I don’t know how to start penning my thoughts… I am just clueless as to how should I capture the deserted beauty in words. Worse it may be for me but I am gaining difficulty in developing a written photograph of the recently attended traditional Rajasthani Bash.

Well, I don’t know about you all but for me describing the ruins, the chaos, the compressed ambience, and tapered streets all in a go can sound like a mess, until I laid my eyes upon the deserted vastness of the deserts and the city that stands like a guarding angle to this parched sandy land – Jaisalmer.

From the beginning the vastness of the fierce sea and the smoothness of the snow, covering the land, has always evoked some kind of energy in me. The water filled sandy sea shores are always kind of romantic and fun filled. And the same goes with the white caped land. But what’s with the water devoid sandy land??? It never bothered to excite my thoughts. It s not that my aversions to desert was kind of hate thing or no- not – all type feeling, but then you know there are places you are not in love with neither you hate them… it was fine…. but then it was kind of ‘run of the mill’, you know okay kinds. It’s confusing, but I hope you will understand.

While, the plan to attend the Desert Festival of Jaisalmer held each year in January (this year it was on 28th to 30th Jan 2010) was not mine, but I had given my nodding, somehow. Doing my homework on Jaisalmer and its fest was a cakewalk. All described it as the golden city coz it’s made of yellow sandstones, “Jaisalmer” means “the Hill Fort of Jaisal” and is named after its founder, Rao Jaisal[1]. Being a major tourist spot in Rajasthan as the city fort is built on a hill named Trikuta. Then it’s surrounded by number of Jain temples and many Havelies (big homes of the financial affluent families). Then the Jaisalmer Fort is a must to watch as there are more than 5000 families still living inside the fort, that buzz with the normal humdrum of life. That’s kind of exciting.

I suppose India and its culture is synonymous to Rajasthan and if being more specific then to the Deserts. And then that is how the government of Rajasthan tapped this idea and got many events organized locally to mark itself on the World map.

There is another Desert Festival that is also organized in Bikaner another city of Rajasthan, but what makes the Desert fest of Jaisalmer unique, was a quest for me.

Going to Jaisalmer is no way bothersome. Railways are the best things, and if your pocket allows you, you can also take ‘Palace on Wheels’- a palatial train that is really resplendent.

‘All that glitters is not gold.’ And I hoped it should have been. When we reached the city it just was awesome. I was instantly in love with its golden attitude till death. No doubt it was quiet warm during the month of January, but that was a relief to us somehow. Stealing us away from the bad cold that was in rest of the world.
Walking to the city proved Jaisalmer to be an offbeat city. The lanes are so narrow that you have to walk in a queue, but then we only felt like that. The locals went zooming on their bikes; the cows coolly pass by you, the dogs carelessly drowsing, but that is the essence of the city. It’s just not like the other Indian cities at all, quiet different because nowhere can you see a fort with families still living in it. Common roofs, helter-skelter steps leading to small terraces, beautiful architecture, stunning carving on the walls, windows, its actually uncommonly luxurious and yes inviting, certainly to me.

Evenings are really cool; all the credit goes to the sandy hills, as the desert and the Jaisalmer is a part of the Thar Desert. Evenings were the most sacred moment for me as refreshing they were, they brought the best on the nature’s canvas. Nature always had a multicolored facet for me, but then never figured out that it can be mono-coloured, and still be captivating.

You know how will I describe this as- during the day city from the distance is like the amber colored light baked brownie, which is always inviting, and as the sun kisses good-bye, the evening glazes the city just like you will glaze that light baked brownie with honey. It sounds enticingly yummy!!!
As already read about the Havelies we decided to visit them the next day, as this day in its self was quiet gratifying. The Gadsisar Lake and the Sam Sand Dunes are the major tourist attractions of Jaisalmer.

The next day was the 28th of Jan, the commencement of The Desert Festival. The Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation creates a Tourist Village, which has nice tents and huts, and good clean bathrooms. We got a travel agent to work all the arrangement for us, and he delivered what he promised. The event is like a big fair, like a platter, which has various sports, contests, Rajasthani food, and its dazzling handicrafts all in one place.

