Hi guys, we all did came across lot many of blogs on cold places these days especially for summer season. I would like to explore this place in Bhuj known as Sandhan located in Kutch to you people.
I left by 4 from my house to board train named Kutch Express from Bandra Terminus. Train departed by 17:45 from Bandra.
And I tell you train journey to Bhuj is best in non-AC coach. You can enjoy lot of spicy/sour snacks kind of eatables.
We reached Bhuj next morning around 08:50.
After reaching Bhuj we were searching for a reasonable vehicle for us to reach our destination. Then we hired a good big vehicle known as "Toofan" over there, a big sumo kind of vehicle which can give a trip of 12 to 15 passengers at a time. Later when heading towards Sandhan we took a halt in between a place called Desalpar which is famous for Gujarati snack (Jalebi and Fafda).
We reached Sandhan by 1:00 in the afternoon, we had lunch, freshened up and attended one small Puja. I organised my stay in one of my relatives house, there were also some rooms available which were reasonable with cost at some distance from my stay. And the food was commonly made by one Maharaj(the one who cooks food for everyone) since there were many people who came from Mumbai to attend that particular small Goddess function. This function was for 2 days.
I enjoyed that evening by looking at many peacocks and peahens in front of me outside my house where I was living.
Even though the climate appeared to be very hot in day time , but it was more cold in night. I chose to sleep out in open on bed(Khat), under the sky just to look at the stars and moon and relax. It was so very beautiful to see the sky full of stars and got to see so many shooting stars too. Also the blankets which I used to cover myself in night were full of moisture the very next morning because of cold weather.
Usually I don't tend anytime to wake up early in the morning but don't know how I naturally woke up early this day around 6.30 with a view of peacock in front of me again on the rooftop of my stay and hearing different kinds of birds sound. And I was asked to get ready for the first day of the Puja over there.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15TrJukNP5YpD1_WKyiPaKcipwn5hUGTo/view?usp=sharing
We were suppose to step out of the village in order to attend Puja. It is said that long before when there was "SATI" system followed there were actually some wives who sacrificed their lives after their husbands death. So in order to respect their courage and sacrifices they are praised till date.
Post finishing Puja we headed towards our village again and had lunch, relaxed for sometime and in the evening after 16:00 had tea and left to visit some fields and a beach which was quite nearby to our stay. Beaches are very clean over there and one can enjoy relaxing mode of oneself with self-time with pure breeze.
The climate in the evening is so soothing. There were lots of windmills around us, cold air, silence in the atmosphere, peace. When we reached in one of the field, the sun was about to set as the field was bit far away which took long time to reach there. One can enjoy the most beautiful evening of their life sitting and just keep staring the nature around thinking nothing.
As usual I again woke up early in the morning, had breakfast got ready for the second day of Puja. Puja continued till 2 in the afternoon, post that after lunch I changed and we left for a place known as Modkuba. It took us 1 hr and 15 mins to reach from our stay as we booked an Auto kind of vehicle due to unavailability of vehicles in our locality. People from far places make sure to visit this place as it is said that the "Devi(Varama)" settled here is praised a lot. The interior of temple was all made of gold colour work. I have shared a picture of the temple below. The first picture is of flooring.
Evening we headed back to our place, enjoyed dinner, talked to some village people who were residing there, listened to some horror stories and was asleep later.
There was lot of peacock and peahens noise added to this morning to make it more adorable and waking up people in peace. The above picture was taken at 6 in the morning.
I didn't got up from my bed for at least 1 and a half hour, because I was busy looking at so many birds, sunrise, listening to chirps of the sparrow..., peacocks... !!!
Post breakfast around 10 I left for a village named "Tera" which is very much famous for Bandhani work clothes i.e sarees and salwar kurta. I was waiting for almost 15 mins to fetch a vehicle from my stay to reach "Kothara(place)", I paid 30 rs per seat to reach Kothara to that Auto person. Kothara is well-known for a food called "Dabeli" which was actually good; I ate one and my stomach was all full, even this place is also famous for mud vessels. After reaching Kothara I again had to wait for another vehicle which can drop me to "Naliya(again a place in Kutch)"; since there were no direct vehicle facility from Sandhan to Tera so I had to go from one place to another and reach my destination. One can't just wonder of travelling systematically without their private vehicle; and travelling by Auto kind of thing in Kutch is very much time consuming process since no place is nearby. It takes minimum 1 hour to reach nearest village from Sandhan by that Auto, so it is always recommended to book your own private vehicle from Bhuj itself for the number of days you stay over there. Again back to Naliya; I got a bus from Kothara which dropped me to Naliya and it charged me 40 Rs. After reaching Naliya I again had to wait for one more transport which was the last one to reach my destination. I saw one Toofan(as described above) and was then waiting for people to get accumulated as that Toofan person said us that he won't depart until his vehicle seats were all full. After some 25 mins his vehicle was all packed and we departed to reach "Tera". It took us 20 mins to reach Tera and overall (Sandhan-Kothara-Naliya-Tera) it took me about 3 hours to reach Tera from Sandhan. I shopped some clothes and sweets from there and again repeated the same reverse route to Sandhan. While about a distance of an hour to reach Sandhan I didn't knew that Auto vehicle was open from side. I kept my shopping bags on the seat and one bag fell down; when I was about to reach Sandhan a thought of that particular bag ran through my mind and I got to know that it fell down on the middle of the road somewhere, I almost cried since I travelled a lot to shop; but fortunately when I was about to ask Auto driver to make a U-turn one tractor person came from behind with a bag waving from far and asking whose bag was that. The feeling of seeing my bag again I just cannot describe it.. Hahahaha !!
I was suppose to depart my train the same day at around 22:20, so post reaching Sandhan I was blessed enough to hear that one of the person from our group has found one car and a driver who was ready to drive us to Bhuj station. I was so very relieved after hearing this. I rushed to pack my stuffs and we left for Bhuj station in the car which took us just 2 and half hours from our stay which was very less time taken as comparable to morning trip to Tera.
I was back again to Mumbai with lot of memories from there.
Here is a short video link shared below of whole Kutch trip.
Take care of yourself from the thorns that they should not get pricked into your body mainly your feet as these thorny plants are all over both the sides of the roads in some places.
If one wants to visit any holy place or some historic place in Kutch, it is recommended to take a guide along with you who knows every single thing related to places. As it is said that there was a war between India and Pakistan long back over here since these places are all on border and many have died here unattended and buried unmoved, so in some places we aren't allowed to go and visit. We can see it from a distance.
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