Bucolic Beauty

On the 22nd of December 2006 I boarded a bus to Bikaner with a couple of friends,we were leaving for our Rural projects.I was enticed by the idea of a sponsored holiday and in the process making some money.We slept through most of the journey so I didn't mind the 17 hr long journey which at first sounded daunting.Come on ,17 hrs would be the longest journey I would have ever made, and that too in a sleeper bus, I did not like the idea to start with, and ruining my winter holidays for any sum of money didn't feel like a good deal.But something in me wanted to take a chance, to take the plunge, as they say.Though I belong to Rajasthan but i had not seen proper sand dunes ever,maybe that intrigued me.Or going to a proper village, deep inside the hinterland. All those villages near the city are pseudo-villages, more and more they become a part of the urban agglomeration,but these were villages where you would feel that time had come to a standstill, or not quite. i am confused now.
At the end of it a lot of my preconceived notions about rural India were broken,and the beauty and hospitality of the people completely blew me away. During the 7 day trip we covered twenty villages,visited a lot of places of worship, saw palaces and forts, and one of these days I also went berserk shopping for their local handicrafts, what was to be picking up a souvenir ended as Christmas shopping..lol.I am not surprised.
What left me spellbound was the beauty and elegance in simple things around us.And the joy of taking a good shot.

Rats drinking milk at the Karni Mata mandir at Deshnok(yeah it is both disgusting and scary too look at it, you might have seen it on Discovery Channel)

Even if the ColPals and HLLs of the world haven't gotten there!!!

On our way back

A Pujari at the Karni Mata mandir

A majority of houses are still kachha in these areas, whats more interesting is the fact that they have one of the rooms as pacca and the rest of the house is made of mud.


One of these is a Hindu boy and another is a Muslim

I can't figure why but most of these damsels were just too photogenic .




















Spurious products still rule the roost

My entry for Nat-Geo

I find them fascinating like everyone else

I am sure it is not just Bubly and Bubly