...still got the sand in my shoes

.. wht do we do for the new year?
.. i wanna sit in the desert sand and have a drink
.. done

...this is how the decision was made, hardly 3 days before 1st jan 2006...

this was my first trip to rajasthan and was to cover jodhpur and jaisalmer... diamond merchant nandi and i enter the train from bandra and the journey begins...

to begin with.. someone called DM is a cotravellar, and she is gifted with ESP... nandi, who himself is a very intuitive person, finds someone who can look into his eyes for the first time and tell every thing about him in a speech lasting about 5 to 6 minutes... and i am forced to acknowledge that she is right...

well... the 18hrs didnt take as long as they usually do... and i step onto the land called Suryanagri (or Jodhpur/Suncity as is commonly known) ... at dawn on 31st dec 2005

first on agenda is reaching sam dunes at jaisalmer…
we (group of 4 now) travel by road.. SUV .. from Jodhpur to jaisalmer … roads always fascinate me… and more so in rajasthan when u can see vast stretches of land..unhindered.. reaching out to kiss the low lieing bright skies.. love life in slow motion… the jeep was traveling at 90+

on the way is a place called Manvar (pronounced as Maanvar – which means welcome) … amazing place.. done up like a rajasthani traditional haveli cum village area.. a place with just the right combination of intimacy and distance…
you know what... the essence of rajasthan is ‘the culture of respect’.. everybody gives it and everybody expects it back… and with this respect comes a certain amnt of distance.. something that a son might feel from his father …
well.. Maanvar lives upto rajsathan.. and we spend 3 hours celebrating the solitude with conversation and antiquity…

...and then we are on the road again… and this time stop at a rajsathani highway dhaba… I need not say more…the best meal I have had in the past year or so…

we reach jaisalmer and its almost 9 pm now… we had planned to go to Sam Dunes so that we can have a camp fire, drink along, and talk … sitting on the pure desert sand… and enjoy a few moments of life…
they have paid camp/tents over there…with camp fire and music and all that jazz.. this was the only let down of the entire trip

If you happen to go to Sam at night… during winters.. please carry couple of bundles of firewood … making a campfire of ur own among any of those dunes is the only way to enjoy it… paid tents are firstly not in the sand and secondly there's too much crowd.. with almost 20 tents in a small area…

We came back… tired .. exhausted… happy but .. I still wanted the sand…

I sleep....


Next day morning we go to the Lodrava Parshwanath temple .. a peaceful, serene place… with a 1000 year history and a baggage of myth and faith… a kalpavriksha that fulfills all wishes, a pair of “naag” that have been appearing for over 400yrs now … invasions by Muhammad Ghori and one more chap..forgetting the name… The architecure is amazing .. known for the rare stone carvings.. apart from the peace, architecture and myth my other treat on this visit was the 4 year old teen camel Kaalu… he gave me a cool ride in the nearby fort area…

by now we are hungry like wolves and finish 4 aalo paranthas each and a hot glass of ilaychi milk :)

And then comes the moment… we decide to travel to Sam again.. this time in broad daylight so that I can see the sand… feel it better… live it with all my senses …

We are on our way to Sam and the stones on the sides of the road slowly change into smaller stones.. and even smaller materials until I start seeing sand.. desert sand… thirsty yet beautiful… and we reach Sam… get down from the SUV... and I run onto it… I reach a high sand dune… all around me … I see it… ever changing in the wind… the dunes keep shifting shape and position right under your nose… every second… and the wind leaves beautiful wave marks … u make an impression with ur hand and u can see it fading out rt in front of you… its like... calm but always changing.. always fresh.. always new, pure, real, sand… i didnt wanna learn anything about life at this moment and i chose not to...

I spent around 15 – 20 min walking on the sand from dune to dune… and then we took a camel ride upto Thar… saw a small army camp there… we get down into a dune valley… relax and open our drinks….

THIS was the moment… ..............................................................


i feel it cud have been as good with a campfire at night… but the day time experience is not to be missed… when u can see as far as ur sight goes…. Either sky or desert…

On our way back we visited the Gadisar lake, Jaisalmer fort and well… Maanvar again… the place had caught our fancy…. Drinks poured and souls chatted…hearts felt glad…there was a live rajsthani folk dance performance and I got to do a “turn your world around” with two pretty lasses in ghaghra and whtever the traditional dress is… this consumed another 5hrs ..

and then we reach jodhpur … see the mehrangarh fort next day morning and leave back for Bombay…
the auto trip from borivili to andheri shakes me out of my dream trip and I say,… well back to Bombay.. with “aap ki kashish” blaring out loudly in my ears thru the huge rick speakers…

Time was less…
And time was more

theres still some sand in my shoes… there will always be…