Dhrangadhra: The Edge of the Little Rann
Dhrangadhra in Surendranagar — its sandstone quarries and carving tradition, the princely old town, access to the Little Rann’s wild asses, and the salt pans.
Morbi: The Tile Capital of India
Morbi in Saurashtra — how one town came to make most of India’s ceramic tiles, the Mani Mandir palace, and the 1979 dam failure and 2022 bridge collapse.
Gopnath: Cliffs, Sea and a Quiet Retreat
Gopnath in Bhavnagar district — low limestone cliffs on the Gulf of Khambhat, Gopnath Mahadev and Narsinh Mehta, the tiny stock of beds.
Alang: Where the World’s Ships Come to Rest
Alang in Bhavnagar district — why the world’s ships are beached here, the labour and environmental record, why the yards are closed to visitors.
Bhavnagar: Victoria Park and the Old Port
Bhavnagar in eastern Saurashtra — the Victoria Park urban forest, Takhteshwar Mahadev, Nilambag Palace and Barton Library.
Anand: Inside India’s White Revolution
Anand in central Gujarat — how the Amul cooperative began in 1946, Verghese Kurien and Operation Flood, visiting the dairy and museum.
Don Hill: The Hill Station Nobody Visits
Don Hill in Dang district — higher than Saputara and almost undeveloped, with Adivasi homestays, forest walks.
The Waghai Narrow Gauge: Gujarat’s Slow Train
Riding the 1913 Bilimora–Waghai narrow-gauge railway into the Dang forests — what the journey is like, checking it is running, and using Waghai as a Dangs base.
Dumas: Surat’s Black Sand Evening
Dumas beach near Surat — why the sand is dark, the evening food stalls that are the real attraction, why not to swim, and the truth about the ghost stories.
Kabirvad: An Island Made of One Tree
Kabirvad near Bharuch — a single banyan spreading across acres of a Narmada island, its association with the saint Kabir.