The Rajashtan Diary Part - 2: Jaiselmer

Nikhil Singh
Apr 10, 2022
5 min read

Deserts would be soooo boring……………………………

This is what I used to think before the trip.

We always pretend to assume things at times (most of it).

So did I, I thought what’s there in deserts, there’s no sea, no mountains, no snow, nothing.

The trip not only changed my mind but gave me a new way to look at nature.

We left from Jodhpur in the morning,

The trip was supposed to be about 6 hours long.

in between we came across Pokhran, this place did ring a bell but at that time I wasn't fully aware of the significance of this place.

later we came across Jaisalmer fort, here again, I assumed that it's just a regular fort.

but I was so wrong about it too.

turned out its a living fort.

Jaisalmer Fort -

There are hardly any living forts in the world.

About 4k people reside in this fort.

it's a massive fort.

we went inside the fort, the architecture was amazing, it was like a city inside the fort.

it seemed like the sets of Game of Thrones.

this was something I could never have expected.

There was houses, shops and what not all inside this fort.

Unfortunately, I most of the misplaced pictures of this amazing Fort.

After visiting the fort, we halted for lunch.

The organizers had only planned for the veg meals but we were craving for non-veg food.

There was this non-veg/Chinese restaurant nearby but after looking food on tables I realized that they are not good with the Non-Veg.

Also, there was pani puri stall nearby but that too wasn't good, so sticking to the traditional food is always the best option.

we continued on our way to Jaisalmer,

We were already in Jaisalmer, its a huge part of Rajasthan.

The size of Jaisalmer is equivalent to that of Kerala but due to obvious reasons, the population density is very low.

I was still curious about the name "Pokhran" and I googled it and realized the significance of it.

I always knew that our country secretly carried out Nuclear Tests when the whole world was against it, but didn't know where and how.

The significance of this place is so huge that it can't be clubbed in this post, hence there will be another post related to Pokhran and Indian Defense in this district.

it was almost evening, we were close to our stay.

Desert is always incomplete without one thing...

Guesses????

The very obvious Camel Ride.

We got down from the bus and covered the last few hundred meters on the Camels.

it was the time for the sunset,

It was the desert all around, just a 2 lane road between the vast deserts of Rajasthan.

the sun was setting down, we didn't have luggage for now so we could enjoy the sunset in the sands.

Sand dunes all around, the view was terrific, but something's can't be captured in the camera.

The Air,

The Experience,

The joy

We played like kids in the sand dunes, we forgot that we were in the final year of Engineering, we didn't care about anything.

we ran, slide from here and there, fell hundreds of times.

I did really fell 100's of times in those 2 days at Jaisalmer.

We played till we were tired and it was dark already.

We then checked into our tents.

We had a huge tent for 5 of us.

This was the first time I was staying in a tent, but this was kind of the 5-star tent with all the hotel like facilities.

this was the time to freshen up and relax in the tents.

This was one of those times when small sentences made big memories.

I said "Nahana hi hai toh thoda aur ganda hoke aate hai"

Those were the days when people around me were active.

It was dark but there was moonlight.

we went back, this time no one else was there to judge us.

We ran like fools, jumped like idiots and dug ourselves into the sand

Smoking Kills

an hour later we came back to freshen up

the tap dried up right after I had my bath, and I was the first one.

I was laughing so hard looking at others and the look on their face.

Sadly, the water came back a few minutes later.

fast forwarding.....

there were some traditional performances

it was super cold in January so a lot of coals were lighted up to heat up the environment.

there are hardly any trees out there so the concept of bonfire doesn't exist there.

we had dinner and went back to our tent.

It was late night when we headed out again, it was super cold.

we were roaming out and were talking rubbish.

I guess someone dared me to remove the t-shirt, I was halfway there when I saw our faculties nearby and we ran as fast as we could back to the tent.

we played for hours until people came complaining about the noise.

The next day few of us got up early and went out to explore.

It was the time of the sunrise.

one thing about the deserts is that they are very cold in the morning and the night.

it was so cold that our teeth were grinding, somehow we clicked some decent pictures and went back to the tent.

The day was followed by a visit to a huge factory. the sun was right up and the temperature felt like 45C.

I didn't expect it to be this hot during the day but yet again, Rajasthan is full of surprises.

Next, we visited a Haunted Village.

It was a huge abandoned village, right in the middle of the desert.

The story of the Kuldhara says that the Paliwal Brahmins used to stay there until their king fell for a pretty girl from their village and demanded to marry her.

hen refused, he threatened to kill them all, So, most of them flew away while others were killed.

That's what the story says and might not be true.

the place has been developed as a tourists spot and people are advised to be cautious while their visit.

Next, we halted for parasailing, but it didn't seem worth, so all of us skipped it.

it was so hot that we were always looking for some shed but unfortunately, there wasn't any except the bus.

In the night we went for the Desert Safari. Desert trip without the Safari is always going to be incomplete, all of us went for the safari. An open jeep... Cruising through the desert...

it's late at night.... No visibility, other than the headlamps... Cold breeze... A Moment you may never want to end....

He kept shouting at us to sit, but we didn't listen. We got in a conversation with the driver and came to know that his grandfather is/was from the other side of the border and he seemed to be a pro-Pakistani.

We were in the middle of the desert, no one around us, I wanted to argue against his views but it seemed to be a risk, so I kept quiet.

Soon we were back and it was the end to another amazing day in the Desert.