Trip in the desert, pt II

Jaisalmer

Night descends across the desert and the sand whistles its silent tune of the darkness. The small campfire cuts out from the void, the smells of cooked food carried through smoke and warmth. You stare into the fire, the smoke watering your eyes, the heat warm against your skin. There is darkness all around and nothing but the desert. You’ve recovered from the strains of the day, leaving the night to sing you a soft lullaby.

***

Okay, enough of that crap. The three of us plonked ourselves on the sand after our ride. Isaac had four people with them, mostly teenagers, and a child (maybe they were his friends/family) and the five of them sat around the fire preparing dinner (the goat from this afternoon). They spoke amongst themselves the entire night, speaking softly and occasionally asking us if “yes, okay.”

I tell you, it was the strangest feeling. The three of us sat in a line, wrapped in blankets and beanies, about a metre of two from the fire. I swear, there could have been a glass wall between us and what was going on. I felt like an outsider. I felt like an intruder on their evening, their night, and though I was there, I never really felt part of it. We barely spoke a word, the three of us, our thoughts consumed by the fire. The five of them, a fire, some food, and solemn bonds between them, and us, tourists, outsiders, the differences between us irreconcilable.

We ate more than we thought possible that evening, stuffing ourselves till we could eat more, and didn’t even make it through half of what was there. After we’d finished, there wasn’t much to do but lay down on our blankets, the sand beneath us still cold, and look up at the moon watching over the desert.

The sun was half way up by the time we woke – about ten – and the stupid, munching camels were seated just in front of us. Isaac and co. were cleaning the packing up the blankets and cookware, and we slowly rose to begin the journey home.

The ‘journey’ didn’t last long, and in true keeping with the ‘non-tourist’ camel ‘safari’ within about half an hours riding we were close to the road, and our ride. We took a photo with Isaac, said goodbye to the camels, and slept in the car on the way back. The road was long and straight, dusty and sandy on the outside, and as always, the car sped along the road, as if we were leaving the barren wasteland where tomorrow does not exist.

Our trip in the desert was very weird. Looking back on it, it feels like our time in the desert didn’t happen, for soon we were on an 18 hour train trip back to Delhi. We had a first class cabin for the trip back, the small enclosed walls a direct contrast to the open sky and sandy floor of the night before.