We have driven for about four hours since leaving Ahmedabad and now the highway meanders into a narrower bumpier road and the landscape is flat and stark, these being the edges of the salt deserts of Kutch. The soil has a parched white texture and the vegetation consists of the ubiquitous babul, shrub-like and spreading all the way to the far horizon. The babul, I am told, is not natural to this region. It was planted by some government officials to stop the spread of the desert. It has, ever since, been a losing battle to stop the spread of the babul. This sturdy plant has an ability to dry up the soil and has contributed to the precariously low water table of the region dropping even lower and beyond the reach of dug and tube wells. On the feeble plus side, the babul emits a gum that can be used as binding material, and its branches provide a ready supply of firewood. The gum comes in small quantities and huge amounts of time have to be spent collecting a few rupees worth of gum. For the poor inhabitants of the region this has ensured that survival depends on a life of perennial foraging-for water, firewood, and gum.

During the last half hour of our drive to the village of Jakotra, in Santalpur Taluk, Patan District, no cars cross our path.