Colourful Heat- of Gujarat

I was born in kolkata and i am a bengali, but i was destined to be an Indian. My father works in an oil company, and thus his first posting was in Ankleshwar, Gujarat. Ankleshwar is an industrial town of Gujarat I lived my eleven years in this land, after i was born. The land where the great leader, the freedom fighter who fought for Indians and their independence through non violence, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born. The story is not about him but the birth place where he was born. Gujarat, land of heat, dry in summer and as cold as it can be in its winter. The journey is of those colourful festivity, Delicious delicacies, language that speaks so much with joy, its all about not only Gujarat but also the diverse people, religion and culture the state lives in and share their culture with each other. 

                                                                               
Gujarat, its early morning at about 6 o'clock when the sky starts becoming clearer, as being in the west the early mornings were not so early. We use to stay in a colony, almost families from every part from India, from every religion use to live there and share each others culture. Like, we use to celebrate the Ganesh Chaturthi festival from Maharashtra in the same way for one week with the same passion as it can be in the state, similarly, durga puja celebrated by the bengali's from West Bengal, then pongal from south, then Eid etc. And every bit was enjoyed together, the people there are very fun loving and love to enjoy every festival or cultural program. But, Gujarat itself is a colourful state with many festivals and variety of cusine to share with us.

                                                         
The Kite Festival:
The kite festival, it is celebrated during the time of Uttarrayan and Makar Sankrati in Gujarat, this part of the year is when the winter falls and spring begins, the days became longer, skies became clearer and the cool wind blew. This is the joyous time to celebrate with friends and family, thanks giving and merry time for everyone. So, the kite festival starts with splendid joyful time with friends and family, colourful sky with huge varied shaped  kites it was fun and colourful time together. There are also many competitions during the kite flying festival, for who has the largest kite and who's flies the highest etc. Still there are no barriers, everybody from every culture, every religion use to come to the ground and enjoy the kite flying.

                                                            
The Garba and Dandiya Rass:
As i grew, my feet started tapping, there was this  Bharatnatayam classes i use to go for, there i learnt for 5 years. But when it comes to dance, Gujarati dance form is the most fun and more entertaining dance form to be learnt. During the time of Dusshera or navratri, when Hindu's worship the goddess, "Ambe"  or "Durga" in the north, keep fasting, worship etc, In Gujarat they play or dance the "Garba" and "Dandiya" every night for nine days of pooja. In a traditional way, everything so colourful, the "Ghagra choli" with traditional jewellery's and everyone for one time forget everything and just dance way their sorrows and enjoy the time, rejoice the moments and dedicate themselves to the goddess.  

                                                              
Food from Gujarat:
It was during my school days, when i use to have a best friend, and she was Gujarati, every time during the lunch hour we use to sit together like 5 of us and share each other's lunch. Every-time she use to bring this different kind of vegetarian food which was yum, sweet and Delicious. It is the Gujarati Cuisine, its purely vegetarian and tasty, they have varied kind of delicacies, Chakli, daal parantha, masala puri, dal dhokli, gujrati kadhi, khaman, khandvi, kakdi nu raita, srikhand, trevti daal etca and it goes on. All so tasty and mouth watering gives the taste of Gujarat.
As, we know Gujarat is a milk producing state, Anand the milk producing place, we can find variety of Dairy products in the state, largest number of ice cream is produced in the state. I have visited anand once, and it was a great experience. We went to a factory to explore how the milk is processed into its products. And we also tasted the yumiest milk with different kinds of flavor in it. It made our experience worth.


So, Gujarat as a whole is a resourceful land. Rich in culture, rich and colourful in expressing the culture and diversity comes when it enjoys its self and shares the enjoyment with everyone.