The Rann of Kutch - 1

The Rann of Kutch. The White Desert.

I was first introduced to it years ago when Abhishek Bachchan ran across the Rann ferrying people illegally across borders. Google didn't reside on palms then, and data was too expensive to waste reading up about salty lands in a distant part of the country. How wrong my priorities were!

It is impossible to list or even verbalise the whole gamut of emotions that the Rann engenders. It is a completely overwhelming experience in every way - ecstasy upon seeing the beautiful unending white expanse that seems unreal, the niggling human fear about getting lost on this seemingly borderless and unending landmass, the awareness and acceptance that nature is a massive force that may never be entirely understood, and finally the hard hitting realisation of how small we and our human minds really are.

The Rann - where a thick crust of crystalline salt turns a part of the Thar desert stunning white - is a spectacle of nature not to be missed.