Exploring India Western Desert - Part1 - Ahmedabad - Dholavira

I don’t exactly remember the moment when I first heard the name Dholavira. It has been ages but surely it was some years after I was introduced to Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. I was now in Dholavira, ready to explore my first ever Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) site. Well, technically it is nowhere near the Indus, which only demonstrates the expanse of that civilization.

 

I reached Dholavira after 7hours drive from Ahmedabad and after literally passing through the endless white expanse of the Rann of Kutch, the salt desert. It was almost dark by the time I reached - I checked into the resort that I had booked online earlier. I had a short walk that night - All I heard now was the sound of the wind and a crackle under my feet of my shoes rubbing against salt, hard crystalline salt. This salt stretched for miles and endless miles all around.

Next day morning I took a few steps away from the crowds and started walking behind my resort – towards “nothing”, I soon realized. There were no mountains or lakes, not even flickering lights dotting the horizon. Just a blanket of white merging into another blanket of white.

 

In the noon I decided to visit Dholavira museum, Harappan civilization and Great Rann of Kutch. I climbed up the hillock and suddenly I was in the midst of the 5000 year old necropolis. First I reached what is now called the “bailey” and was believed to be a residential area for the inhabitants. As I explored more, I started noticing many of the familiar structures I had seen earlier in books. Those ubiquitous brick walls were everywhere and they were so robust that they still show no signs of crumbling after 5000 years.

 

Walking on those crystals of salt that are boundless and watching the sunset and the rising moon, both at the same time left me with no option than adding - Great Rann of Kutch is beautiful after the sunset too.