Jan 10 - 11, Pushkar and Ajmer

10 h drive to Jaisalmer ahead of us. Desert landscape punctuated by tiny villages with hatched mud huts and hoards of sheep and cow grazing in the starching sunlight. Sometimes it’s hard to tell a hut from a stack of hay from a small grassy mound - such is the core of local sustainable architecture. Vegetation is sparse, orange soil lined with desert trees, thorn bushes, low grasses, patches of yellow oil plants and baby green wheat. The road is really bumpy, so it’s a blessings we’re riding on an empty stomach. 

Walk by the gaths in Pushkar before we leave for Jaisalmer. 

[undercover photos are free]

We stop for chai at a village near Nagaur and become instant celebrities. Everyone is really nice, they’re curious where we’re from and just want to talk. And look. At moments like this I really regret not taking a small map of the world with us and some family photos - they’re always an instant ice breaker. We practice what little Hindi we know and they agree to take a photo with us ;)

What a souvenir.

S: Is it typical for men to hold hands?

A: Yes, just like friends

S: In America men don’t hold hands but they slap each other on the butt after a football game. I never got comfortable with it.

A: ?? Disbelief and eyes wide open. 

With Ajay in Ajmer, near Pushkar.

A small banana for breakfast left us hungry for the road. We passed several villages along the way, but none had a place where we could eat. Ajay was afraid for our stomachs and ignored all the roadside snack carts. We all shared two oranges just now, hoping to pass a spot with paranthas really soon. 

Two hours later we’ve had some good one with hot mix veggie [actual name], made with paneer [unfermented cheese], peppers, peanuts, chili and spices. Tasty and filling.     

Around 4pm, stretched on a rattan daybed, we had another chai at a roadside café. Prepared by a an older Rajput man in a traditional turban it tasted divine. Then we saw how he washes the glasses drinks are served in….pouring water over them and scrubbing with his finger. I hope the sight of camels grazing across the street made us immune to anything and everything. 

Also, I find out from the locals that I’m very WHITE. 

Enlightening conversations shorten the drive…

A: Are there Indian people in Poland?

S: No, not really, maybe just few in the big cities, students mostly.

A: So they marry Polish girls?

S: Sometimes

A: So I could come and girls would like me? - smiling

S: Sure, you would be very popular with the girls 

A: I don’t think I will go to a different country. Not in this lifetime.

D: Where would you want to go if you had a choice?

A: I don’t know. Outside India. Somewhere cold with snow. 

D: You know, snow is only fun for two weeks, after that you get so cold you want to get away and go somewhere where it’s warm….like India….

S: Ajay, you should really email Lea, she wants to take you home ;)  [Lea is a Swedish girl, we think, who was traveling with Ajay same way we are, two years ago. She still writes him.]. Ajay just laughs at that prospect.

too much chai

Religion truly permeates all aspects of Indian life. When we arrive in Jaisalmer it’s already 6pm and we all want to have a cold beer but Ajay remembers he can’t - every Tuesday is devoted to Hanuman, his favorite god whose figurine hangs from the rearview mirror. We can’t convince him to dinner but he agrees to have one last chai for the day at the hotel rooftop. 

We realize much later that he was served by a different waiter, a young boss boy who didn‘t speak Hindi, and it dawns on us that we’ve unknowingly put him in a very uncomfortable situation by inviting him over. Hunched back, he never fully relaxed in his lounge chair. Cast system is unconstitutional and yet, sadly, ever present in a traditional Hindi society…never was this as apparent to us as that evening.