There's life in the mundane.

MANDVI — 22.8333° N, 69.3500° E

Mandvi

— India

Five days in a port town on the Gulf of Kutch. Boats, dabeli and a lot of sitting on walls.

Day 1 — 16:20. Arrived on the bus from Bhuj. Everyone off at once, everyone with too many bags. The town smells of sea and diesel and fried things.

Day 2 — 06:50. Boatyard. The dhows are built by eye: no drawings that I could see, just men on scaffolding made of branches, fitting planks that have been shaped by hand. One of them asked if I wanted to buy a boat. I said not today.

Day 3 — 13:00. Too hot to do anything, so did nothing, on a wall, in the shade, for two hours. Watched a goat try and fail to get into a shop.

Day 4 — 19:30. The beach at dusk is a whole town out at once. Camel rides, corn on a stick, a man selling balloons shaped like cartoon characters that have been lightly altered for copyright reasons.

Day 5 — 08:00. Bus back. Sand in everything.

Placeholder — the sea at Mandvi with a wooden boat, warm tones.
01
Placeholder — a street food cart in warm light.
02The dabeli cart by the bridge
Placeholder — the river and bridge, wide frame.
03

Worth remembering

  1. The boatyard, early, before the heat.
  2. Dabeli from the cart nearest the bridge. Not the one with the queue.
  3. Walk the beach at low tide all the way to the windmills.