Gujarat- Its Smelly, Its Dusty , Its Poor. Its India.
Luckily, I had the opportunity to make road journeys across this vibrant state twice in the last one year to see for myself and rejoice. Truth be told, at first I did feel that same tug –a mixture of inferiority and expectancy – you feel when you fly to any Western country from India.
But away from the steel and glass, in an old part of Ahmedabad, where I went walking the next day, I got the same chocking feeling you get in any Indian city where filth and noise overwhelms you and sweaty smelly men buffet you about in the milling crowds.
The Lions of Gir, Gujarat.
If it was not for the lions’ overall good it would be touching to see the locals stand up for their felines.
But the pride for Gir’s lions extends well beyond Gujarat’s borders. The Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica) are the pride not only of India but Asia. These lions once roamed all across the Indian sub-continent and the Mediterranean in the West. They were then known as the Persian Lions. It was them and not their African cousins that fought the gory gladiatorial fights in decadent Rome.