- a 'village safari' through the rural villages of Rajasthan near Jodhpur.
two days of relative inactivity represented a good opportunity to fully recharge, but we were keen to get back into visiting and experiencing the delights of Rajasthan. today's plans were an excellent way to do just that, taking our first organised tour in India around several villages outside Jodhpur. all are inhabited by the Bishnoi, a religious sect and some of the world's first tree huggers, quite literally in this case.
after rising at 6:30am and breakfasting upstairs on fruit, we assembled in reception with another couple from a different hotel, Brits Matt and Lisa. our hotel's second in command, Raj, was to be our driver and it proved to be a fun and interactive group. our 6 hour or so trip was to take in a lot of wildlife and several unobtrusive stops at small local villages to sample the true food, drink and crafts of the people living and working in these rural, sub-desert areas.
it was a little strange being in a car for only the second time in India. it seemed more boxed and remote from the world after the freedom of walking or catching a rickshaw. it wasn't long before we were out of Jodhpur and driving down patchwork tarmac roads. they cut through barren but still recognisably agricultural land, lined with crude, dried mud walls instead of fences of hedges. Raj proved to have an excellent, sharp eye, stopping to point out kingfishers regally dressed in red and blue, green parakeets, bee-eaters and sandpipers.
as well as all of this avian life, there are many wild gazelle-like antelope...
...and camels. that such an abundance of life could be flourishing in dry, parched fields was amazing. Raj stopped several times to enable us to get a better look, although our laughable attempts to 'stalk' nilgai only lasted as long as the cow-sized antelope let it.
our first village stop was at a pot-making area filled with excitable children. we watched one of the master craftsmen create a vessel in seconds on a large millstone-like wheel spinning seemingly perpetually on a crude pointed base.
naturally, we were all asked to have a go, with our efforts not too bad; 'a credible ashtray.' according to Raj, which would have been great if we weren't trying to make pots!
only men and boys make the pottery in the village - women have the far more exciting task of carrying water-filled completed work around on their heads, often for long distances. Philippa and Lisa tried balancing empty ones on their heads, supported only by a circular cloth a bit like a giant scrunchie.
they were both amazed that you could possibly support such receptacles full of heavy water on your spine, even assuming perfect balance, especially when you consider that the local women usually carry a tower of two or three on top of each other.one next stop was Khejadal, site of an infamous massacre in 1730 when 363 villagers were killed trying to prevent the felling of their sacred khejri trees for construction. they were all Bishnois, one of the first groups in India to recognise the dangers of deforestation and structure their lives around concepts Westerners would describe as conservation. at the site itself, 363 khejri trees now stand in remembrance in a quiet space full of peacocks and parakeets. there's a small temple to Vishnu at one end, but they were building a new, larger one just behind. the park-like area is a simple, peaceful and rather fitting monument to the villagers' sacrifice.
moving on again through the rapidly desertifying landscape, we came to a weaver's village. although the loom set out for demonstration lacked an operator - he was at a funeral - it was set up with a half-woven, coarse wool blanket, intricately constructed from several strands of warp and controlled via a sitting position in a footwell in a hole in the ground specifically for that purpose. village kids clustered around outside inquisitively, while one boy sat down and pretended to know what to do. Philippa did know and talked us through how it worked, to the obvious, impressed approval of the village matriarch standing behind her.
we followed this up with the other end of the scale in many ways, a modern, solar-powered place a further drive along sand and dirt roads across a landscape more reminiscent of a beach with tufts of grass than farmland. with several picture postcard huts, the family-run business had at that location served everyone from George Soros to Richard Gere and Prince Charles. their product was dhurries, cotton and wool rugs of extreme labour-intensiveness in a tapestry-like weave, made on a long loom.
the back was identical to the front, a work of art and dedication. we weren't in the market for a rug, but they were charging R1500-R2000 for two men's work of three weeks, more than reasonable.
at no great or hurried pace, we continued on to the illegal activity of the day, an opium tea ceremony. it's a traditional pastime that the government turns a blind eye to, even though they declared it unlawful many years ago. a fine, striking local man prepared the tea, which involved grinding the constituent parts pestle and mortar style before lots of pouring and re-pouring of the liquid using a wooden bowl through cloth filters on what looks like an ornate wooden scales.
after blessing the tea making kit, the tea is then rather unorthadoxically poured directly into your right hand, from whence it is drunk. we can report that it tastes of... twigs. we were then served some delicious chai (masala tea) and the ceremony man had some fun winding turbans and placing them on our heads, clearly demonstrating that they rarely suit Westerners.
the villager looks far better in Edd's hat than vice versa!
we unnecessarily drove a few yards around the back to have lunch, cooked over a small wood stove by a woman in a bright pink sari and bedecked with bangles, bracelets and an ornamental nose and ear-ring combination. her hands blurred as she whipped up millet chapatis. we sat on charpoi beds and ate a truly magnificent meal of the chapatis; a yellow potato, quite sweet; dal lentils; sugar cane, almost like fudge; and some form of vegetable from the aforementioned khejri tree, full of flavour and texture and with the appearance of small runner beans. the man of the household was unfailingly generous and it was a shame to leave his friendly company. of course, we did not speak with the woman, nor have the opportunity to do so.
our journey back to Jodhpur passed an extraordinary procession of at least a hundred local women walking along the sand highway from somewhere to somewhere else, each carrying a whole range of items on their heads. sparkling in jewellery and laden with bangles, their saris combined to form a river of colour, a spilled paintbox of pinks, purples and oranges in our path.
the 'safari' has been low key, relaxed and enjoyable, just what we had wanted. we had drinks at Yogi's with Matt and Lisa before the daily round of emailing and blogging. manager Bunty - yes, really - has asked us if we would like to be extras in an English film for the duration of the day after tomorrow - we've accepted, although Edd's not entirely sure about it! we've also managed to arrange somewhere to stay in Udaipur, our next major stop. by then it was dinner time and an early night (again) for an early start (again) and, finally - hopefully! - the Mehrangarh Fort tomorrow.
how close anyone can get to the 'real' Rajasthan without living in the rural communities for a while we don't know, but our expedition today was well constructed and sensitively handled. we can only hope that any further such trips are as well arranged.
much love
edd & philippa
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