was ornately decorated with paintings and sculptures. My friend enquired about the history of the
temple and the priest obliged. There
were paintings on the ceiling and walls – each one as charming as the other. The priest also informed us about the huge
New Swaminarayan temple that had been built a few years back. The New Swaminarayan temple was located on
the other side of the Kutch museum.
We
walked along the Kutch museum and the white marble structures at a distance
immediately caught our eye. The New
Swaminarayan temple was a huge complex, mostly made out of marble. The decorated doorway led us to the interior
of the complex. With plenty of open
space, the temple had lawns and a pathway leading to the main shrine. The exteriors of the complex were bounded by
buildings dedicated to people involved in service for the temple. Construction of a new assembly hall was in
progress. The temple structure had many
pillars decorated with splendid sculptures.
The ceiling also had plenty of sculpted pieces of male and female Gods. The sanctum sanctorum was closed since it was
afternoon. We decided to return back
later in the evening to catch a glimpse of the idols that adorned this lovely
place.
We
were hungry and returned back to the bus stand.
An air-conditioned restaurant on the first floor of a complex
surrounding the bus stand served hot Gujarati meal. It was my first taste of an entire course of
authentic Gujarati food. Gujarati
restaurants are mostly vegetarian. The
Gujarati thali usually consists of rotis, daal, two/three curries, kadi, a
sweet, some snacks, rice, papad and buttermilk.
This restaurant served us some vadas and khaman for snack. The daal was a little sweet but very tasty. The meal cost Rs 90 and was very filling.
From
the restaurant, we went back to our rooms and took a well-needed nap. We woke up by 4 PM in the evening and
refreshed ourselves before we left to see the other places in Bhuj. At around 2 kms from the Kutch museum stands
the Sharad Baug Palace. A modest palace
structure with exhibits showcasing the daring hunting experiences of the
erstwhile ruler welcomed us. Around the
palace area was variety of flora – a delight for anyone interested in plants
and flowers. We saw a peacock that was enjoying
its day in the garden. The garden was
well maintained.
We
walked to the Rajendra Baug, that was located right in the center of Hamirsar
Lake. The garden was unimpressive and
there seemed to be some infrastructure work in progress. The Ram temple nearby had an attached
step-well but it was not well maintained.
Through the lanes, we walked to the New Swaminarayan temple, this time
to see the idols. It was evening, and
time for aarti. There was a good crowd
at the temple. The idols were impressive
and charming.
Late
in the evening, we returned back to the bus stand area. We had dahi vada, kutchi dhabeli and
faluda.
It was time for us to leave the
guest house. We took our belongings and
left for the bus stand. Our bus to
Dwarka came at 8 30 PM. We got seats in
a sleeper and the seats were comfortable for the night’s sleep. We were left with memories of the colorful
town as the bus travelled out of Bhuj towards Dwarka.
