SOLO- Not Lonely

Stargazing is something I got deeply captivated by some 3 years ago when my relationship ended. I had a lot of time on my hand, and I utilized it to build myself, become more independent but the nights were always desolated. I used to pull my bean bag across the room in the balcony, sit there light some candles and stare up in the sky. I have always loved the night sky but then I discovered the beauty in them, the more you stare the more you find and see, and the more tranquil it makes you. It became an everyday convention of watching the stars trying to find the patterns, my favorite since childhood “The big dipper” or “The great bear” because it is easy to find, looks like a question mark and I could always find it from the roof of my parent’s house as well. 

Rann of Kutchh

Since I lived in a metropolitan city at that time, I always wondered what it would be like to lie under the sky full of stars easily visible to my eyes where the smoke from vehicles is not clouding up the view. I googled the best places to gaze at the stars in India, Leh, and Rann of Kutch. For those of you not familiar, Leh is the joint capital and largest town of the union territory of Ladakh in India. It is at an altitude of 3,524 m (11,562 ft) which makes the place very chilly, and I am not a fan of cold weather. Rann of Kutch, on the other hand, is situated in Gujarat and it is nothing but the Arabian Sea which gets frozen in the winters and all the salt comes up freezing making it look like a desert of salt. For me, Rann of Kutch it was!

The year I decided that I need to go and see this White desert I was in college with a scarcity of money so I decided to wait till the next year and mind you this can be done only in December and January. The following year I had a job but little to no savings, so I postponed it to the following year, and we got hit by the pandemic so last year was a whole lot in itself to take in. This year however I was adamant to make it and I did!

I saw this dream of going to Gujarat seeing the stars when I was alone, but now I have a partner and it felt a little awkward in planning a trip that does not include him because we already are a long-distance couple, but I made up my mind that this trip was mine! I did offer him to tag along pretty late, but he understood how much I wanted it to be my first SOLO trip. I packed up my bags, made my reservations, and left.

I contacted a couple of locals before going to the place to familiarize myself with my destination and it turned out that the place, I want to go to is a huge tourist destination and there were a lot of other places I should be. I reached Bhuj after a tiring journey of 36 hr. and went to an alluring beach in Mandvi district. If anyone has questions, I am a big-time beach person who doesn’t know how to swim. At the beach it was a sunny day, did a jet ride, and sitting in the middle of the sea made me realize how we are all alone but not necessarily lonely because I was living my best life at that moment. The water that stretches as far as your eyes go and the air that is as fresh as a flower that just blossomed.

Mandvi beach

From there I went to see some palaces which were again breathtaking with a possessing view, finally landing at the white desert in the night. It was a meteor shower that night and the sky looked like Diwali lights adorned and woven in the sky. I had never seen that kind of string of stars in my life, climbed up on the watchtower, and to my surprise looking at the sky for a couple of minutes felt hypnotic as if I am among them and there is no land beneath me. Sat there watched the sky till I dozed off finally in the back of my car. Woke up to witness a dark orange stripy sky in the lower level and a dark sky above, soon I was walking on the white desert getting closer to the sun as it rose to light up everything I could see, and it was all pure white. The salt was frozen above the sea making it hard to walk, your feet get embedded as you walk, and it is chilly but worth it. Met some people who were kind enough to take my pictures with the sand and sun, the moment captured will always be close to my heart because it was my dream to be on the Rann and I was there. I called my family to show them the mesmerizing sunrise as well! The wind was cold, and the sun, hot, the camels were adding to the beauty of the place but I walked as far as I could and there was nobody to tell me to turn and go back, I liked that feeling.

Later in the day, I went to see the black hill, which is famous as it has 0 magnetic point, you turn off your vehicle engine there and it starts moving in the reverse direction on its own, a magic thingy. The next day, I found a hotel with a pool, even learned how to float finally, and went to see Vande Matram Memorial which is a must-go-to place if you ever go to Bhuj.

Saw some rivers, temples and enjoyed the street food. Dabeli is like a Gujarati burger which has spicy filling with lots of peanuts, most of the things are spicy there with a little bit of sugar, a weird but tasty combination that can grow on you if you stay there for too long. Buttermilk is the ultimate drink, it will help you fight the heat and cold both, it is fresh cold, and perfect to have with food. I still looked for nonveg everywhere I went and to my surprise, even that was lip-smacking so the food in Gujarat I can mark is not bad at all.

I enjoyed my trip in a way I did not imagine I would because working from home for more than a year got me thinking I have lost my agility but I am happy to report I still crave adventures and working hard to go to someplace and this is why I have decided to move out of my house and explore another city because home is a little too comfortable space for me and right now my heart needs adventure and new friends! Bangalore is calling me.