27th March to 29th March 1985: JAISELMER

  Taken from Back to the East, India, Nepal, Kashmir  

The night train to Jaiselmer arrived at 7.30 AM. It was already quite hot but bearable. However by the time we had taken chai, all the taxis were gone, so we had to phone the manager at out Hotel Fort View and he sent a taxi to pick us up.

The hotel was superb, with a very friendly and helpful manager and, best of all, an incredible view of the beautiful town and fort. Although the rooms were basic, with twin beds and shower downstairs, it feels good here. He explained the best times to see the sites and told us all about our three day camel trek in the desert. He also confirmed our train tickets back to Delhi on 2nd April.

It’s 10.30 now and much hotter so we are just going to hang out in and near the hotel and take a stroll later. So far Jaiselmer looks like a dream or something from Arabian Nights. The fort was quite magnificent, built in 1156 by Rawal Jaisal on top the 260 feet Trikuta Hill. About a quarter of the population live within it. Also within was a seven storey palace.

Jaiselmer was once an important stopping place for rich merchants travelling from Karachi and then here by camel and on to Delhi and all over India until the port of Bombay opened up. The population now was 20,000. Jodhpur had 400,000.

There were many shops selling, amongst other things, silk paintings and dresses which I knew I could sell easily back home, so a visit to some was on the itinerary, but not that day. I did buy a long piece of bright yellow cotton to wrap round my head for when we did our safari. We also bought light clothing for the days, warmer for the evenings, water bottles and plenty of purification pills and my camera. When we left we would be travelling with a camel riding boy, a guide and a cook. They will provide our meals and comforts and we would sleep under the stars.

28^th March

Up and ready to go at 6AM, whilst it was still comparatively cool. My breakfast was cornflakes Indian style, toast and chai. There were lots of pigeons and other birds about.

Sitting on the camel was a lot more comfortable than I thought, on straw-filled cushions. The camels are strange, the way they tuck their hind legs under, which does not look at all comfortable. Then we climbed a short ladder and perched ourselves on the bags, one camel for me and one for Lesley. As they stand up we were jostled back and forth, as they have two knees on their front legs and go up one at a time. They moan and groan but off we go.

We saw some succulent bushes, some flowering cacti and lots of sand and stones.

 Our “camel boy” was named Salima, a jolly teenager.

We soon stopped at a place that, from a distance, looked like a palace, but close up we could see it was mausoleum, tombs of the family of a Maharaja.

Soon we stopped again at a water hole for lunch, chapati, vegetable subji, oranges and coffee in the shade of a tree, with those ultra-cheap tiny bidi cigarettes to smoke. Bidis are small hand-rolled tobacco in tendu or temburni leaf, an Indian plant. This place was called Barabagh.

Later as we continued into the desert, we came upon the ancient capital of Lodhruva, with a Jain Temple and a black-faced god with wings and large eyes, that had been rebuilt in the 1970’s

There was a lot of camel and cow shit in the desert.

Rajasthan Desert Song
by
Alun Buffry

Lesley and I went down to Rajasthan
Desert, with Salima, a camel riding man.
Through a morning trotting on,
Just the sound of Salima's songs.
Peahens, crows and tinkle bells,
Crowds of men at water wells,
Telling tales of who-knows-what
While we're wishing it not so hot.
Stop for lunch, a shady tree,
Eat some vegetable chapati,
Drinking some chai, hot and sweet
Try to avoid the deadly heat.
All around us golden sand,
Shrubs and cacti about this land.
"Be careful please, where you sit,
"Cos desert's full of camel shit."

At about 6.30, we stopped for the evening for dinner at another water hole. Suddenly a wind came up, with moisture in it so we thought it was going to rain. But it didn’t rain at all. We slept under a tree. I awoke during the night and wow, what a clear starry sky!

29^th March

Up, breakfast and ready to go at some unearthly hour but it was overcast and cooler until about 10.30. We passed several small villages but saw no activity. There were wild camels in the distance. Our camels seemed to fart a lot.

When it became hotter, we stopped at the Sam sand dunes at a water hole for lunch. Salima invited me to follow him for a “very good site”. I imagined a fantastic view over a valley with the walled city of Jaiselmer or somewhere equally exotic in the distance, as we winded in and out between the dunes. Suddenly, he stopped.

“Look,” he smiled and smirked.

As I looked around, all I could see was sand. Not even my own footprints. I realised quickly that I was at his mercy. If he ran off I would maybe not find my way back. All I would be able to do was shout and hope that the others came and rescued me. I didn’t even have my water bottle. I thought I would last long if he ran off.

Thankfully he didn’t and just took me back. We weren’t actually a long way from the others, maybe just the other side of a dune. The sand was very hot and rippled, and ran into my footprint as soon as I took another step. I should have spotted where the sun was, but so trusting I was.

We spent about 4 hours there before continuing for another hour before stopping for lime and soda in a small village; better than the warm, treated water we had in our bottles that was keeping us alive. The village had as mall shop that sold a few vegetables, Coca Cola and Fanta and cigarettes, what everyone had to have even right out here in the desert.

The guide gave me a small lump of opium which I ate. That helped me relax. Another surprise. Who would have thought, eating opium with a camel in the desert!

Another beautifully clear starry night at another water hole.