Travel tales from the Land of Kings- Rajasthan

 I'll be honest with you guys-- the sole reason I agreed to the Rajasthan trip of November 2019 was to spend a night under the stars in the Thar Desert. It was extremely uncharacteristic of me not to be involved in the planning process of our trip. Normally, I would research the heck of it, but this time I simply had no inclination.

As a result, the hubster was the one who did all the research, booked all the hotels, planned out our rough itinerary for our Rajasthan trip. The only bit I planned was a desert safari and one night under the stars. And since Jaisalmer had to be visited last, the best bit of the trip had to be put off till the very end.

Our journey towards Jaisalmer started from Jodhpur and we were using our most preferred way of travelling- by road. Our cab driver picked us up from our hotel in Jodhpur at around 8 am. We had had breakfast and hoped to reach Jaisalmer around 3 pm. We stopped for lunch at Pokhran (yes, the same Pokhran where the nuclear tests were carried out), then proceeded towards Jaisalmer.

Rajasthan is like Goa in the number of foreign tourists it attracts. This fact was reiterated during our lunch pit stop.

We were the only ones having lunch at the restaurant for like ten minutes and I had just remarked to my husband how we had the nice big restaurant to ourselves when a bus full of tourists flocked in- and they were all Spanish! So in a restaurant in a remote part of India, there were two of us from India and around 25 or 30 people from Spain! This is a common feature in Rajasthan, but more so it seemed as we headed towards Jaisalmer.

The road from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer is in top-notch condition. Absolute lack of traffic drives home (no pun intended) the vastness of Rajasthan. Desert landscapes were becoming apparent as we spotted a few camels on the sand dunes along the road. Trees were disappearing as we neared Jaisalmer and shrubs were dotting the sandy landscape. Major highlight of the trip was when we saw a wild herd of nilgai resting under the shade of larger shrubs!

We reached the town of Jaisalmer on time. It is a dry and dusty town, and the drive to reach Jaisalmer only underlined the fact that we were travelling to one of the extreme ends of our vast country.Upon reaching Jaisalmer, we were supposed to report our tour agents' office. They would then take us on the desert camel safari to our camp site for the night. 

We entered the travel agents' office and saw a bunch of foreign tourists already occupying the benches that were available! We had booked our safari through Real Desert Man Safari after reading wonderful reviews on Tripadvisor and Google. 

There were a bunch of rooms above the office with basic facilities, and we were given free use of the rooms by the tour agents as we had booked the desert trip through them. We quickly freshened up and when we got back to the office, we were told that half the people who would be travelling with us had already gone ahead. We would be joining two other foreign tourists and follow the ones who had gone ahead. 

The first part of the trip would be in an SUV and the later part on a camel! There were five of us in the vehicle including the driver-- my husband and I, and another couple. The girl was from Switzerland and the guy from Bulgaria, but was now living in Switzerland. We said our hellos and got talking. The Bulgarian guy was especially friendly and freely discussed the state of his country and how corrupt the system was and how the money sent by EU was being misused. He was pleasantly surprised to see that the road leading to one of the remotest part of India was in great shape.

"You should see the roads in Bulgaria," he said. "EU keeps sending money and it is all misused."

He also told us that as he now lived in Switzerland, he had narrowly avoided being drafted for his mandatory army service. It was our first time interacting from someone from Europe for any length of time, and they were as curious about us as we were about them.

After a while, he asked us - "Is cow really considered holy here? Like people really don't eat beef?"

"Well, we don't eat beef, but a lot of our friends do. There is some stigma attached to it still," My husband answered.

"Why is it that way?" he asked with some confusion. I guess being told that your staple diet is considered holy was really looking your food from a different perspective!

I launched into a soliloquy of how a cow took care of the needs of the whole family in rural India where majority of the country resided.

"A cow alive is more valuable to the farmer than a cow dead. He gets milk, curd, ghee. The surplus is sold and provides an additional source of income. I guess it was labelled holy so people would respect and learn to value it."

"It also depends on the climate I guess." The husband chimed in. "We live in a warm tropical country where fresh vegetables and pulses are available year round. But you guys live in cold countries where availability of fresh produce is limited in the colder months. Plus the red meat helps beat the bitter winter cold."

Our talk then shifted to politics and how democracy was important and the types of democracy. The girl from Switzerland then told us how every single issue was put to vote in Switzerland and how every single citizen had to vote.

"I had to vote on whether or not the farmers would be allowed to chop the horns off their cows! I do not know anything it! How am I supposed to vote?" she said laughing.

We soon reached our first destination- the abandoned village of Kuldhara. There is an interesting legend as to why the village was abandoned overnight, that goes something like this--

The town was inhabited by Paliwal brahmins, who were rich traders. One day, Salim Singh who was the state minister of Jaisalmer, spotted a beautiful girl in the village and demanded that she be given to him in marriage. The family and the village as a whole did not want to hand over their daughter to a Muslim. Fighting against the state's might was impossible. So rather than cower, they vacated the village overnight!