It’s a good way to keep us handsomely occupied. Since this fair was a 3-day affair we decided to tour the havelis after the lunch, because we wanted to attend the desert fest which starts from a lake spot called Gadisar, a manmade reservoir, constructed by Raja Gadsi Singh, in the later years Maharaja Garisisar Singh rebuilt and revamped the lake.

Walk able distance from anywhere in the city, it’s located towards the south of Jaisalmer city and the entrance to it is through a superb and artistically carved yellow sandstone archway, known as the Tilon-Ki-Pol.

This lake in winters is a paradise for the rare migratory birds too. So we reached here after our breakfast. The commencement of the fest is with a glossy procession. The time to assemble at this lake was 9- 10 a.m., which we did, but then the whole thing kind of started quiet late with some bandwagons, dancers, bagpiper etc. It looked like the whole city was going gaga over the show. This was supposed to be the first meet of the fest and then after 1p.m the local Rajasthani cuisine is to be served, like dal, bait, churma, gatte ki sabzi. A good lunch. They charged us around rs.100 for that which is quiet okay. Meanwhile the procession has already left from the lake site and was supposed to go through the entire city. Well we were not a part of it. As per our plan we went to check out the havelis, which are called after the name of the past owners like Patwon-Ki-Haveli, Salim Singh Ki-Haveli, Nathmal Ji-Ki-Haveli. Well to me the architecture and the carving was almost the twin of other buildings. It was nice though. But what amazed me were other things you hardly find on the charts. Our guide was a good fellow (thanks to our stars) who took us to a village, which was deserted by its residents overnight due to atrocities of local Dewan (Officer Incharge). They say cursed had befallen that village and now nobody can live there forever. Another cool thing was the Shiva Temple, which is about 30-40 km on same way as sand dunes. Once on full moon night there is an old Cobra snake called Nag Dev (Snake God), which comes out of the temple wall to drink milk. I don’t know how true it is, but the locals claim that they are a witness to it.
The sun was fierce around that time. We all we tired of walking all that marathon distance, and I wanted to enjoy the splashy richness of the place, by sitting somewhere, so the gang decided to get back to our own tents, where we reached late evening.

The other two days were no walk and all play… ☺ we were taking the rest of the days easy as all of us decided to unwind our selves in the fest. It s a good idea to just relax and loosen up in the festivities going on. Just roam around hither and thither, without rushing to check out places. Check out the people here, their lifestyles, their clothes, their excitement when a foreign tourist take their snap, then their handsomely lengthy moustaches, (a long and upward moustache says of bravery and honour and a drooping one means surrender and shame), their colorful turbans, which add a zest of bright colors, in the otherwise so parched and barren landscape.

The high fashion pageant here is the Maru-Shri (Mr. Desert) competition and the turban-tying contest. A real crowd puller, it’s a great fun to watch. In the turban-tying competition and tug of war, Indians competes with Foreigners.

Another competition, they named it as Moustache Moustache’ where the prize is given to the man with the longest moustache.

The main thing, which I just did not mention, is the Camel… he is an ugly looking, long necked, huge, deliberately lazy looking animal. I don’t want to be mean or anything, but then this is how it looks, really, I know its not his fault either. But on a serious note he has been faithful to the locals here, since ages and that’s a good enough point for me to ignore all the under-dexterity that he has. These camels participate in various events like the Camel race and Camel polo (Game of Polo is part of almost all the Rajasthani events as it’s the official royal sport here). What I like the most is the camel ride. Its not that I never had a chance to ride a camel, I did, but each time the excitement is same as ever. The completely ignorant expression that these camels give you, while you are taking a ride is so funny, and you become looking funny when you just try not to fall when these camels rise and sit.

The Kalbelia dance was another great thing. It is a sect in India who wears all black clothes and big chunky jewelry, but there dance performances are really phenomenal. The folk artistes performing on the sand dunes take the enhancement to its crescendo.

We were, just strolling, sightseeing, doing camel rides, and checking out the typical puppets, and their shows, the dances and the song and good food.

It was fun to be there. The best of it was the unconventional layout of the city and the golden beauty of the desert. It felt surreal, the dryness was in the air, the sand dunes were playing with the wind, and all together it allured us fully, and yes I was entrapped in that deserted beauty, that may be not for anything else, but just to gape at the desert can be my reason to return here.

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