Chakda - the hybrid vehicle.

 This ubiquitous vehicle is easy to spot or miss in the thronging roads of Rajkot. A cross between a Royal Enfield Bullet motor bike and a cart, this strange contraption spilling over with colorfully dressed villagers and a driver sitting as if astride a stallion, caught my eye.
Soon we saw various avatars carrying school children, gas cylinders, construction material, just anything that needed to be transported. Beautifully painted, with logos and eye catching designs, many had a extended roof which made the little chariot an appealing subject for a picture.They are manufactured around Rajkot  and it is estimated that there is one Chakda for every 80 Gujaratis.
We hitched a ride on one for a couple of kilometers on the way to Dwaraka. The amused driver of the Chakda refused to collect a fare (we had to force him to) and our taxi driver trailed behind, satisfied that he had kept his promise when I had exclaimed at the first sight of the 'funny gaadi' two days back. (He had stopped and talked the driver into letting us hop on!)

Family ride

A Chakda taking a breather!

A journey in a new land and an unforgettable freedom on wheels!

Ghatiya in Sasan Gir.

The taste of food is a strange memory, dependent on mood,hunger and locale. Probably the same food made with culinary expertise backed by degrees and served on fancy crockery in a posh place would taste way poorer.
Near the Gir sanctuary are a few shops selling snacks . We are on a holiday. We are hungry and it is a very hot afternoon. We are skeptical as we open the newspaper packet tied with a string ,still warm from the frying pan. Smaller packets are also untied. A baffling array awaits us. Deep fried Ghatiya, light yellow and warm, to be eaten with the grated gajar ( the larger dark red carrot) and hot green chillies, also deep fried. Our driver watches with amusement, the family 'from South' attacking the snaky yellow strands.
The same day, after a visit to the Devariya Interpretation Centre (lions in captivity), we walk up to the same joint to sit inside and enjoy ghatiya.
The boy takes our order and the man sitting before the huge wok of oil gets to work right away. If you don't worry about the health aspect (for once we didn't), you can lose yourself in the pleasures of an ingenuous snack . It tasted just as good, and now he provided us a jug of sweet chutney to douse the fire of the chillies.
How did people figure out these accompaniments?
We washed it down with hot tea (normal sugar was twice what we had planned to avoid) and paid the fifty rupees. I noted a family enjoying a cousin of ghatiya , Fafda, sheet-like.
Next time, we tell ourselves.

Before

After!

Another taste of India discovered.

Flame of the forest - Kesudo.

We were driving to Sasan Gir from the airport in Rajkot. We were on our way hoping to see lions in their natural habitat. Entering Sasan, it is difficult to miss these Kesudo trees. Red, with hardly any leaves, they are aptly called the 'Flame of the forest'. Especially within the forest, where the predominant colors are brown and yellow, these shocking plumes of red draw your attention. Sasan Gir is the largest dry deciduous forest in Western India. We collected a few fallen flowers and had to contend with the ants who were feasting within and they raced all over us, punishing us for this intrusion. I think the shape of the flower gives the tree its other name- Parrot tree.

 

Under the trees the fallen flowers carpeted the area - an oasis of color in a tiring hot vision of burnt scrub and fallen dried leaves. The flowers are used prepare a traditional Holi color and used to dye fabric.The gum from this tree is known as Bengal Kino and is considered to be a good astringent by druggists. The tannin in the gum makes it popular with leather workers.The driver informed us people  bathe in the water where the flowers have been soaked to cure skin ailments. 

The high point of these travels are the new places we see, the people we meet, the food we taste and the birds and trees we befriend. 

A promise to catch up.

Lots of busy days in Feb.
I am going to be writing in detail of our wonderful visit to the Gir forest last weekend.
Two lions who passed us by , their fearless faces , beautiful biscuit colored coats and rippling muscles are frozen in my memory. One king marked a tree with urine.  I can say sheepishly that only a lion can add grace to this act. Then they set about finishing a huge Sambar deer near a stream.
Then the jugaad vehicle - chakda. Shepherds and their women folk wearing the most beautiful ear pieces.
Dwarka and a boat in the Arabian Sea.
Porbandar and the childhood home of Bapu.
Lots and lots of interesting stuff. Look out for these posts.

In the meanwhile another story, "Don't call the Third Umpire" was published today in Spark
http://www.sparkthemagazine.com/?p=8941