Dhoravira, Gujarat

What do you do when you realize the two biggest Indus valley civilization sites, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro are situated in the neighboring country Pakistan? Yes, sad initially. That country defiantly doesn't top our list. Research led us to shortlist two places, Lothal and Dholarvira. We vaguely remember Dholavira being named seven wonders of India in a poll conducted by some news portal. And it is in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage site. Seeing Indus valley civilization site was one of the must to do things before we could kick our bucket.

We reached Rapar which is the nearest city around 7 in the morning by car. It is very important to arrange for our own transport as Dholaravira being a dead end, is not very well connected to other parts of Gujarat. The public transport is very scanty. There may be 2 to 3 small private buses plying between Rapar and Dholavira. Rapar is a very important pit stop before heading towards Dholavira which is at a distance of 92 KM. Rapar is the only place where we can get fuel and supplies before taking the long dusty ride to Dholavrira. There are few small settlements here and there in this stretch and managing to get a snack or bottled water is very difficult. We advise everyone going to Dholarvira to pack as much snack and water from Rapar. It is a decent dusty road with no greenery around. We noticed herd of cattle and what amazed us was the built of the cattle and they are huge and healthy. We wondered what they get to eat as the entire area was desert.

The sun was slowly rising and we were driving along the road. We may have covered 45 KM on the road, we saw that the sky was getting brighter as if there was a strong light source focusing on the sky. Another life time experience awaited us just around the corner. And, there it was. The white Run of Kutch.

Info: Dholavira is one of the two largest Harappan sites in India and the fifth largest in the subcontinent. The specialty of this site in particular is it progressed through all the phases of Harappan culture, which is broadly categorized into 7 stages. The time period is 2900 BC to 1500 BC. 

We were startled to know Dholavira is natively called as "Kotada", that is Fort. In many Dravidian languages Kota means fort too. It sprawled over 100 hectare of semi arid land at the northwest corner of the island of Khadir, one of the islands in the Great Rann of Kutch that remain above the flood-plains in months when the rest of the desert is submerged by the monsoon. Mansar in the north and Manhar in the south are the two seasonal streams of Dholavira. Doesn't these sounds like musical raga?  

Though Archaeological Survey of India in 1967 unearthed the site, it began its excavation meticulously from 1990. Various artifacts like tools, animal figurines, beads, gold and copper ornaments, terracotta pottery, fish hooks were emerged from the site. Several imported vessels signifies trade connections between Harappans and Mesopotamia. The world's earliest sign board containing 10 large stone encryptions of Indus valley civilization is undeciphered till today. Imagine the window of discoveries historians could make if the sings are decoded.

As the sign board says "The remains show an imposing Citadel in the center, with the middle and the lower town, each fortified separately, built with pleasingly smooth structures of Sun dried brick and stone masonry, and with remarkable town planning.  Well laid out lanes lead outward systematically from the Citadel, with the well constructed underground drainage system for sanitation. There is a large stadium with a complex structure and seating arrangement." The world's earliest water conservation system is found here in Dholavira. In a desert like this civilization would not have boomed without the well-constructed underground reservoir and rainwater harvesting system.

It is still a nagging question why with such glorious town planning Harappans wound abandon the city. Was it because of Aryans invading? Or drastic changes in climate, like flooding or drought? Was it because of drying up of mighty Saraswati river? Was it because of decline in trading with Mesopotamians or Egyptians?  Was there any epidemic disease? And where would they have gone? What happened to them? Are we the lineage of Harappans? We were bogged down by so many questions, to which we don't know the way to find answers. This is as exhilarating as waiting for the final season of Game of Thrones. We just hope we could know the answers before our lifetime.

We will leave with Amitabh Bacchan's quote, who is a brand ambassador of Gujarat tourism summarizes aptly our whole experience "Simply standing within the ancient remains of Dholavira, I felt like I was reading a page of history written in stone and brick. Dholavira gave me a sense of heritage. Where else can you leave your fingerprints on the past".

Tips:
Make your own transport arrangements
Carry enough food and water as there is no hotels to stay or restaurants to eat

Mount Fuji, Tokyo

Cherry blossoms, Mount Fuji, Sushi, Kimono, Sumo, Samurai, and Shinkansen are etched in our mind apart from the World War when we think of Japan. We had to give a miss to cherry blossoms and Sumo because of off season. No worries, as there is always another time.

We researched a lot to visit Mount Fuji on our own. But it was painstakingly difficult and burning a hole in own pocket. We were adamant to let go of this because it is inscribed in UNESCO World Heritage list. After giving a thought to various options we opted for a guided tour, albeit being a bit pricey. The previous evening we confirmed our booking and were asked to be at the pickup point promptly at 8 in the morning.



We took Ginza Line at Asakusa to Kanda and then transferred to JR Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku Line. Sounds heavy to the head right? We were baffled by the Tokyo metro lines at first as well. However, once you get the sense of it, metro is the best and comfortable way to travel. We had taken the metro pass for five days and we traveled in and around Tokyo like a pro. And when in doubt, ask a Japanese. They are genuinely nice people and will go out of their way to help you in every possible way. So it took around 30 minutes to reach Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal. 

Our guide for the day is Marie and she is just a bundle of energy. Tokyo's rush our stalled the journey a bit, however, Marie kept us engaged giving us anecdotes about Japan, its people, culture, language, religion. The bright gold and crimson red colored autumn trees on either side of road transported us into a different world. We were captivated by the riot of colours. This lifted our dampened spirits as we were told earlier Mt. Fuji isn't going to be snow-capped today. Within two hours we reached the Mt. Fuji, 5th station. We wanted to pick one of the colored leaves as a souvenir. As if reading our mind Marie told not to pluck or pick any leaves as they belonged to the forest. We really loved the idea of property of forest and respecting the nature. We could have taken them anyway if we wanted to, but aren't the photos and memories enough to tell the beautiful moments we had here?

Various artists captured the beauty of Mt. Fuji in their canvases. And we we're told it is still an interesting subject for poets and artists. The only Japanese author we know is Keigo Higashino of detective Galileo series (The devotion of Suspect X, Salvation of Saint, & A Midsummer's Equation). The famous Malayalam movie Drishyam which later remade into various languages is inspired by The Devotion of Suspect X. We digress.

Mount Fuji is the highest peak in Japan with a height of 3776 meters. This is an active volcano that most recently erupted in 1707. It is one of the three holy mountains along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is worshiped as sacred by Japanese for many years and they still do. According to UNESCO, Mount Fuji has "inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries". It was inscribed in their cultural site list in 2013.



Here standing at the Mt. Fuji 5th station we could see the summit clearly. It is the shortest route to climb the mountain. The weather of Fuji is unpredictable and changes rapidly from minutes to hours. The fluffy cloud stretched out as far as our eyes can see. The sun peeked through shadow of brilliant white clouds in the morning sky. There are a few restaurants and souvenir shops here. The vehicles are not allowed to move from here. There are no water or power lines on Mt. Fuji. Water is transported up to 30 KM from the foot of the mountain to the 5th station with 5 tanker trucks every day. And electricity is supplied by two large generators that run day and night. 

We were told "Aokigahara" the world's second most popular suicide site after Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco is situated at the north west base of this very mountain. This suicide forest has the legend of housing "Yurei" ghosts of the dead in Japanese mythology. Statistics say more than 500 people lost their lives, mostly committing suicides. Now officials have put enough sign posts in Japanese to convince people with suicidal intent to reconsider their plans.

Though we missed to witness the snow-capped Fuji it was a ethereal experience as we are literally above the cloud. Before the wintry blusters could take a bite on us we moved forward to our next destination.