And a happy new yaar to you too.

Kem cho kem cho bhai ben! Maja ma? I'm back from Gujarat after a two-week long holiday. Not the first choice of vacationing for normal people, but you'd be surprised at how much the state has to offer to tourists: we barely managed to cover half the places.

The itinerary: Gir, Somnath, Bhuj, Dhordo, Ahmedabad, Diu, Baroda.

We stayed at Gir Birding Lodge, separated by a cement wall from the forest. (No, no chance of the lions jumping over to feast on humans.) It's the perfect place to forget that civilisation exists outside of the property. A safari one day, and a day trip to Somnath the other, followed by a bus ride - the most uncomfortable one for me, ever - the next day to Ahmedabad more or less summarises this leg of the trip. We didn't spot lions on the safari, but were fascinated enough by the Neelgai and green pigeons.

On the day trip to Somnath we shopped (!) outside the temple for beady stuff and pit-stopped at Veravel to watch boats being constructed. I think we entertained the cab driver immensely because he went all proactive and took us to a dam in the vicinity (no, it wasn't the Narmada). Got some good shots there and then headed back to the lodge.

Next stop, Kutch. After a long bus journey to Bhuj, we were transported to Dhordo where we were staying. The terrain was dry, flat and dotted with shrubs and babool trees. Fortunately, it was migration time so we spotted tons and tons of beautiful, fascinating birds. The first day of our stay, we were taken to Ludiya village where the locals were selling their crafts for huge sums of money - blankets, bedsheets, pillow covers and clothes embellished with mirrors and detailed, multicoloured embroidery. In the evening, we went to White Rann.

My first view of the salt desert left me breathless. It was an expanse of white for as far as the eye could see. During the day, the water evaporated, leaving the salt surface hard and easy to walk on. As night approaches and the temperature begins to drop, the surface moistens and little puddles of salt form across the desert. It would've been worth every pain to watch it in the night, but we had no such luck. By 8 p.m, we were taken back to our tents.

The next day, we were piled into mini buses along with thousands of Gujarati families to Kala Dongra - the highest point in Kutch from where you can see the state border and, if you stretch your imagination a little, the India-Pakistan border. We exited the place fast enough to get to the actual Indo Pak border. Unfortunately for us, we made it as far as the bridge that marks the beginning of the BSF because the tour organisers had failed to acquire permission to visit the border. Disappointed, we made our way back to White Rann and visited the salt desert again in the evening as a sort of consolation prize.

Diu was next on the map, and for me this was the high-point of the trip. Because it was an island, you could stop anywhere and just run out onto the beach. And what beaches! Virgin, golden and absolutely picturesque. I think i'm going to visit the place once a year, i'm so in love with it. Diu also happens to be the only place in Gujarat where alcohol is legal (and it's dirt cheap), so it isn't unreal to say that the place is a cleaner, non-commercial Goa. Three days at the place just didn't seem enough.

It was with a heavy heart that we left for Baroda, but once there, we couldn't stop admiring the city. Chiefly historical, the place is a mix of the old world and the new. That was another place where we went mad shopping: heavy, pretty costume jewellery for dirt cheap, beautiful sarees and lovely slippers. Having spent close to two days there roaming the city and indulging our wallets, we left for Ahmedabad.

At Ahmedabad, we visited the night market at Law Garden. Resplendent, colourful and so alive, i wanted to live there. There was everything - pillow covers to blouses, purses to murals and more, all soaked in the style of Gujarati craftsmanship. Even more exciting, we went for a farmhouse party, complete with a dance floor, DJ, booze, food and party clothes, in Ahmedabad. A surprise for a city that's so Gandhi in everything it does, but a really enjoyable experience that saw us there till the end of the party (yeah, staying till the party ends is in our blood).

New Year's Eve was a quiet one, spent at NID. New crowd, new sentiments, new experience. I liked.

I was back in Bangalore on the 1st of January, battling the demons i had left behind. But it felt good coming back. Guess it's true what they say, no matter where you go and what you do, there's no place like home.