Braving leopard warnings and bumpy rural roads, the writer visits a shrine from another continent and another time Ten kilometres out of Bharuch in southern Gujarat, the air changes colour from grey to blue and the light becomes crisper. My taxi crosses a bridge over a river with two crocodiles sunning themselves on the muddy bank. They look huge even from a distance, like prehistoric dinosaurs. Now that city fumes aren’t clogging my nostrils and eyes, I savour the distinct feeling I often get in India and love—a feeling of travelling back in time, of discovery and bewilderment. In Jhagadia town, 25km from Bharuch, I ask about sights in the area. One man tells me of an old and well-known dargah located atop a hillock about 6-7km away. He warns me that there are plenty of leopards in the sugar-cane fields that surround it. Isn’t that dangerous, I ask him.

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