Day 2
1. Kuldhara- The Abandoned Village
The temperature was hovering somewhere around 5 degrees in the morning at 6:30 a.m., but we had to go out and enter a Dhaba for breakfast. At Jaisalmer tourist places, the place was still not ready to serve breakfast when we entered; we waited with hot tea in steel cups! By 7:00 a.m., they started serving us piping hot aloo and gobi parathas with curd and butter. It was the best counter against the smacking cold right now, with me already wearing a leather jacket and two sweaters!
Kuldhara is one of the best places to visit in Jaisalmer village was falling en route to Longewala, so we decided to stop for a while. En route, we saw a number of windmills. One Google search about Kuldhara was enough to tell several stories about how the village was abandoned. The entry to the place is for INR 50 and cars are allowed to be driven inside. Many people claimed that the ruins around have an air of spookiness, but we felt none of that.
Here’s how the story of Kuldhara goes. It was a prosperous village of Paliwal Brahmins 300 years ago. Salim Singh, the debauched Prime Minister of Jaisalmer state, became keen to marry the daughter of the village head by force. Villagers were threatened with grave consequences if they did not agree. The Paliwals did not buckle under this pressure; instead, they had a council meeting and people in 85 villages decided to vacate the area overnight. And they didn’t just leave- they also cursed the place so that no one would be able to settle here again.
Certain new structures have been built within the premises. There was a cafeteria and a few vantage points to capture bird’s eye views of the area.
2. Longewala- A Salute to the Indian Army
Longewala was about 145 km away from Kuldhara, but the roads were very smooth. We took the road that crosses various Night Safari camps such as Sam Sand Dunes. As the area was hilly, the roads were smooth but seemed to lead right into the horizon. On the way, we also saw interesting messages on milestones by BRO.
The Longewala War Memorial is visible here, with several remnants of the Battle of Longewala shown here. We clicked with some of these. Do not forget to take pictures with the destroyed Pakistan T-59 tank. Near the memorial, we were also guided to an underground theatre to see a film on the actual events of the Battle of Longewala (Clips from JP Dutta’s Border were also seen). As is natural, we couldn’t help but feel proud of having the services of the Indian Army for our protection. For lunch, we found the Army cafeteria in this area and had a simple meal with noodles.
An interesting conversation took place with the BSF officers manning the Longewala check post. They asked where we were from and when I showed my vehicle in the distance, they couldn’t believe that the car was almost 4 years old! They seemed to feel as though my Maruti Alto K10 was fresh from the showroom and were almost ready to buy it.
3. Thar Desert- The Pride of Rajasthan
Guesthouse Toffu arranged a jeep safari for us. They gave us a phone number and told us to coordinate for the same. We arrived at the location and noticed that other guests had still not come in. Our coordinator told us to wait for the jeep to arrive. Now they had two main kinds of jeeps- one being the old and sturdy MM540, and the other being the Mahindra Thar. After hearing sturdy (and the lower price!), we decided to give the Thar a miss.
The first part of the journey up to the sandy terrain of the desert was spent trying to prevent me from being thrown around and to prevent the DSLR from damage. Once I got a grip, the part of the drive on the sand started feeling like a roller coaster.
We got along in the jeep with three friends from Andhra Pradesh. One of them had been to this destination twice before already and taking his friends this time.
While waiting for the sun to set and click gorgeous pictures, my wife and I clicked the area around, the jeeps, and the camels close by. We had tea 3-4 times after this period. She was too scared to climb on the camels but I was more than willing to try the camel safari. Here are a few clicks.
Our Andhra friend shouted from far ahead that the sun had started setting, and I ran ahead with my DSLR. I managed to capture a few lovely shots of the setting sun.
We soon realized that the jeeps were queuing up to go to the campsite. Along with the Andhra guys, we found a suitable jeep and got in. This time I sat in the front seat inside of the back and interacted a bit with the driver.
After reaching the Tofu campsite we said goodbye to our friends who were staying back at the camp for the night safari. We were keener to have some alcohol and tasty food in the room this time.
At Guesthouse Tofu, neither my wife nor I were particularly hungry at dinner time. We ordered egg noodles from the guesthouse itself (spicy, to say the least!). The food was enjoyed in the company of vodka, which now became necessary to counteract the night cold. Unfortunately, the guesthouse did not have adequate heaters and couldn’t lend us one then. Instead, they provided us with an extra quilt.
4. No Problem Getting Up
Irrespective of how late it gets at night, I’ve seen that a road trip excites me to no end and gives me the energy to wake up fresh. From the Golden City, we were now headed towards Udaipur- The City of Lakes. We got breakfast packed from the guesthouse, wished the friendly receptionist, and were on our way.
