Walking through the confined alleyway which seems to taper on to its end, the faceless old ruined buildings railing along the paths will lead you to Dargah, a shrine of Sufi Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty – tall and huge Dome which stands at the T – point of those narrow streets. The Dargah seems unchanged, since the burial of Sufi Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty in 1256 A.D.

Urs is a six day affair, make your way through narrowed jam packed streets during these days is a challenge.
The sixth day remains the most important because this was the day when the saint left his body to meet the Almighty. The Pir Zadas, Sufi hermits, saints, scholars and white crochet capped priests, all gather here rubbing shoulders with one another.

‘Shijra’ is read by a Khadim – a devotee who dedicated his life to serve the Saint. Six day long Sufis sing their deviational songs, sitting cross leg they clap, twist their fingers and all together generate wonderful music. Their awesome singing easily evoke spiritual trance, inspiring devotees to dance, spin and move with its rhythm. These prays which are straight from the heart twill never go unheard.
On the sixth day, before the concluding ritual ceremony – Qu’l ki Rasam, the devotees gathered at the main gateway of the Shrine and under loud thunder clapping sing praises to Allah. People of different faith are united in celebration of Urs – a celebration which rises our spirits, fosters tolerance and acceptance.

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These elephants are all caparisoned with the golden headgears, ridden by Brahmin Priests who are all charged up and carry whisks made of yak hair, peacock feather fans, radiant and colourful parasols making up the mood of all present there, and this is one of the occasion that makes up the largest gathering of people and the elephants.
And then with these elephants are standing there attendants in the center of both the rows, seriously holding the deity of each temple, just like you hold the banner of your school when going for a match. And the band of hundreds of drummers, and the cymbal crashers who beat the drums and crash the cymbals with such great velocity and electrifying speed, and the trumpet (Khuzal) all team up to create a music which may seems chaotic and blaring but eventually sets in an organized symphony but still deafening.
But this does not end here as the music waves to distinct tempo and the fastest rhythm prompt the elephants to standup and brandish there feather fans and hair whisks in coordinated manner and with this the music blasts, becoming loudest and dissonant. This is the peak for uninitiated visitors like us who feel that this high fever bash can’t go up any further, just at this point firework boom and the local crowd cheer loudly all of them in high spirit, snapping punches in the air, and while others advance forward with the procession following the drum beats. With fastest drum beats, the procession moves forwards before stopping to start with the whole new cycle again.

The 200 years old history goes like this- Sakthan Thampuran (1798) ruler of Cochin made a venue for the temples of his ruling area to celebrate their festival. Prior to this festival, another largest temple festival was held during summer in Thrissur, which was a day festival. Temples in and around Thrissur were regular participants, until they were denied access by the chief of one of the village there. This caused the main priest of Vadakkunnathan temple, started this festival in Thrissur.
Later Sakthan Thampuran the king unified 10 temples, and ordained them in two groups the eastern and western groups forming the Tiruvambadi and Paramekkavu groups and this not so old festival is one of the tumultuous festivals in India I have ever witnessed.
But this sure is one of the festivals of India, which may look awkward and unusual, still underlines the deep rooted sentiment for religion and their own gods, which now seems to be missing in our so-called modern world and that’s called the true spirit of India.

