Saturday, November 18 Shekhawati Region in Rajasthan

I woke up and took a long walk, in order to explore the Shekhawati region’s heartland, by foot. This region is stereotypical Rajasthan, where camels outnumber cars, and women in colorful saris contrast to the earth-toned lifeless desert. This area was once a trade route between the Arabian Sea and the Gangetic plains. The Marwari merchants amassed a lot of wealth during the British Raj, and moved to the coasts and Jodhpur. They built large estates and havelis (mansions) for their families back home. The havelis were really huge and the facades intricate. Dirt paths led to each house, and the mansions themselves were surrounded by well-maintained large plantation fields, mostly just plowed red dry dirt at this time of the year. I wanted to see a lot of colors against the barren landscape, and I felt like I was on an Indian-person safari, on the lookout for beautiful Rajasthani women carrying buckets on their heads, and men talking or tending their herds. The walk was pleasant, with nice weather. But it was too early, and cold, to see many people or stunning scenery. The only people out were dressed in huge brown wool shawls carrying pails of water, on their way to and from going to the bathroom. Walking through all these little towns, I could tell these people rarely see tourists or foreigners. All stopped what they were doing, to look and whisper about me. I felt kind of awkward. I spent some time in a tiny town at the confluence of four sand and dirt paths winding through the dry rolling hills. I had tea with a group of village men, and I had to use my Hindi to communicate about myself. It was probably about 65 degrees, and I was perfect in my t-shirt, while these men were all huddled around a fire and bundled in heavy woolen shawls to keep warm. I kept walking, past a few schools, past some rickshaws and shared Jeeps, and a factory where people were excavating clay, forming them into bricks, and leaving them out to dry to use for building. I finally reached the main road at noon, and realized I had been walking for six hours in my sandals, without eating any food or water. I took a Jeep back to Nawalgarh and then took a bus to Dunlod, where I caught another Jeep. I demanded to sit on the top of the Jeep, which is fun and something I’m not going to be able to do again for a long time. A group of Indian boys all laughed at me, and talked to me while I struggled just to open my eyes in the vortex of sandy wind. I took a bus all the way back to Delhi from Jhunjhunu, Shekhawati’s largest city. This trip to Shekhawati wasn’t full of bad luck. It just wasn’t filled with any good luck. The pictures weren’t all that great, and it was pretty much boring and a bust. However, I was glad to have only seen two tourists (inside AC cabs) the whole time. Getting back to Delhi took a good seven hours, and a lot of waiting around in traffic in southern Haryana. I really like Haryana because it’s close to Delhi, 90% rural, 75% Hindu, and has good transportation systems. It’s a richer area, despite the squatter settlements near road construction sites. Driving through south Delhi is like transporting yourself to London or Paris; designer boutiques abound, their glitzy clean lights and English signs dot the night cityscape. I was delirious I was so hungry, and I had a ton of food at Khana Unlimited, which was glorious.