Rajasthan - Into the Great Thar Desert
Trip Start
Oct 09, 2008
1
10
Trip End
Jan 16, 2009
Jaisalmer,
Rajasthan,
India
Saturday, January 3, 2009
We now enter Rajasthan, a conglomerate of formerly independent so-called Rajput fifedoms ruled over for generations by local kings, the Maharajas. Over the centuries they opposed or were allied with the respective rulers of India, be it the mighty Muslim Mughals or the British, but always maintained their independence. The Rajput were a fearless Hindu warrior people who were renowned for their prowess in battle. Rajputs never surrendered, but, when facing certain defeat rode out into the hoards of the approaching armies to take as many of the foe to their death with them as possible whilst the women sought collective ritual suicide by throwing themselves into a fire or off the high castle walls into the abyss, rather than be taken prisoner. These principalities united at Independence, with the region taking on the name Rajasthan (Land of the Kings) and opted to be incorporated into India rather than neighbouring Pakistan. Although the Maharajas lost all worldly power they remained in residence and showed great entrepreneurial skill by opening their majestic forts to the public and converting their palaces into luxury hotels, thus earning them billions.
Rajasthan is a place of contrasts: harsh barren desert vs most colourful attire and people bedecked in gold and silver, scorching daytime heat vs freezing nighttime temperatures, the clear blue of the sky vs the yellow ground, the green scrubs and piles of drying red chillies. These contrasts insurged my uncle, an artist, with oodles of inspiration on his visit to this land of magic.
Bikaner - oft overlooked fort and palace and infamous rat temple
Our first stop after yet another comfortable overnight train ride was the city of Bikaner at the fringe of the great Thar desert. The Maharaja put a lot of effort into the conservation of his fort and palace which is quite a bit off the regular tourist path. This is no great surprise given the amount of palaces and forts in Rajasthan.
We also took a rickety ride to the nearby rat temple, inhabited by an Indiana Jones-esque army of scurrying holy rats. The excitement is somewhat heightened by the fact that, as in all temples, you walk barefoot. It is deemedgood luck to see a white rat (we saw 2) and to get your toes nibbled at (did happen a few times). You also want to be careful not to step on the rats which can prove a bit tricky. The entrance to the temple is surprisingly beautifully decorated with stunning marble carvings. We needed all our newly attained good luck to survive the haphazard driving of yet another Insh'Allah bus driver who put our lives on the line on the way back
Our Hotel, the Harasar Haveli, is well recommended for all budgets.
Jaisalmer - the Golden City
When we stepped off our bus after a long ride through the desert it was under a dark, overcast sky, an untypical sight for these dry lands. It had rained for 2 days and, to our surprise, the farmers were very unhappy about this unseasonable rain in winter when it would not benefit their crop, some hardy vegetables and millet. Jaisalmer calls itself the Golden City after the irridescant gleam of the reflected unrelenting desert sun on the city's light sandstone. On our arrival it was certainly not aglow, yet as the clouds had passed the next day the city took on its namesake hue.
Jaisalmer is guarded by a majestic fort perched on the obligatory rock high above the city. This fort has a serious sewage problem. Due to the overuse of it's drainage capacity by tourist masses there has been considerable leakage leading to softening of the bedrock resulting in the collapse of some stretches of the fort's walls. As a result Jaisalmer is on a list of highly endangered global monuments. And ethical travel forbids sleeping or eating in the fort until this problem is solved. There isn't any evident sewage washing through the alleyways and the fort is actually kept commendably clean. Yet the surrounding old city does reek and is the most cow-pat infested city we've come across so far, with almost every step a potential splat trap.
Together with Karoline from Sweden we visited the city palace in the fort, the beautifully carved Jain temples and a few of the intricately ornamented old wealthy merchant houses, so-called Havelis.
We cannot recommend our hotel, but enjoyed hanging out in the Dylan Internet Cafe with the multilingual Om who's also a bit of a world music connaisseur.
Christmas was coming up and we were getting increasingly sad that we wouldn't be at home celebrating with our families on one hand and on the other hand we couldn't really get into the right seasonal spirit, maybe because of our busy travel schedule, the fact that there were very few Christians in this part of the world and certainly no Christmas-y Santa Claus-y commercial drive to remind us of the upcoming holidays (which are interestingly a public holiday throughout India and, as we should soon experience, result in a great Indian wave of holiday makers between Christmas and New Year). So we decided to get as close to the original Christmas story as possible by taking a camel safari and stayin overnight in the desert. This was organised by the kind-hearted Badal in the village of Khuri, well away from the touristic masses of Jaisalmer. Gentle, soft-spoken Badal is that rare breed of an Indian philanthropist, saying himself, though, that he loves animals more than humans as they are honest and grateful. Witnessing the love with which he treats his goats is truly soul-warming.
For our overnight trip to the desert we had two forgiving camels and two lovely camel drivers, Laxman, an English speaking school teacher, and Kesiriya, a true tribesman. The Great Thar desert is mainly sand and low hardy scrubs with acacias and occasional other lone-standing trees dotting the landscape. Then there are freqent stretches of open waves of sanddunes, sculpted into meandering rivets by the force of the of the wind. We bumped along through the Great Thar desert for 2 hours before making camp on some sand dunes.
I doubt I'll continue this or any other entry before our return home, as with power cuts and slow connections it's impossible to keep this blog flowing...today another 45 hours wasted on failed picture uploads and 3 repeat attempts at writing the blog, this kills any hint at inspiration says the disgrundtled author.
Have a great New Year, I'll let you know when there's more to follow.