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This day, when Lord Ganesha was sculpted out from the sandalwood dough, is celebrated as Ganesha Chaturthi and is his birthday. The mood of this festival is bold and over enthusiastic as compared to the other rituals and festivities celebrated here in India. One thing that caught my attention was the days dedicated to this festival, i.e. the celebration continues for five, seven, or ten days, some even stretching it to twenty one days, but now this long celebration is slowly becoming compact, courtesy the fast pace lifestyle, but then the ten day celebration is decent enough and the most popular. According to the Hindu calendar this festival commences in the month of Bhaadrapada, starting on the fourth day of the waxing moon period. The date usually falls between 20 August and 15 September.
The entire ten day affair is carnival, a fun and frolic event for the people. The first day goes all busy with the installation of the Ganesha’s effigy in the homes. And these homes are all decked and brightened up and ooze out all the traditional grace possible, making the entire site look all jovial and jubilant, and with the new age people here who finely blend the traditions and modernity give a twist to such events by theme based decoration or focusing on some current affair. This is something so cool.
And then where there are space constraints like those living in compact flats in buildings – all come together creating a pandal (also can be called as a lavish ceremonial gate or a place) which solves the purpose and a big idol of the God is placed in here. The priest chants the mantras which symbolically put life into the idol calling this ritual as ‘Pran Prathistha’ and it is believed that these 10 days Lord Ganesha live with them, and so again symbolically Ganesha is offered red flowers, grass blades and to eat Coconut, Jaggery, 21 Modaks (A modak is a dumpling made from rice flour/wheat flour with a stuffing of fresh or dry-grated coconut, jaggery, dry fruits and some other condiments. It is either steam-cooked or fried). The statue is anointed with red unguent, typically made of Kumkum & Sandalwood paste. Vedic hymns from the Hindu scriptures are chanted throughout the ceremony giving the feel of purity and placidity. Rest days in between are carried on with the usual days affair but to worship Ganesha cannot be missed at all.

The 11th day is the final day of this gala event and with all the singing, dancing and fanfare the statue in all its glory is carried through the jam packed streets in a procession to be immersed in a river or the sea epitomizing a custom to see-off of the Lord on his voyage towards his abode in Kailash (Himalaya) and along with him he happily takes away the bad luck of his devotees, and all this portrayal is known as ‘Ganesh Visarjan’.

Singing aloud “Ganapathi Bappa Morya, Purchya Varshi Laukar ya” (O father Ganesha, come again speedily next year) can also force you to start taping your feet. And eventually, with the final offering of the flowers and coconut, with the entire dance and singing the high spirited crowds the big or small idols are immersed in the water, putting an end to ten day stretch of feasting and gatherings.
In Mumbai previously called as Bombay such public gatherings are a rage. To see the final procession of the immersion of the idol in the large sea, thousands and thousands of people gather and it’s a big challenge for the administration to let this event go smooth. And to make merry and enjoy the fest also becomes a reason to organize the cultural do’s like songs, dramas and orchestra and also some community activities like free medical checkup, blood donation camps, charity for the poor, etc. which is again make this festival to stand out from the other festivals in India.
Today, the Ganesh Festival is not only a popular festival; it has become a very critical and important economic activity for Maharashtra. Many artists, industries, and businesses survive on this super mega-event. But then there is a flip side to it too. The most devastating impact of this festival is to the environment and that is because of the drowning of the idol which is prepared by Plaster of Paris (PoP). The traditional ways were all environment friendly and the significance of the festival was also to preserve the mother Earth – the Ganesh icon was sculpted out of earth or mud taken from nearby one’s home. After worshipping the divinity in this earth icon, it was returned back to the Earth by immersing it in a nearby water body. This cycle represented the cycle of creation and dissolution in Nature. But today this festival has emerged as big commercial event and PoP replaced the natural clay or mud, making the idol easy to mould and lighter in weight and less costing, but in this process it had drastically impacted the nature and the environment in the worst possible ways. Thousands of idols are immersed in the water on this day, which has increased the level of acidity in the water and the content of heavy metals. The day after the immersion, shoals of dead fish can be seen floating on the surface of the water body as a result of this sudden increase.
Festivals are no doubt an escape from the regular humdrum of the lives but may such events and festivals can pronounce the old traditional ways and their significance which always has respected the ecosystem, and may continue to do so.

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The depiction this oldie love saga is not an easy task. The performers are bound to rise up to such a level so as to maintain the grace and Èlan of the story as well as to sink to the roots of culture of those days. The colorful attire worn by the dancers, the cultural music and the stories, the main hero Lord Krishna and the heroin Lady Radha, accompanied by the gang of girls and boys; together they recite the phad (a painted ballad), make the whole scene like we as viewers are living those days ourselves. People in olden days never had the recent technologies to be occupied with, so these dances and singing and teasing was the part of their life. And such festivals make us live these days momentarily.  The festivities are usually tagged with other folk dances and the spectators young and old, rich and poor are all soothed in swayed in the festival spirit. This festival witnesses the popularized Folk opera by the professionals and the amateurs as well. The beauty of the festival can only be seen and felt. To tune ourselves to the history and detangle ourselves from the present can be a unique experience. Throughout Bharatpur, the sound of folk songs fills the air and mesmerizes people. Whole of the place is painted in bright colors and no one is spared from being splashed with colors.
As visitors we have so much to take back with us from this land, but it’s the true devotion to the Gods and to hold dear to the history, that has put an impression that is for keeps and not to fade away from the memory lane.

