Nuances of a trip - II (Jaisalmer)

Jaisalmer - Also called the Golden City of India because the yellow sand gives a yellowish-golden touch to the city & its surrounding area. It is situated on the border of India and Pakistan in West Rajasthan. Jaisalmer is almost entirely a sandy waste, forming a part of the great Indian desert. The general aspect of the area is that of an interminable sea of sandhills, of all shapes and sizes, some rising to a height of 150 ft. Those in the west are covered with log bushes, those in the east with tufts of long grass. Water is scarce, and generally brackish.

We landed on Jaisalmer Railway station at 12:45 p.m.(right on time, even through there were 40 scheduled stoppages). And immediately after getting down, I clicked a snap of people with their baggages(as I knew that since there were girls with us, we would be having just double that luggage at the time of return journey, and I had planned for a similar snap on our way back). Then with the help of local auto drivers, we reached a decent hotel(not Hotel Decent of Jab We Met :)), and it was good to know that the hotel provided a package tour for outing in Jaisalmer, which included 2 desert safaris(I was waiting for one such safari for a long time, and here we were getting double the fun), alongwith sight seeing and becoming part of a cultural event. And without even taking a slumber(poor me), we were on our way to the first camel safari(which was in a desert that was almost at the planes level). We went to a Jain temple on the way, where Isha and Deepali(the 2 eligible Jains) explained a few things about Jain temples, and their Gods, and we clicked some good pics there(as we were doing all the way - Isha posing as bandit queen, having Supriya as her deputy.. poor girls, they had just one scarf to cover both the faces. Me posing as James Bond with my gogs. Deepali too scared of the flashlights - bachpan mein uski mumma ne bola tha ki beta camera se bhoot nikalta hai.. light maarte hue.. tab se use photo sessions se bahut dar lagta hai :)). Jokes apart, I was just dying to reach the desert.

After close to an hour's journey via the cab arranged from hotel, we reached the sandy scalp of Jaisalmer, where Desert ships were waiting lazily to start their day's job. Six of us hired 3 of the ships - Hritik Roshan(who else for Isha/Ravesh), Michael Jackson(my/di's vessel) and .. oops I forgot the name of Rishi/Deepali's camel. Anyways, names were redundant, as there were at most 4 common names for around 50 camels. The thing was the safari. The first experience was little odd for most of us as the camel got up in a 3-stage process - First it raised its hind legs a little, then the front ones, and finally in a knee-jerking motion, it was up on all four, and soon became mobile.. and at a later stage, the camel puller, a little 8-9 yrs old who himself needed someone to pull him, pulled the camel since it was falling paces behind the others, and the next moment it was running like crazy, and I was barely holding the little grip provided,alongwith my breath, with the fear of falling down anytime, which luckily didn't happen. After 15 mins of this bumpy yet cheerful ride, we reached the desert having fair amount of sand dunes. And then it was GO CRAZY time - initiated by Isha, and followed by Rishi and Supriya. Isha said that she wants someone to shoot a video of her while she rolls down a dune. Rishi obliged, and in the process, himself got convinced that its a fun activity. And minutes later, 3 of the lunatics were coming down from a height, in a real topsy-turvy manner. And they were also being videographed, by none other than - yours truly. It was a real fun watching them roll down, hitting each other in an effort not to do so. That was the kodak moment of the day.

Next was our turn to have some innovative pics of the sunset, which we did gleefully, giving all the absurd poses possible, like lifting the sun, holding it between fingers, and so on and so forth. Then after having enough of sunset, we moved to the nearby camp - The Oasis - which was the venue for the cultural event. We were welcomed by vermilion marks on our foreheads, and then were offered a nice relaxing spot with a mattress on the ground, and a small but beautiful chowki in front to keep the snacks/accessories etc. There we got thoroughly entertained by folk singers and dancers. We were watching the dance - awe struck - as some of the stunts done by the dancers were hard to believe. Firstly the dancer put 7 pots on her head, and gradually danced. And then, if that was not enough, she did all the possible balancing(and sometimes dangerous) tricks, like standing on top of the brims of glasses, daggers, broken glass etc. And then, as a final act, she picked up a 100 Rupee note from a steel glass using her mouth(in the meantime, all the 7 pots were intact on her head), and this successful feat of hers brought everyone to their feet. And that was the time when the girls started shaking their legs with those dancers, and it was a lot of fun for everyone. I also joined the group, and after merely a min, everything was revolving for me, and I was on ground, as I tried to dance in a rotating fashion with one of the local dancers. But thankfully, I wasn't hurt, and learnt the very imp. lesson. Never try to match steps with professional dancers. Whatever is bread and butter for them, might be too hot to handle for others

Then after the dinner there, we were on our way back to hotel, as there was one more day to be spent in Jaisalmer(everyone was planning to spend Sat in Jodhpur, as Jaisalmer would be conquered in 2 only days). On the way, we heard some reality about dreams from Isha, and some songs from Deeps' cell, which I liked a lot(as her choice of songs was quite close to ones which I like). And after a long tiring day, we were back to our Hotel. After gossiping for some time, it was time to put the lights off. The hotel room, esp. the bed, was really comfy, and it didn't took us long before we were fast asleep. This brings me to the end of day 2.