From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 7, Issue 21, Dated May 29, 2010

DHOLAVIRA
The Sands Of Time

Ramu Ramanathan
Mumbai-based playwrightdirector and editor of PT Notes, a monthly theatre newsletter produced by Prithvi Theatre

Unchanged sweeps A mother-son duo working at a salt pan in Khadaghoda, Rann of Kutch Photo: AFP

It took us six hours from Ahmedabad to Rapar in a tata Safari. By water it takes four days to travel the same distance. We are invited by Salil Mehta, who heads a water harvesting project on khadir Bet: “Visit us in winter, because during summer we cannot afford to waste water on you.”

The drive from Rapar to khadir is eerie. A solitary road is surrounded by the featureless landscape of the Rann of kutch. During the monsoon, it creates an artificial lake but the still water evaporates leaving behind a salt residue which resembles snow crystals.

We disembark for a break. our local guide cautions us: “Be careful. the land is marshy and it may crack open.” Also, the land is saline. If you step barefoot in it, in a short while it appears as though you are wearing a pair of white drycleaned socks. our guide informs us: “Locals who prepare salt have a problem due to the saline content. While cremating dead bodies, the saline part refuses to burn.”

We reach khadir ‘Bet’ (island). It is quite simply in the middle of nowhere. My reason to visit was because visiting Mohenjo-Daro is nearly impossible.

Early morning we visit the site. to the freelancing historian, Dholavira may appear a tad unimpressive. there are no sculpted towers or eyecatching domes. there are citadel facades and featureless fortifications in which families lived 5,000 years ago. the urbanscape is understated, like most Harappan cities, including the port city of Lothal (near Ahmedabad). Work is in progress, we are informed by a local ASI official. More than 14 seasons of excavations. that’s why, the site looks like the ruins of a town.

The next day, we get a crash course on how bricks were produced 5,000 years ago. Stones were scarce and timber techniques were absent. In fact timber was used as fuel to fire brick kilns. Most Harappan cities have been built by brick kilns. the sturdiness of the ruined structures is a testimony to their superior firing skills.

Over the next three days what emerges is the extent of town-planning and water storage systems which enabled the Harappan people to make the progress from hunter-gatherers to urban dwellers. the ASI official, now friend, says: “this was the first great experiment in urban living.”

Every night, we cooked under the full moon. Early morning was an education in rainwater harvesting. Salil woke us up. We helped him collect water. It was painstaking. We collected dew drops and stored them. Every morning a few drops.

Aridity is the name of the game. the Dholavirans created an extensive and sophisticated water supply system that included chiseled reservoirs, wells and rainwater tanks. one day, everything vanished beneath the sand and silt. the artefacts, the granaries, the roads, the people. It is humbling.