`Saigon...shit. I'm only in
Saigon.’
Some of you may
remember that line. It was the opening line spoken by Martin Sheen in his
character of Captain Benjamin L Willard in Apocalypse Now, one of my favourite
movies.
`Bhuj...shit. I'm only in Bhuj.’
Yes folks, of the entire God dammed, God
forsaken places in the world, I have got a transaction in Bhuj. That is why I
was there a couple of days ago. Bhuj is shit. Go there only if you are being
paid, preferable, a lot.
Now you may well wonder why anyone would have
a transaction in Bhuj. The reason is that Bhuj and the areas around are rich in
minor minerals. One such mineral in something called Bentonite. Bentonite is very
useful clay. It is used in purification of things like wine, beers and so on.
It has medical uses as well as uses in the drilling industry. Bhuj has lots of
Bentonite mines. So if you need a regular supply of Bentonite, you need to be
in Bhuj. So here we were in Bhuj to meet a potential target.
Bhuj is in Kutch, got it? HRH the Queen of
Kutch was pretty excited that I was going there. She asked me to take photos of
what I see. That I dutifully did. The quality is a bit dodgy as they were taken
with my mobile phone.
Bhuj Airport is an Air force base and is a
mere 30 miles from Pakistan. That is really close. When I boarded the flight I
saw that there were a lot of foreigners on board. I was curious as to why a
foreigner would want to go to Bhuj. All was revealed. The port Kandla and
Mundhra are accessible by air only from Bhuj. That was the reason.
The town was very small, very dusty and
totally uninteresting. I must say that with the absence of pollution in the air
and the hot dry climate, the light was excellent, you could see for miles and
the Bougainvillea looked beautiful. Honestly.
A Temple under construction. |
Man and Beast washing. In the background is Prag Mahal the Palace |
The Prag Mahal, I think, with a library in front. |
The best apartments in Bhuj. Overlooking the water body |
Since we got in very early it was time for
breakfast. Seven Sky’s hotel was the place to eat. On entering I saw a mini
Eiffel Tower, wow, why go to Paris to see the real one or Las Vegas to see a
replica. Eiffel Tower is in our backyard, Bhuj. Gujjus are completely bonkers.Surreal!
The Eiffel Tower - Bhuj Edition |
The obligatory photo in front of the Effiel Tower. If you do it in Paris why not in Bhuj? |
Breakfast was ghastly. A hastily put together unsalted Masala Dosa in deep Gujarat! More surreal. Wasn’t the Dandi March held in Gujarat to ensure we didn’t pay needless taxes on salt? Why then are they skimping on it in Bhuj?
Then it was a drive along the wide expanse of
soulless roads of Bhuj to the office. A couple of decent sights. A lake, a fort
a museum. Pleasant. A word about prosperity in Bhuj. Well judging by the cars
there, Bhuj is not prosperous. I saw no `imported’ cars and no car I saw were
much more than Rs 10 lakhs or Rs 1 million. Tata Aria, Indicas, Marutis of all
types and Mahindra vehicles were all I saw. Not even a Honda Accord. Nope.
Time passed slowly and painfully. Soon it was
lunchtime. We breezed to Hotel Prince, the swankiest place in town. We had a
Thaali lunch, a Gujarati Thaali. Honestly a Gujarati Thaali is often very nice,
damn filling but tasty but definitely not a working lunch. But who cared? That
was the highlight of the day. The Ritz, sorry, Hotel Prince had a dedicated
Thaali restaurant complete with waiters dressed in traditional clothes wearing
turbans. The Thaali cost Rs 200 which, if you ask me was very cheap. It was
decent not good. Though I have not been to them in years, I would imagine that
Samrat at Churchgate would serve as good if not a better Thaali. After lunch a few
more hours of discussion and we left for the airport.
I am dreading the next visit there. I cannot
imagine staying a night in either of those disgusting hotels. Why do we have to
fall off the map the moment we leave Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, etc?
Don’t go to Bhuj.
No comments:
Post a Comment