Text and photos by Aileen Siroy
SHE APPEARED from nowhere and walked slowly towards me. She had deep sad eyes, and her skin etched by time. Although she looked sad and wrinkled, I can tell she was beautiful. “Hello,” I smiled. She looked at me but did not say anything. “Is it okay to take your picture?”
I asked. She mumbled something in her language. I did not understand a single word, so I asked our guide what she was saying. “Money,” he said, “She wants money in exchange for snapshots so she could buy food.”
I only had 30 rupees loose change at that moment. We were about 25 kilometers away from the city of Jaisalmer and halfway to Thar Desert, and no place to break a 500 rupee bill. So I gave all 30 rupees, ashamed that it was all I could give her.
She smiled, as if to say thank you and handed me back 10 rupees. Baffled, I asked our tour guide why she was returning the 10 back. He replied: “She said 30 rupees is too much.”
I felt a tug in my heart. “Please take it,” I insisted. In a world where there are people who have so much but want more, here comes someone who has
almost nothing but wanted only what was enough for her.
The woman I met in Kuldhara
I met the old woman in the abandoned village of Kuldhara. Why this village was abandoned remains a mystery.
Legend has it that Paliwal Brahmins, a wealthy and prosperous community, used to live in this village centuries ago. But one night, all of them just disappeared.
It is believed that the minister of the state of Jaisalmer fell in love with the beautiful daughter of the Kuldhara village chief and wanted to marry her.
He threatened to forcefully enter their village and get the village chief’s daughter if the young girl refused to marry him. To keep their honor and dignity, it is said that the entire village left, leaving behind a curse—death to anyone who will inhabit their village.
No one saw them leave. No one knows where they went or what happened to them. They simply vanished.
That’s the story our guide told us as he drove through what seemed like an endless road to the desert. My fellow travelers and I listened with utter amazement as all seven of us sat inside the SUV, wondering why he didn’t tell us the story while we were in the village. Perhaps, he didn’t want to scare us. After all, some people claim they hear haunting voices and see shadows within the village ruins.
We arrived at a clearing about half an hour later where a group of camels and cameleers waited for us. Here, we began our journey to the Thar Desert under the heat of the Indian sun.
Cameleers preparing dinner
The Dessert Safari
We were each assigned a camel that will carry us to our little spot in Thar Desert. I’ve never ridden a camel before, so it was both scary and exciting.
We passed through rugged paths and miles upon miles of wind-carved sand dunes. It wasn’t summer yet in India, but it was hot that day. The afternoon sun was biting through my skin, but it didn’t matter.
I just savored every second of this incredible experience.
About 45 minutes later, the camels stopped just a few meters away from a shallow cliff. I got off the camel as awkwardly as I got on it. The moment my feet hit the ground, my legs wobbled. I tell you, that camel ride was … “sakit sa bugan.“
We spent a bit of time taking pictures and going up and down sand dunes like kids on a playground. When the sun started to set on the horizon and gave the sky above us hints of pink and orange hues, we all decided to sit down and watch the sunset. At that moment, I felt a great sense of gratitude to be there. I never imagined I’d be in the middle of a desert, in India, with strangers, watching the sun disappear from the horizon.
The writer gets ready
for a camel ride
We exchanged stories over dinner. What we ate for dinner, I had no idea. It was dark and who knew what those cameleers fed us. But it was delicious!
The temperature dropped drastically towards midnight.
I had to kick myself for not bringing a jacket. Thankfully, we were provided with mattresses and blankets. Those blankets did not only protect us from the cold, but it also shielded us from huge dung beetles that crawled all over us the entire night. I slid myself under my blanket and stared at the sky above me. This is one of my favorite things—to sleep under the stars.
I stayed awake for hours though, just lying there, enjoying the cold wind on my face. I felt a great sense of gratitude at that moment. I stared at the stars thinking about my family and friends back home and wished they traveled with me; about that special guy in my life and thought it would’ve been wonderful if we shared this experience together; about how, just months ago, coming to India seemed impossible. I was jolted out of my thoughts when I felt something heavy sit on my legs.
Jaisalmer is also known as The Golden City
A stray dog decided my legs were fluffy enough to be his bed. He seemed like he was feeling really cold, so I shared my blanket with him. His presence was quite comforting that it helped me doze off.
The next day, we woke up to a breathtakingly beautiful sunrise. The stars have disappeared and a deep orange hue engulfed the sky. I sat on my mattress and looked out to the horizon. I could see silhouettes of my friends standing from a distance, watching the sun slowly dance its way up.
It was the day of the Holi Festival. I’ve always wanted to experience the Holi, so I was quite excited. I was wondering, while folding my blanket, if we could make it in time to join the festivities at the Jaisalmer Fort.
Ruins of the abandoned village of Kuldhara
A lot of questions were running through my head that morning actually. What’s Holi like?
What’s for breakfast? Which city shall we go to after Jaisalmer? And, the most pressing one was— where does one pee in the desert? The memory of
how we girls took turns covering each other while the other was doing her business is quite funny to me now. If you ever find yourself in Jaisalmer one day and would want to join the desert safari —bring a malong with you.
We left the desert a few hours after breakfast. The cameleers made our journey back a bit more interesting by racing our camels against each other. I had to beg my cameleer not to join the friendly match because (I didn’t tell him this, of course) it would be too much for my… umm .. “bugan” to take.