It is early morning, the sun has just risen and I am bumping along an empty stretch of road in the middle of the Kutch. Clumps of weed and grass stretch into the horizon and shallow catchments of water appear every now and then on either side of the road. I am in the Banni grassland of Kutch. Formed thousands of years ago from the sediments of rivers, the 3,000 sq km grassland is a blessing for the cattle herders who move with their animals and meagre belongings in perpetual search of greener pastures. While droughts, the proliferation of the African mad weed and the destruction of the native plants are slowly increasing the salinity of the land, the Banni is holding on, for now.