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Travelogue
Jaisalmer - Rajasthan - India @ Content Writer
Tour Of Jaisalmer
Jaisalmer
- Of Camels and Sand Dunes - A Camel Safari
By
Anuradha Shankar,
Contributing
Traveller
A
Camel Safari
Sand and water have much in common.....One always associates the
sea with the seaside, that is, the beaches. When we had been to
Bordi, we were amazed to see only sand as far as eyes could see.
It was low tide then, and the water was far far away. Yet, one also
associates sand to deserts. For there also, there is sand as far
as eyes can see. Truly, Sand and the Sea have much in common. From
where one stands, one can see only the same view, stretching, maybe
to the end of the world.
As we stood on the sand dunes of Jaisalmer,
surrounded by sand on all sides, we felt really small... It was
so easy to get lost in the never-ending desert...if it wasn't for
the guide with us..It was scary, but so beautiful...nature at her
rawest... One admires the people who live there. It is probably
only because they have been born there, and have it in their blood
that they can survive there. It is so easy for an outsider to succumb
to the vagaries of nature in that land....unbearable heat in the
summer, and long, cold nights in the winter. It is the basic rule
of survival of the fittest, which rules the place and one can not
but help admire the people who have survived in such a place.
The
Jaisalmer Fort -- Views Of The Fort & City As Seen From Fort
It is such people who have made Jaisalmer what it is today. The
Kings who ruled this land were proud and brave, and they built a
beautiful fort, which, till today guards a city full of life, within
its walls. According to our guide, it is the only fort in India,
where people still live. In his words, it is "A Living
Fort". And what a beautiful
one! Like the other forts of Rajasthan, this one too is well maintained.
But, unlike the other forts, here, one can catch a glimpse of what
life was like, within the walls of a fort. Narrow streets take one
around the fort, within which, everyone knows everyone else. There
are people pursuing professions which their great grandfathers practiced,
and enjoying it ! Since the fort is a heritage site, there haven't
been many changes inside, and people live in the same houses their
ancestors lived in, of course with slight modifications. This lends
a genuine aura to the place, which makes it a hot tourist destination.
And that brings me to an interesting fact. Tourism brings
in the highest revenue here, and everyone wants to have a hand in
the pie. So, as our guide told us
"Children all over the world learn their mother tongue first,
and then the local language of the area. However, in Jaisalmer,
the first language a child learns is English, followed by French
and Spanish. Many children know Italian and German too. Hindi is
a secondary language for them. After all, how many tourists actually
speak Hindi? As far as our mother tongue is concerned, it is a dying
language. No one speaks it any more. One can earn in foreign currency
by speaking in the language of the tourist. Hindi brings in little,
but Marwadi, nothing at all!” A very logical reasoning, borne by
the truth of his words. I could see so many children conversing
in foreign languages, with an ease that comes only with regular
conversation, not learning. I myself have learnt French, and actually
considered myself to be good at speaking the language, but honestly,
I didn't have the guts to try out my language skills on them...
they were so much better at it !
Among the places
we visited was the Gadi Sagar Lake.
It was once the source of water supply to the city, for the lake
was built in such a way that there is water throughout the year.
A miracle by itself, to build a like in the middle of a desert,
and also have water in it. The lake is filled with catfish, which
are held to be sacred by the locals. No one would dare to try to
fish in the lake! On the contrary, people come and feed the fish
daily, as a sort of a vow! The fish have grown to enormous sizes,
and the sight of them leaping to catch the crumbs thrown by the
people is an impressive one.
The Gadi Sagar Lake and the Catfish
An interesting story goes along with the lake. This is the
place where the Gangaur festival takes place,
attended by the royalty. It seems that at one time, there was a
prostitute in the area, who was very rich. She wanted to build something
that she would be remembered for, after her death. And, being a
gutsy woman, she wanted to turn up her thumb in the royalty. So,
she got a huge arch built at the entrance of the lake, through which
the King would have to pass during the festival. The king, would,
in effect be bowing before her structure. Needless to say, the royalty
wasn't impressed, and plans were made to tear down the structure.
This is when the resourceful woman showed her mettle, by constructing
a small temple on the arch, overnight. No one in India will knowingly
destroy a temple, and the arch stands there to this day. Checkmated
by the prostitute, the King pretended to ignore the arch, and entered
the premises from one side. To this day, the practice continues,
with the kings not using the arch as an entrance.
The old Havelis are a major tourist attraction in Jaisalmer,
and rightly so. They are huge, and palatial, and belong to the erstwhile
landlords of the area. They seem to be next in the rung after the
royalty, and were as conscious of their comforts. The beautiful
carvings and the architecture of the houses are worth a closer look.
We visited Jaisalmer in June,
when it was hot, but not as hot it would have been in peak summer.
It was the off season, and there weren't many tourists around. What
I mean is that there weren't many foreigners around. The only tourists
were Indians like us, on their holidays just before schools reopened.
The guides told us that during the peak season, all the hotels would
be full, and tents put up all along the roads. Most people came
to stay in the tents. That was when the local performers would be
around, lending a genuine touch to the heritage sites. From one
and all, we heard about the festival season, when Jodhpur and Jaisalmer
could be seen at their best.
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I beg to differ. Of course, the
festivals and the festivities are what make India the unique
country that she is,
and that is what people come to see and be a part of,
from all over the world. Undoubtedly, that would be a great
experience. However, one must not forget that these are places
where all the population lived in a very small area, within
the fort for instance. Outside the fort were vast open spaces,
which have remained so, because of nature being what she is,
a bit difficult to manage. The feelings and thoughts that
permeate the atmosphere in such seclusion are never possible
when there is a crowd.
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Just
for that reason, I would like to go back there, again during off
season. I can not forget the wonderful feeling I had, of being on
top of the world, when I looked down from the fort, or the feeling
of oneness with nature, which I felt on the never-ending sand dunes,
or simply the pleasure of sliding and rolling down the sand dunes
with my son. It is a feeling that stays with me, and one that I
would encourage others also to experience.
The Jawahar Mahal Palace Hotel, where we stayed
About Contributing Traveller:
Anuradha Shankar
The author is a mother and housewife who loves to travel and write
about her experiences. To read more about her and her articles,
see her blog, A Wandering Mind at http://anushankarn.blogspot.com
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