SIFAR (Nothingness)

"The sea was proud. Punishment was inevitable. It dried up." That is the story I was told by a local.
A place with a story, it had to be a good trip.
It was a (almost) solo trip. My brother was there with me, but he is one of those people who can be sharing the same space with me and yet let me feel as comfortable as me alone in a beautifully unfamiliar place.
We reached after a 7 hours long and sunny bike ride. It was a humble home stay. The water offered felt like a prayer answered.
That is how we reached Bhuj. Bhuj is a small town in Gujarat and like any small town there were streets with houses and hope. If you observe well, you will notice that the setting is old but the houses are new. Like a bright painting on an old rugged canvas. It happened because the earthquake had brought down everything. It was rebuilt.
Bhuj is where the story starts. It takes you ahead.
Do you like magic?
This place is sea in the rains and a salt dessert in winters. It is magical when it dries up.
Have you felt this. Standing on the beach, on the end of the last wave when the water is slightly touching your toes. 'I wish I could walk up to the horizon'. I have felt that on beautiful beaches when the sun leaves behind the orange sky.
The magic at the Rann of Kutch is that the (dried up) sea invites you to do just that. It challenges you to leave behind the safe confines of the shore and walk ahead. Alone towards the unknown. What might actually happen when you reach there, that exact line of the horizon. Will you be there. Exactly there. Where the sky will meet the earth. The most unusual union.
The sea dries up and all that remains is salt. Till you can see, it is all that you can see. It is white. Not the white of clouds but white of salt. You can pick it up, a small piece and eat it. The sun goes down and the moon comes out. You can feel the colors. Yellow-Orange-Red-Moonlit white. It gets surreal. The moon is big, bright and beautiful. There is no source of light but the moon light. I can see you in the moon light. Everything looks different, like there is a sheet covering everything. It is like we took a dip into the moon and came out. Stole a bit of moon light and rubbed it on the earth.
I sat there. Got up when I was tired of sitting. Walked around. All directions, any direction. Nothingness. All i found was nothing. All i took back was nothing and a small piece of ground salt in my pocket. A blurred vision of a full moon night spent at the Great Rann of Kutch..