When the British scanned the Indian topography, they didn’t miss an inch. And they converted the most scenic of all locations, nestling atop majestic mountains, into hill stations. Just so that they could chill there during the oppressing tropical summers. And they named the various points in these hill stations after British aristocracy: Lodwick Point, Wilson Point, Arthur’s Seat, Babington Point, Kate’s Point etc.
But the point is, they missed one hill station: Saputara. So here you find a hill station with a ’desi’ flavour. No Raj hangover (that would have been a difficult proposition in any case in Dry Gujarat), no colonial mansions, and no points and alleys named after British aristocracy.
Though it’s the only hill station in Gujarat (Mount Abu has been adopted by Gujarat as its own but actually it falls in Rajasthan), it’s much less hyped when compared to the Lonavalas, the Matherans and the Mahableshwars of the world. In fact it’s so small, you can walk into yourself at the next turn.
Situated at a breathtaking height of around 3,000 feet, it’s the second highest plateau in the entire Sahydaris. It too has many points; but they are innocently named as Sunset Point, Sunrise Point, Echo Point and Town View Point. But not to be outnamed by the British, one of the points has been patriotically named Gandhi Shikhar.
In Saputara, everything centres around the lake. And that offers an innocuous pleasure: boating. But the ripples of excitement that your paddle creates spread all around the lake and engulf the entire plateau.
Close by, there are forests that you can explore. It’s rumoured that Ram spent 11 out of his 14 years of exile in the neck of these woods. But when you walk here, you would agree that it’s not really such a bad place to be exiled to.
After you have your fill of the wild, you can turn your attention to places where Nature has been tamed. Beautiful plants that would have grown wild in the wild have been pruned and shaped into submission. Come to think of it, in a way, manicuring a garden is actually cruelty to plants. Because instead of letting them be, you decide what shape they should take, to what height they should grow, and even where they should be placed. But birds and butterflies, blissfully unaware of the tragedy that has befallen their brethren, continue to abound in large numbers in these gardens: Lake Garden, Step Garden, Rose Garden and the Millennium Garden.
Saputara got its name from the tribals who live nearby: the Warlis, the Bhils and the Gamits. Every year on Nagpanchami day, they descend into the nearby Sarpaganga River to worship the serpents here. Hence the name ’Saputara’. Till I heard this story, I believed it’s because of the serpentine roads that you traverse to reach this paradise.
The Tribal Museum here offers a glimpse into their lives and times and showcases their amazing artistry: ornaments, paintings, masks, wood carvings, musical instruments and exquisite bamboo craft.
Saputara in winter looks like a secret that is covered in an enigma that is wrapped in a mystery.
One of the most mysterious sights here is the waterfall on the Gira River. When you go near it and gaze at the cascading water you realize that no two moments of the waterfall are the same. The water that falls here every moment, like time, will never come back. It will only go forward to meet the eventual sea. And this water must have started its perennial journey when Mother Earth was born and will continue to flow through her veins till her very last breath.