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The Orthodox Christian Easter is called Pascha. In Eastern Orthodox church Easter service starts in late Saturday evening with procession, which symbolizes “a search for the body of Christ”. At the final stage of this procession there is a cry, “Christ is risen!”. The priests display the Easter Eucharist. Procession is lightened with candles and lamps. This light symbolizes Christ as the light of the world. Before Easter there is a forty days fasting – the Great Lent. Holly week is the last week of the Lent. Holly week reflects on the last week of Jesus’ life, each day of this week has a sacred meaning and emphasizes the significance of Easter Sunday itself. The fasting is particularly strict during Holly Week, in this way Christians commemorate the suffering of Jesus Christ. Holly week provides a faith journey for people, reveals the meaning of Easter celebration – a celebration of Christ light and promise of salvation. This is the time of special services, processions and religious traditions.

Holly Week begins with Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday. On this day Jesus entered Jerusalem and was welcomed by the crowds who were waving branches of palm tree.  During  church services on this day the emphasis is placed on approaching suffering and death of Jesus.
On Holly Thursday, or Maundy Thursday the Jesus had the Last Supper with his Apostles  and later that day he was betrayed by Judas. The focus of the liturgies is on communion and remembrance.
Good Friday marks Jesus arrest, trial, crucification and death. This day is a culmination of grief, a horror of sin and darkness of the betrayal.  Worshippers are morning for the Christ death and for the sins of human kind.
The Great, or Holy Saturday is the day when Jesus rested in the Tomb. This day symbolizes the life in darkness  apart from God.  This is a time to remember family and  those who have died, the time of  awaiting resurrection, forgiveness and salvation.
Easter Sunday is a day of joy and celebration of the great news that Christ has risen from the dead.  Easter signifies redemption and forgiveness of sins. It symbolizes that people died to their sins and were resurrected with Jesus Christ.

This jubilation is called Teej. And the vital cause of celebrating Teej is to welcome the monsoon. The monsoon quenches the thirsty land and the birds and all the vegetations under the sky and that too in state of Rajasthan, which most of the year is dejected by the gods of rains and mostly is habitual of the dryness. This festival is celebrated in the month of July-August and is also known as Sawan Festival, where Sawan means the monsoons in Hindi language. Now another reason for the celebration is that Teej is dedicated to goddess Parvati and god Shiva also known as Devine Couple and the story goes that Goddess Parvati was united with Lord Shiva on this day. She underwent real strict and hard tapasya or penance and took 108 births on the earth, but failed to have Lord Shiva as her husband till 107th birth. In her 108th birth, Lord Shiva finally realized her devotion and love for him and accepted her as his wife. Till today, the festival of Teej is celebrated to honor the devotion of Goddess Parvati ñ popularly known as TEEJ MATA. So the monsoon festival gets another reason and especially for the women folks, as they pamper themselves, they feast, dance, dress up, put tattoo with mehendi and have a ball. The married women go to their parent’s house and also receive gifts from parent in laws which are considered to be very auspicious. All dress up in red, green or pink ‘leheriya sarees’. The fun and frolic to enjoy the long awaited monsoon is portrayed in the mood of everybody.

