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Published: March 9th 2012
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Colourful clothes
Even for grocery shopping We left the land of the Taj Mahal and headed out through the rural areas to the state of Rajasthan. Here you see women working the fields in the most brilliant colours that I have ever seen—yellows, oranges, reds and blues. Part of this light fabric covers their faces. We were told that hand embroidery is often used to make this material even more beautiful. The men wear colourful turbans—the colour depicts their village and caste. In each village the people are related and are, of course, of the same caste. When the women are old enough, they marry “out” and each of the mothers that you see in each village has married “in.” We visited one of these villages.
Getting there was half the fun. Our 35-passenger bus turned down roads that got increasingly narrow, through villages and farms. The driver had to drive around herds of goats the spilled out onto the road. At times it didn’t look like there was enough room for the bus, even without the children, water buffalo and carts that lined the road. We finally came to the edge of a field and piled into jeeps that drove us through a
At the retreat
Taking a break at my thatched hut before getting into my camel riding clothes bumpy field with mustard and wheat growing on either side of the path. Our resort appeared. It was like an oasis. We were greeted with a damp cloth to wipe off the dust, a cold drink, and a lei made from orange marigolds. We checked into our thatched huts and after lunch we mounted camels and rode to a village of a Meena Tribe. A word about camels in this area—even though they are nasty stubborn creatures, they are important for transportation and pulling carts—I haven’t seen many horses. The number of camels signifies the degree of wealth of the owner.
After a half hour ride on the camel, we arrived at a village and were greeted by a crowd of children. The people use their time raising goats, camels and children. The expression, “it takes a village to raise a child” applies here. Everyone is responsible for the teaching and discipline of all of the village’s children. The next day we visited the village school. It operates 200 days per year. Their break is from mid-May to mid-July—the hottest time of the year. The start time coincides with the monsoon season, so it
Camel riding
Nasty creature may be rainy, but at least the sun isn’t beating down. The school day runs from 10:30 to 4:30 in the winter and 7:30 to 10:30 in the winter. They study Hindi, English, math and general science. The twenty-two students range from age five to age ten, although younger kids tag along and sit in. After age ten they go to a larger school farther away. Our guide left a supply of pencils and told us later that Road Scholar contributes to the upkeep of the school in exchange for allowing these visits. He explained that tour companies often include a visit to a school as part of the programme. He feels that it is a good thing for three reasons: the kids never know when they will have guests so they show up more often because the guide usually brings treats, second, the teachers will be there because of these surprise visits, third, they keep the school clean, just in case. Starting in the 1990’s the Indian government started putting money into the primary levels, but not so much for middle and upper grades. Another problem is with bathroom facilities—they don’t exist in many of these schools. It is
okay for younger kids like the ones that we saw—they just go wherever, but when girls reach puberty, they aren’t as comfortable with that situation and either hold it all day, or simply drop out.The illiteracy rate in India is 40% and under education is high among women.
We visited a step well. Built in 800 A.D., it is the deepest well in India. Water is a big issue in this part of India, so this was constructed by the royal family. It is like an inverted pyramid, so they could get every drop of water. The king was well aware of his duty to look after his people, so the covered area around the well was for the use of travellers who could get a place to stay, food and water.
It is springtime here and the trees are budding and the flowers are in full bloom. Temperature-wise, it is like a perfect summer day—cool in the morning, clear and sunny in the afternoon and balmy in the evenings.
Namaste!
Donna
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Marilyn Thistle
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Enjoying your blog
We are from Canada (Newfoundland) as well and just discovered your blog on line while trying to find some up to date info on travelling there. We are planning our trip for next winter and wanted you to know that we are enjoying your blog. Just one question. How do you feel safe there?? We are so looking forward to this trip and blogs such as your will help us a lot. Thanks Marilyn Thistle