About Jaisalmer
The name Jaisalmer induces a dramatic picture of utter magic and brilliance of the desert.....
Jaisalmer
Posted by Soumya SrinivasanI traveled by road to Jaisalmer from Delhi with my sister. On the way, we stopped at two beautiful cities, Jaipur and Jodhpur, the pink city and the blue city. Jodhpur itself seems to be in the desert region. Jaisalmer is situated deep inside the desert. From Jodhpur, as we approached the desert, I could see a lot of deer, camels and peacocks on the sides of the road. Unfortunately--just as we see dogs killed by speeding vehicles at other places on the road--I saw a deer that had been mowed down by a truck.
There was, of course, very little by way of vegetation as we approached the desert region.
At Jaisalmer, there was a lovely golden yellow everywhere.
The next day we woke up early in the morning and went to watch the sunrise over the desert. It was very cold in contrast to the heat of the previous evening. The sharp difference in temperature is amazing. As we stood waiting for the sun to rise, the camel walas surrounded us again and we succumbed to their persuasion and hired camels for a ride. It was late in the season and many of the foreign tourists had already left. The camel walas outnumbered the tourists and some of them had to return disappointed.
Later in the day, we visited the fort built by Jaisal in the thirteenth century. The fort is called sonar quila because of its beautiful golden hue. It merges beautifully with its surroundings, all yellow because of the yellow sand and dust and absence of vegetation. We walked at a leisurely pace in the narrow streets of the old city inside the fort. There are houses, temples and shops. The shops sell ethnic Rajasthani stuff. The shops have beautiful wares to sell but with prices to suit the pockets of foreigners and NRIs. So, as my sister did asli shopping, I did window-shopping.
In one of the shops was a French girl who very expertly applied mehendi on my sisters hands. I refused her services because I was cut up with her. She had asked my sister whether I was her mother. What impudence I thought--just because I was in a sari and my sister in her jeans and T-shirt. (Okay, okay actually, its a little more than that. She is almost a decade younger and a lot slimmer.)
It seems the young French woman came to Jaisalmer as a tourist and stayed on because she loved the place. She lives in a Brahmin priests house. They have adopted her as a daughter.
Later we visited some lovely havelis with their quaint jharokas. I tried to visualize young Rajasthani girls peeping through them. We came back to the hotel where we stayed to have gatte ki subzi with rotis. As the desert is devoid of vegetation, Rajasthanis prepare gatte ki subzi out of besan. The hotel where we stayed was built to be in sync with the rest of the city. It was also in yellow sandstone and was architecturally similar to the many of lovely buildings in Jaisalmer. It had all the modern amenities yet retained the ethnic look.