 

We drove for a little distance when our driver informed us that Sam and I would have to shift over to the vehicle that had gone ahead. The Swiss couple had booked the luxury desert accommodation, so they would not be accompanying us further. We on the other hand would be sleeping under the stars! Hence we joined our fellow adventurers.

Vehicle no 2 was a 4 by 4 with four occupants already sitting in the back and one girl was sitting in the front seat. With us getting in, it became super congested.

"Tight fit, eh?" Said the girl sitting next to me. She had a British accent.

Here too, other than the driver, us two, and another guy, the remaining occupants were foreigners. We made our introductions. The Indian-looking guy was actually born and brought-up in UK, but his family was from Punjab, and was married to the British girl sitting next to me. There was a hippy-like Spanish couple. The girl in the front was from Germany, who was doing a solo trip across India.

Thankfully, the trip was really short and we reached the place from where we would be riding the camels. There were seven of us, but the tour operators had arranged for eight camels. Upon inquiring, they told us the extra camel would serve the purpose of a Stepney, or a spare tyre! Camels it seems can be extremely stubborn and sometimes, they refuse to ride!

On paper, a camel ride sounds like a bloody good adventure, right? Go on a camel ride, into to the sunset, camp down for the night like the nomadic tribes... all cozy and romantic... but nobody bloody tells you how awful camel rides can be!

After an hour and a half on the f@#$$%g camel's back, the nether regions were sore like hell! The thought of getting on the camel again the next day made us very afraid! 

The only saving grace was the desert fauna during the camel safari! We saw black bucks in the wild, nilgai, and even the unassuming little dung beetle! 

 

When we reached our campsite, it was almost sunset. We were joined by an older Canadian couple, and a US-desi couple. The Canadians and the US-desis had travelled luxuriously in a Thar (4 by 4 vehicle), to travel to the Thar desert. We vowed to use this means of transportation on our way back. The Spanish dude was doing handstands in the sand and making his girlfriend take photos of him in the sand.

We each went away on our own to explore the area around the campsite. As the sun was setting, the hubster and I sat down in the sand and watched the awesome sight. After we reached back from our explorations, we were served with piping hot tea and pakoras! Somehow, food tastes extra tasty in beautiful surroundings. 

Soon, it would be dark, and as luck would have it, there was a meteor shower happening too! It was going to be one major tick off my bucket list!

Charpoys with mattresses and thick blankets had been set up at the campsite and we promptly claimed ours. It would be night soon and I actually felt my heart race. A few celestial objects were already becoming visible in the night sky.

 

As we waited, we socialized a bit with our fellow campers. The British couple related funny stories from their wedding. The white British girl's mother supposedly had a minor heart attack when she was told about the Punjabi custom of 'milni' (which was new for us too!). It seems the bride's parents are hugged and actually lifted up by their counterparts in the groom's family! The number of people in an Indian wedding was another cardiac-arrest inducing point for the bride's family.

The German girl was studying to be veterinary nurse and wanted to come back to India and volunteer at NGOs that provided shelter to the cows. The US-desi couple had legit planned this trip as an escape from being parents!!!

Soon, it was dark and a camp fire was lit. We were served dal, rice and roti cooked fresh on a chullah, which we ate around the camp fire. Everything was extra crunchy thanks to the strong gusts of wind that were blowing the sand right into our food😜.

The staff then began singing folk songs around the campfire. They even managed a Spanish song to entertain the Spanish couple! The Brit couple then requested for an English song and the manager, who was a typical Rajasthani man of around 50 or so, began singing 'Country Roads'! I was very impressed!

After a while, the Spanish guy said, "Look up guys, Milky Way is visible!"

And sure indeed, all we had to do was simply look up to see the beautiful, beautiful Milky Way, glittering away in the sky! This was the easiest, most beautiful sighting of the Milky Way I had ever experienced! The best bit was, we would actually be sleeping under it!

The night began to get chilly and I got under the sheets, simply gazing at the beauty of the night sky, where I spotted different constellations and the Andromeda galaxy! The hubster borrowed a tripod from the Brit guy and managed to get pretty awesome clicks of the night sky and the Milky Way, just by using his phone!

In the night, I woke up a couple of times, and simply soaked in the lovely sight. We spotted quite a few meteors too!

The next morning, we woke up with the first rays of the sun. There was no choice really. We HAD to wake up. The desert gets too bright all of a sudden, just as it gets dark suddenly. We were served with a breakfast of fresh fruits and some kind of porridge. After breakfast, it was time to head back with lovely memories, but NOT on a camel this time!