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I guess Easter is one of the most bright and happy holidays for christians. It occurred that Easter is celebrated on a different Sunday in Eastern and Western christian traditions. The reason for it is a difference in calendars. The Western Church adopted the Gregorian calendar which correlates better with astronomic time, while the Orthodox christians keep following the Julian calender. Therefore the dates differ sometimes significantly, but sometimes coincide. The difference in dates between traditions are secondary to the united meaning of Christ resurrection. In Russian language a word for Easter is Pascha, which is linked back to the Judaic holiday Pasah, when Jews were celebrating their release from Egyptian slavery. Before Easter there is a hard time of fasting -  the Great lent, which last for 40 days. This time symbolizes the 40 days which Jesus spent in the wilderness before being tempted by Satan. The next week is a Holly Week, when the fasting is even more strict and the believers are required to be more diligent in their praying to achieve cleanse in their minds and peace in their souls. During this time the christians eat only lenten food, refusing meat, fish, eggs and all dishes which might contain these products.

This lent is twice as hard for my grandma, as grandfather has died in March and  she is in mourning. She tells me that before there wasn’t a day that she had to spend all alone. It’s a new life for her and we are helping her to adapt. She tries to be strong and she is doing good.

On Holy Saturday we all gathered at grandma place in a small village. The house is full. We are preparing for Easter, colour eggs and make pascha – a feast bread.

The Easter service is special in Russia, it lasts though night from Saturday on Sunday. People start  gathering in church for the ceremony  around 11 pm. My grandma is going too she wears a long dress, a white shawl is on her head, she takes eggs and pascha with her so that it would be blessed by the priest. I wish to go with her, but she insists on me staying at home, she keeps saying that it’s a small church and there won’t be any space as people from the villages around are coming as well. So she leaves and I stay. I miss a unifying spirit of the Easter service, a special sense of togetherness. Though it has been a long time since I attended an Easter service, but I do remember how we stood quietly in the dark cathedral anticipating the begging of mystery. Close to midnight the church quire started to sing and the toll of bells could be heard. We lighted  candles and were passing them to each other so after some time the church filled  up with light, in this way we commemorated the Christ and the Light which He brought to the world. The service reached its culmination when priests with crosses and icons walked through the Altar Gates and we all moved in procession around the church in a symbolic  ’search of Christ body’. I felt a strong connection with people around me, with russians, and with all christians. Finally the  priest  shouted – “Christos Voskrece!” three times which means -  “Christ is risen!”  and we all in one voice replied ” Voistiny Voskrese!” -  “He is risen indeed!”

It’s 2:30 am I am with my aunt sit at the kitchen table, we drink tea and chat, we have a lot to talk about and we never run out of conversations.  Finally we hear how the door opens and grandma walks-in. We rush to greet her. Her eyes sparkle. She grabs us together, kisses three times and passing on the message that Christ has risen! We kiss her back and receive the message with happiness in our hearts.

For eighteen days during Chaitra (according to the Hindu calendar, which usually falls in March or April) ‘Gangaur’ which is a lengthy Valentine festival, truly soaked in its Indian spirit is celebrated.

Married and unmarried girls have all the right to display their love publicly, which otherwise is not so cool thing to do in India. But contrary to the oh-so-usual way of displaying love, it takes it own tough route. The ladies clan fast for the entire 18 days, and survive by just having one meal in a day. For a newly-wed girl, it is mandatory to observe the full course of 18 days of fasting, which will ensure a successful marriage. Even unmarried girls fast for the full period of the 18 days, and by sacrificing the food (fasting) they impress Goddess Gauri, and believe that complying with this ritual unmarried girl will find a match of her choice and when the married women observe the same, its for the happiness and long life of their husbands.

As per the historical saga, the word Gangaur is formulated from two words, ‘Gan’ and ‘Gauri’, the former is a synonym for God ‘Siva’ and latter is his ladylove, his wife ‘Parvati’. Gauri or Parvati is regarded as a Goddess for nuptial happiness and bliss, as the symbol of virtue, devotion, fertility and a perfect married woman, because Gauri did hard austerities to please Shiva to marry her. Thus all the maidens and wedded ladies worship her to get good husbands and the welfare, health and long life of their husbands respectively.

This festival of Gangaur is initiated on the following day of Holi festival and carries on for about 2 weeks. During the last three days, at an auspicious hour in the afternoon, procession is taken out to a tank or a well with the images of Isar (Lord Shiva) and Gauri, placed on the heads of married women, singing songs and hymns about the departure of Gauri to her husband’s house. The procession returns after offering water to the image of Gauri, facing opposite to Isar on the first two days, and on the final day, she faces in the same direction as Isar and the procession completes with leaving of all the images in the waters of a tank or a well. This procession is the dramatization of how Gauri finally got her love, after several rejections. A distinct difference between the idols of Teej and Gangaur is that the Idol will have a canopy during the Teej Festival while the Gangaur idol would not have a canopy.

