My trip to Bhuj, was serendipity. It was not on my agenda & so when it happened I went along unquestioningly. And I have to thank my friend Deeptha for the brilliant 3 days it turned out to be, filled with colour, craft, architechture, adventure and the spare grandeur of the Rann of Kutch. Psst..You must check out her cool wildlife photography blog here.

So in the 1st of the many bhuj posts this blog is going to see, here is compensating the lack of faces on this blog with a post which has only faces. For once I got past my reticence to shoot people & I think all my posts about & around Bhuj will have people in it. And because the people of Gujarat have something innately welcoming and calm about them, shooting them & asking for permission didn't seem so daunting. That each person looked so beautiful was an added bonus.

Seeing these women confirmed so many of the romantic impressions I have had of Gujarat. And at the same time I really didn't as many villages full of the traditional circular mud homes called Bhunga's. For some reason (maybe the earthquake) the structures were a lot more regular like you see across the rest of rural India. Or maybe we just didn't go to where they all were :)

The women make these pretty ethnic dolls with little beads and mirrors on them.

Wooden spoons and ladles with super colourful lacquer on them. The craftsmen use hand operated lathes to shape the wood and slash in indentations. You can read more about the village Nirona & its crafts here.

She was the seniormost lady there and looked really gentle & cheerful.

And I've saved the best for the last. This is the 1st sight that caught my eye as soon as we entered the compound. Its so 'all woman' for more than the obvious reasons.