A recluse in Jaisalmer - Day 2 (Kuldhara, Khaba and Sam Sand Dunes)

I left Badal house after a heavy breakfast of paratha, pickle and curd and headed towards the bus stop to catch the 11 o'clock local bus to Jaisalmer. On the way to the bus stop, I caught a glimpse of village life in Khuri. It was a Sunday, but a few children were playing in the school ground, which also had to serve as their playground on the weekends. They waved at me as I passed by them. There are two schools in Khaba, a primary school and a senior secondary school. Kesar Singh told me, on our way back to Badal House from the desert, that the senior secondary school had been built by Jaswant Singh, a BJP leader and former Finance Minister, former Defense Minister and former Minister of External Affairs. He is a native of Khuri village, I was told. He also told me about the scarcity of teachers in these schools, only two teachers in primary school. I was wondering whether the politician deserved a word of praise for his initiatives or to be condemned for his negligence on this.

I boarded the Jaisalmer-bound bus from Khuri at the scheduled time. It took us about 1 hour and a half, and this time I could enjoy the beauty of the landscape which was entirely dotted by windmills. These windmills are one of the latest developments in the area that provided electricity to the villages. Now, after I reached Jaisalmer's Gadisar Chowk, I had to walk to Hotel Jaisal Palace near the Fort. Its a decent, fairly priced hotel very near to the Fort entrance, with clean rooms and bathrooms, very good staff and roof-top restaurant with a view of the Fort. I got a room for Rs600/- only, had a bath and left for a stroll. I was also looking for a taxi that could take me to a tour of Kuldhara, Khaba and Sam. I had a healthy breakfast of fruit salad and banana milk-shake at The Trio (I was told this was the best restaurant in the city) and coming back to the hotel, I booked a taxi (Tata Indica) for Rs1200/- (while a couple of others were asking for anything between Rs1600-Rs1800). Malik, the 22-year old taxi driver, picked me up from Hanuman Circle at 2:00pm and we headed for Kuldhara.

Kuldhara, now a famous tourist spot and a shooting site for a couple of Indian movies, is actually one of those villages that have been deserted for more than 150 years now. These villages belonged to Paliwal Brahmins. I had already come through a couple of stories about these villages on Internet. One anecdote goes like this: the inhabitants of these villages were treated with cruelty and were heavily taxed by the ruler of the area. Moreover, the village chief's daughter who was believed to be very beautiful caught the eye of the ruler. To escape the dishonour, the Paliwals vacated the villages overnight and migrated to some place which is not known yet. Since then, these villages are cursed and deserted. The landscape now serves a beautiful place for photography.

Kudhara ruins

Kudhara ruins

Kuldhara is a place where one would want to be alone, to feel the inherent melancholy of the place, to hear the silent cries of the ruins. It was my bad luck that just before we arrived, a school bus full of kids had reached there for a Sunday picnic...wow!! But I got a couple of pics of the kids as a workaround, nonetheless :)

I also got to know about a couple of Bollywood movies that were shot here - Kachhe Dhaage was one of them. Saif's upcoming movie 'Agent Vinod' has also been shot here recently, as I read on the Internet. Having nothing much to do, nothing much different to click in Kuldhara, we left for Khaba - another deserted village with similar stories. It is actually same as Kuldhara as far as ruins are concerned, but in addition, there is a small Fortress on a hillock overlooking the village. This fortress has been revamped and it now houses a small museum with ancient artifacts from the village ruins on display.

Khaba Fort

We parked the taxi near the fort and I went off to stroll around the ruins and click some pictures.

Khaba Ruins

The fort offers a breathtaking view of the vast expanse of the village and the surrounding areas.

Museum in Khaba Fort

There were a couple of kids inside the fort that, apparently, tried to fool the lone tourists around. One of them approached me and said "Hello", I replied in "Hello" and the next thing he said was "10 rupees"...!! I asked him "Why brother?" in Hindi, which surprised him (I don't know why, I don't even look like a foreigner). Then another guy came and asked me if I'd bought the tickets to the fort. There was no ticket, I knew...so I simply ignored him, clicked some pics around while Malik (my taxi-driver) kept himself busy reading about the artifacts, the fort and the village. When we climbed down the Fort, Malik said: "This was better than Kuldhara, I liked it". I felt in him a desire to learn about things, to read...may be he can learn more and become a full-time tour guide for this place, I thought.

We still had a lot of time till sunset, so we drove towards Sam. The sand dunes in Sam are more widely spread, just adjacent to the road and almost at level with the ground, unlike Khuri which is  at some height. We parked the car in the parking and Malik decided to stay in the car only while I indulged myself in the golden delight of the sand. He had already warned me about the local camel-men and safari operators as in how they fool people around. I anyways had no plans to ride a camel (I had done it in Khuri) or a jeep for a safari. I just came to Sam so that I could see how it is different from Khuri. Escaping the hordes of local tourists, ever-convincing camel-men and all those mini tent-cities that have been put up there by myriad of resorts and hotels, I let myself get lost between the dunes.

Sam Sand Dunes

Sam Sand Dunes

Few tents by some resort @Sam

Its very hard to find a sand dune in Sam that is not littered and not marked by footprints. Its also very hard to find a perfect point where you can take a beautiful desert shot from.

I had walked for about 2 kms into the desert, and I could see other groups of sand dunes at a distance where I very much wanted to go. But that was not possible without a jeep or a camel. And staying at Sam just for the sunset had no point, so I walked back to the car parking, pounded the sand out of my shoes and headed back to Jaisalmer.

I liked being alone and experiencing the wilderness till now, but being a city-dweller I now wanted to just relax and chill out at my hotel room and sleep the day's fatigue off. I thanked Malik, bidding him goodbye and slipped into a local sweet shop that he had recommended for Pyaaz Kachori and Jalebi. But again, my luck had me savoring Daal Kachori, Mirchi Vada and Imarti instead. Imarti took a lead, being cooked in "desi-ghee" and very rich in taste. Back at the hotel, I rested for a while, had dinner on the rooftop restaurant of the hotel, watched TV and slept.

For the next day, I had plans to get up late in the morning, visit the city, a few "havelis" and the cenotaphs at "Bada Bagh". My departure was scheduled at 5:15pm, so that was the day when I had to cover the rest of the things.