KUTCH,ITS,COLOURFUL,AND,EXOTIC travel,insurance KUTCH IS AT ITS COLOURFUL AND EXOTIC I3EST DURING THE RANN U

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Bounded on all sides by either the Ara-bian Sea or the marshy desert plains of the Rann of Kutch. Kutch Is a place that stands apart. Shot through with the colours of the heavily embroidered attires of its people, Kutch is one of the most colourful regions of India and offers a glimpse of Gujarat at her exotic best. Visitors are enchanted by the villages, medieval forts, majestic palaces, historic ports, temples, monasteries and beautiful beaches of Kutch. Here, with little effort, you can travel from the arid grass-lands of Banni and white salt encrusted desert of the Great Rann of Kutch to the pretty beach of Mandvi, from the walled city of Bhuj or the modern city of Gandhldham to remote villages where you will be mes-merised by the rainbow of colourful attires worn by the women, the exquisiteness of the embroideries done by women working from home, the rich repertoire of other handicraft skills, and the picturesque mud-plastered round houses called bhungas lov-ingly decorated with hand-paintings and mirror inlays.Gujarat Tourism's annual event, the Rann Utsav, offers a glimpse of the incredibly di-verse attractions of Kutch. From the tourist village set up at Dhorodo, the Great Rann of Kutch, tourists are taken in camel cart to salt flats of the Great Rann of Kutch, an expanse of about 30,000 square kilometres of salt desert and seasonal marshland that lies be-tween the Gulf of Kutch and the Indus River. The area was once the shallows of the Ara-bian Sea before geological uplift closed off the connection of the sea, leaving behind a vast lake which turns into a desert in the dry months. Held during the full moon period In winter, this festival gives tourists the rare opportunity to see the Great Rann of Kutch in the moonlight. As the camel carts journey across the plains to the selected site in the white desert, you can witness the brilliance of the desert sunset in the clear blue winter sky. Enjoy folk music of Kutch while waiting for nightfall when the white salt covered plains are bathed in the light of the full moon. The festival is geared up to offer tour-ists a unique experience in the Great Rann of Kutch. Food is served in the desert wil-derness and dinner is accompanied by a concert of music like Sindhi Bhajans and Sufi songs.During the Rann Utsav, tours are organised to explore the many attractions of Kutch. An exciting trip from Dhorodo is to Kala Dungar, literally Black Hills. The drive winds up a hill to the Dattatray Temple which is one of the highest points in the Kutch district_ From this site you can get a panoramic view of the vast expanses of the salt desert of the Great Rann of Kutch. Trek ain the surrounding scrub vegetation which trills with the calls of bulbuls, larks and other birds. One of the most dramatic sights of Kala Dungar Is that of watching jackals come for temple offers. When the priests from the temple call, Lo-Aang Lo-Rang, packs of jackal come out from the scrubland to feast on the temple offerings laid out for them.The festival also features folk performances, competitions and handicraft demonstrations. Dhorodo lies in the heart of the Banni grass-lands where pastoral villages produce some of India's finest hand-embroidery. Suf embroi-dery is counted on the warp and weft of the cloth in a surface satin stitch worked from the back. Motifs are never drawn. Each artisan imagines her design, then counts it out in re-verse, thus requiring much detailing. The craftswomen fill symmetrical patterns with tiny triangles, and accent stitches. Khaarek is a geometric style also counted and precise. Paako is a tight square chain and double but-tonhole stitch embroidery, often with black slanted satin stitch outlining. The motifs of paako, sketched in mud with needles, are pri-marily floral and generally arranged in sym-metrical patterns. Visit thevillages that dot the Banni scrub-and-grassland like Sumrasar Sheikh, Bhirendiaro, Hodka, Gorewali, Dhoro-do, Ludia, etc to watch women doing embroi-dery. Each community has its own distinctive style of embroidery. The Muthwas, the laths, the Sodhas, the Meghwals, the Ahirs, the Raba-Rabarls and other communities are each known for their embroidery. Woodcarving, leather crafts and pottery also thrive in the Banni villages. Khavda is the centre for many interesting weaves.Northwest of Bhuj, the villages of Zura and Nirona are home to many lesser-known crafts skills. At both Zura and Nirona, it is possible to watch luhars (blacksmiths) hand-casting me-lodic bells. After crafting the cylindrical body and domed crown from iron, the Luhar fami-lies start the processes of coating the bell with copper. The sound of each bell depends on its making and the luhars take pride in the music that their bells can produce when struck though they themselves have no musical train-ing. These villages are also known for their lacquered woodcrafts.The folk art that is now limited to just one family is rogan, which involves an intricate process of creating colours by mixing pig-ments with castor oil. When the mixture dries it becomes a gooey paste. The artisans use an iron rod to paint the fabrics with this thick colour mixture.Kutch has many religious and archaeological attractions. Dholavira, in eastern Kutch, has one of the most substantial remains of the Harappan or Indus Valley Civilisation found in India. Western Kutch has the Ashapura-no-Madh temple, Narayan Sarovar which Is one of the five holiest lakes for Hindus, the shore temple of Koteshwar and the historic Gurd-vara at Lakhpat. There are important lain tem-ples along the coast from Naliya to Badreshwar. If you find more information visit at http://www.swantour.com Article Tags: Rann Utsav, Great Rann