Heena or mehendi is done on the hands in beautiful designs. On the evening of the 7th day after Holi, unmarried girls go around singing songs and carry Ghudlia, earthen pots with a burning lamp inside, on their heads. On their way, they collect small presents of cash, sweets, jaggery, ghee, oil etc. this continues till the end of the Gangaur festival when the girls break their pots and throw the debris into the well or a tank and enjoys a feast with the collection made.
There is uniqueness to this festival in different parts of Rajasthan. In Jaipur, ‘Ghewar’ is especially made as a dessert on the Gangaur Festival along with the grand procession of the image of Gauri from the Palace Gate known as Tripolia to Talkatora. Jodhpur has the fair of ‘lotias’ (small metallic pots), where thousands of maidens bring water and ‘durva’ grass in silver or brass pots or ‘lotias’ or to a place known as Girdikot.

In Nathdwara, the usual 3 days procession lasts for a week. Each day, a particular color is chosen for the dress of the goddess with the last day seeing Gauri dressed in black with golden lace work. In Udaipur, the procession ends at the Pichhola Lake, where idols of Isar and gaur are sent for boating for an hour and then there is majestic display of fireworks on the banks linked to Mewar Festival.

The Girasia tribe, living in Sirohi-Mount Abu region celebrates Gangaur with a modern spunk that cannot be expected in the villages, but then its there and during this month-long festivity of Gangaur, the eligible bachelors and spinsters of the tribe are free to select their life partners and elope with them and that too with the social sanction! Wow!
How auspicious and holy can the celebration of love be? The answer is right here. The purity of this intensity in love detangles all the complexity that it may carry for the rest of the world. The unknown strength that pursues them to forsake food for their love’s well being is so propitious and encouraging in today’s era, where relationships are muddled completely. The grandeur of the festival is enticing indeed, and to its contrast the somber and sober depiction of love, which may lack the flashiness, but still toucheth our souls. True spirit of India.

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Nag Panchami denotes the uniqueness of paying the due respect to the Snake god or Nag Devta on the fifth day of Shravan month (July/August) as per the Hindu calander, especially to the cobra snake.

Prior to the Aryans came down to invade the land , the snake worshipping was fairly widespread in the land, but Aryans later on gave this festival all the credit by incorporating it in the Hindu culture.
Lord Vishnu’s couch is the bejeweled by thousand-headed snake (Ananta Nag or Sesha Nag) and they have all the required zest to hold up the gigantic earth.

Lord Shiva adorns himself by wearing a snake in his neck as a necklace. An interesting tale goes like this ~ a farmer while tilling his land incidentally killed some young snake. The snake’s mom took revenge by biting all members of the farmer’s family, only sparing his daughter, as she was a worshiper of snakes. And this devotional act of the girl finally resulted in revival of her family from the dead!!!!!! Thus, on the day of Naag Panchami, tilling of land is forbidden. But the fact file says that snake worship is stemmed due to man’s natural instinct of fearing this deadly reptile.

Generally it’s the women who diligently carry on with the rituals of Nag Panchmi, as they all fast on this day, and in rural or the countryside area you can see images of snakes, which are drawn on walls of their houses with a mixture of cow dung, milk and black powder. The snakes are made happy by making offerings of milk, ghee, sweets, water and rice and devotees consider themselves lucky if snakes drink their offered milk.

In Rajasthan, Jodhpur is a place where you can view the grandeur at it’s own best. Various fairs and gatherings are made near to the temples and huge cloth effigies of the serpents are displayed.

This festival is also celebrated in other parts of India like in West Bengal and parts of Assam and Orissa, the snake deity worshipped on Nag Panchami is the goddess Manasa. In Kerala, huge crowds throng snake temples on this day to worship stone or metal icons of the cosmic serpent Ananta or Sesha.

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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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