New Delhi, Jan. 17 -- For a fleeting moment, the sky turns deep grey. The last wisps of peachy twilight disappear. Anticipation hangs in the air, a bit like when the curtain is about to rise before a show. Tentatively at first, and then as if yanked by an unseen string, a pearly moon rises from beyond the horizon. As it ascends, higher and higher, it drenches the flat unending landscape in a ghostly glow. Moonrise on a full moon night at the salt flats of the Greater Rann of Kutch near Bhuj in Gujarat is a breathtakingly surreal sight.

It's also a bit scary. At over 7,500 sq. km, the salt flats are among the biggest in the world, and walking on the crusted salt layer takes a bit of getting used to. Where the salt isn't thick, the feet si...