Dwarka

One visit to the cliff behind the lighthouse – at the westernmost edge of the town convinced me this was far greater reward, and inevitably, my feet found their way there every evening, in the hope of catching a sunset.

I spent all of five evenings at the cliff, waiting for two to three hours every day for the clouds to part and reveal a dipping sun. But it wasn’t until the final evening that the Sun delivered a parting glimpseand broke through the clouds so very briefly before lapsing into its repose. For the traveler curious about religion and customs, Dwarka can serve up a good sample, with most local tour operators also offering guided tours of nearby temples, including that on the island of Bet Dwarka, which, according to popular myth again, is a must-visit for those visiting the main temple in Dwarka. For those not so inclined to visiting holy places, Dwarka can offer a halt on a coastal trip. In 2005, it was still in large part a stranger to the technological trappings of the metropolitan cities. Being relatively outside of the regular tourist circuit, Dwarka could still combine rusticity without being in a completely non-urban setting. One can, if so willing, climb up the spiral staircase and get a bird’s eye view of the city, and can thus mentally map out the walks that will aid the exploration of the city.

The sea-facing cliff offers a perfect spot for meditating upon the mysterious forces that are contained in nature, and watching and tasting the salty foam-covered waves smash tirelessly against the rock only adds a sense perception to the experience. If you are curious about geographical features, right behind the temple is the mouth of the river Gomati, and a rocky embankment serves to create a waterway that visitors to the temple can access without fear of high waves.

Back then, we lived in New Delhi, over a thousand kilometers from Dwarka. We traveled first to Ahmedabad, where my family had lived during my infancy, so this layover was also a trip down the proverbial memory lane. From there we traveled to Jamnagar, a port city generally acknowledged as the easiest place to find transport to Dwarka. Travelers have better options today with the road and rail transport developing and reaching into further and further pockets of semi-urban/rural India. I would highly recommend staying at the Gujarat Tourism Development Cottage, although I must confess my information might be slightly out of date on this count. I do remember that the cook delighted in serving us unlimited quantities of incredibly tasty vegetarian food! This is the concluding part of the guest post by Raghuram S Godavarthi. Raghu regularly blogs at Bencilo.