THE BOOK

This book is not about the earthquake that wrecked the region of Kutch in 2001. Nor is it an activist’s investigation into what happened after the disaster. Kutchi history is fraught with unimaginable disasters…earthquakes, droughts, famines, invasions by rats, locusts, giant black ants, floods, the plague, invasions by warlords and oppression under successive rulers. The recent earthquake was just another occurrence of disaster that the people have had to bear with.

Instead, this is the story of people, living in a region that is perpetually in a state of flux and change, with patience, inventiveness, inclusiveness and a courageous openness to life. It is the story of traditional crafts persons, musicians, farmers, shepherds, traders…and all those we see as population counts but never get to know as human beings. This is their story.

The writer Randhir Khare and the photographer Susan Bullough began their travels through Kutch long before the earthquake happened, not with a view to produce an idyllic coffee-table book but to instead tell the story of how Kutchis have lived through times of change…their memories, their disasters, their triumphs…