Where Ghandi and Granny were born

Ghandi's Exact Birthplace

My lovely friend Sangeeta has never been to India and so, ever up for a project, I promised to snap some photos of her Granny’s village for her.  That is how I wound up with my head tipped back, in the pitch black, pondering space and time as part of a circle of women within a circle of men.

Navigating Marriage

Porbandar is ordinary, but what it lacks in beauty, it makes up for with gusto. Loud men with big grins sell fruit to busy ladies in bright bandhani¹ on the corners of streets with thick banks of parked bikes through which an auto river flows. Their incessant beeps perforate the dusty, dried fish mist which settles in the side streets casting a sepia tinge over its suitably antiquated scenes. On the border of town, thick mangroves and dessert meet by the river and just like in between the beach and the maidan², the poor live in temporary tents.

As I have now come to expect from Gujarat, the people of Porbandar excelled themselves.  My hotel was brightly staffed, my auto driver didn’t over-charge and on seeing my disappointment that the internet café was closed until 5pm, Jay from Jalaram Tours kindly invited me to use his wifi and even sent one of his staff to arrange my mobile top-up! (thanks again!).

The Lonely Planet may have dropped their coverage of Porbandar after edition 13 but it’s firmly on my map …particularly as the place whose sightseeing tour included twenty minutes in a segregated planetarium with Gujarati discourse!!

¹Intricate tye dye fabrics made with numerous tiny knots in fabulous patterns

²large outdoor area for public gatherings