Sand and more sand!

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We are moving north and west through the lands of the camel trains, the old spice routes across from the far east to Europe making for the Thar desert. Rajasthan is a dry state ( water , not drink!!! ) the far NW sometimes gets less than 5 inches of a rain a year some years none others the monsoons fill the lakes and rivers and replenishes the water tables. After the fun of Holi we looked forward to the changing landscape from growing wheat and farming the land, to the sand dunes, the nomadic travellers snake charmers and musicians and the mysteries of the desert . WE would be just over a 100 klms from the Pakistani border and we noticed increased army activity and the roar of many jets overhead.

We stayed in the tiny village of Rohet between jajawar and jaisalmer, a very rural community but again Paula surprised us with the standard of our accommodation. It turned out to be better than the last and we were staying in a heritage property owned by a very charming gentleman who just happened to be a Thaka, a sort of duke in our terms , there are the maharajahs, the rajahs and then the Thakas. His property was beautiful and had been in the family for over 400 years. He owns a number of the famous Marwari horses bred centuries ago by the Rajputs ( the tribe which came to Indian as traders and who fought many battles with the indigenous peoples and with the Mughuls who came later) These horses are fighting horses and have distinctive long curved necks and ears that turn inwards so that the rider when brandishing his sword would not slice them off. Like many of the princes and royalty in the region , in order to survive he has turned his home into a hotel and how grateful we are that he has!

A little about the food in Rajasthan, since I don’t think I mentioned much about it yet. It is typical north Indian , so rich, quite heavy and spicy sauces of mutton ( sometimes goat dressed up as mutton!) chicken and vegetables. There are familiar dishes tikkas, tandoori meat and vegetables ,not much fish as we are 100s of klms from the coast. We have eaten lots of chick peas in all its forms, lentils, spinnage aubergines and okra, all beautifully cooked . In some of the hotels we are tempted with the buffets , and though this is not generally my first choice , it does offer a huge variety of tasty dishes so one can have tasters of a number of different things. It has become necessary to go for the plain options now (sizzling and tikka) as my stomach is in overload!!! I am longing for a crisp salad but I have stayed away from these sorts of food and it seems to have paid off. There are only two of us who have not suffered from the dreaded Delhi belli. I do think that we Brits who are used to Indian food at home have faired rather better than my Ozzie and Canadian fellow travellers , they are finding it quite hard!

Indian sweeties are the most delicious things to pass the lips some made from corn flour stuffed with pistachios and almonds , enhanced with sugar syrup and cardamom and covered in more syrup, others, tender little balls of ground almonds maize flour and condensed milk, stuffed with spice delights and rolled in coconut - not a calorie to be seen!!! I had hoped to loose weight on this trip but may be not!!


We had a cookery demonstration at Roket, it was good stuff but the amount of gee they use in both savoury and sweet dishes is tremendous , you can just feel it lining the blood vessels and laying down fat layers on the thighs and stomach! I am sure it can be cut down.

A word about selling here in Rajasthan. The touts are everywhere,they surround the bus when it stops , they approach you as your walking , they bombard you with questions and stories. You only have to glance casually at a stall ,even wearing sunglasses they pounce! They must be attuned to the turn of the head!. If only they would leave you alone we might buy more. But it is their living and it is a hard life for them. The kids too are trained early , we had a set of youngsters outside the Taj who were on the coach steps still trying to sell as the bus took off

WE had interesting jeep excursions at Rohet and at the Osian Camel camp where we visited local villages, way out in the outback. In one, the houses were all painted blue two versions of why this is so , one that it denotes that high caste brahmin live in the house and the other that blue reflects the sunlight> What ever the reason, I knew my kitchen and garden colour scheme was in tune with far away India! In another, we were treated to an opium distilling and drinking experience. Yes you’ve guessed it I did partake. I was more concerned about slurping the brew out of the hand of our local guide ( as is the custom) than the effects that the opium might have on me. As it turned out I had no after effects - mores the pity. I also tried a small sample of the stuff in another village, it could get addictive!! WE were fortunate to visit village s where the Bishnoi tribe.live They believe in ecological living and try and support the countryside. They grow and manange all their own food and use and worshiip the khejri tree using its leaves for cleansing . Their name means 29 and they have 29 rules by which they live. Their homes and compound are spotlessly clean and the married women wear huge nose rings to denote their status.. They are friendly and unassuming people living closely in harmony with the environment. We have a lot to learn about how to treat the world in which we all live from these humble but very proud people!

We had a splendid time In Jaisalmer, dining on a rooftop restaurant watching the sun go down over the very famous golden fort so called because of the sandstone from which it is built. We learned that this magnificent fort is the only one in India which is a living fort housing as it does hundreds of families , businesses and hotels, guesthouses and restaurants. The down side is that thi 15th century structure is dying , it cant support the modern lifestyle, of today , water runs along open sewers and is seeping into the foundations rotting the dry stone walls that hold this magnificent building together. It has beautiful intricately carved stone houses and huge havelis, and the hustle and bustle of its narrow ally ways where cows people bikes and carts jostle for priority .There is a campaign supported by the Indian government , Lonely Planet and the World heritage organisation to try and save the fort before it deteriorates further, we did not stay inside as part of our tour company’s responsible travel- we shall have to see what happens.

There is so much to tell that I cant possibly share it all with you it would take huge amounts of time in a very busy schedule. But we did venture further into the desert to a village built in the 15 century and abandoned in the 1800’s .We watched the sun disappear into the horizon drinking rum and coke and gin and tonic and felt we were very lucky to be in such a beautiful spot. We rode our camels across the dunes , well at least all but me did. That is not quite true either as I did start out on a camel sharing the beast with the lovely Que, but I was not a happy bunny and decided that enough was enough and got off!!! Instead I walked along with the camel handlers and enjoyed the long sought after exercise in the afterglow of a hot hot day,

Our last destination as a group was Jodhpur, the blue city, home of polo eagles and judpurs! It is still in the desert area and is the second largest city in Rajasthan with a population of 1.5 million. It is busy dusty and noisy but has yet another fantastic fort which dominates the horizon ( meherangarh) The current maharaja of jodhpur is a well kown and loved figure about town , while he has no power he devotes much time to improving the lot of the local people and currently is part of the restoration of this ancient fort.

So our tour ends here , the group members are going off in different directions , the ossies down south, our Canadian companions back to Delhi and me to Mumbai. I cant believe its over , it has gone like a flash. But the memories linger, there is so much history and culture tied up in this subcontinent it is hard to take in. Move on we all must……………

Much love
xxxxxxx

PS again I will publish with just over half the pictures the best has yet to come!

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Photos

The motor bike shrine
the only one in India it marks the spot where a young man was killed and mysteriously his bike moved from one place to another

a daddy and his baby paying hommage
The shrine now is a place to go for a safe journey in life

the blue Brahmin village
where they store the grain

on the road to Pokaran
And further into the scrub desert