A blissful Journey to Thar Desert... 

When will the lockdown end? How long is Corona going to take to vanish? When we'll be back to our regular lives...'normal' lives?

These questions in everyone's head but no one... literally no one knows the answers.

You are getting bored in the house, right? We all can go somewhere... wherever we like when lockdown is over and the normalcy is back not 'new normalc'. I'll run to the mountains for sure.

But right now we all are stuck in our homes. We can't go outside, can't meet our friends, cousins, and the close ones. But, I do have a solution for your problem. You can come with me to Jaisalmer. Right now! Yeah you read it right!

I went on a trip to Jaisalmer in December 2019 with my bestest and funniest cousins. They made my trip memorable.

So, let's not waste more time. Come with me, I will give you a glimpse of Jaisalmer while you are sitting at home cursing this lockdown. Sounds interesting na?

Let's start.

Jaisalmer is a city in Rajasthan and is mostly famous for Thar desert. Thar desert is also known as The Great Indian Desert. It is one of the largest desert in the world. Every year thousands of foreign tourists come here to enjoy desert camping, especially on the new year's eve.

We went to Jaisalmer via Jodhpur by Barmer Express. We reached Jaisalmer railway station at 12 in the afternoon. I had already booked an offbeat desert camping package from Sahara Travels, a travel company. It is cheap and is the most adventurous camping site in Jaisalmer. As it was a very basic package, we didn't get any luxuries . And since we all love luxurious trips with ultra soft feather beds, air conditioned rooms, and the most desired - a classy modern washroom, our "offbeat" package didn't provide any of these luxuries but I guess that is what made the camping more adventurous.

So moving on,

A member of Sahara Travels dropped us at their office. We got fresh there and ate street food. Around 2 in the afternoon, our real journey of Jaisalmer began in a Jeep. Jeep first took us to a lake's shore. We spent around 15 minutes there.

Then, we were headed to Jaisalmer's most haunted place - Kuldhara Village. It is also known as cursed land. It has lots of stories behind it.

A guard of the village told us the following story:

''200 years ago, a powerful minister named Salim Singh who was the Diwan of Jaisalmer liked a Brahmin girl and wanted to marry her. To protect the girl and their honour, more then 5000 people migrated from there just in one night. They just disappeared. No one knows where they went. This village could not be inhabited again''

It is said that those Brahmins cursed this place while leaving the village. As per people, even till today this deserted village is under those spiritual forces and dark spell. It is also said that after dusk, some voices are often heard here. People believe that these voices are the pain that Brahmins went through.

After Kuldhara village, we were headed toward Sam sand dunes. This is the best desert dunes site in India. After 15 minutes, we reached the place from where our camel safari started.

We all got separate camels. That 50 minutes camel ride is unforgettable. It was my first camel ride and it was more than amazing. All camels had unique names like Dhanno, Salman, Basanti etc. Mine was named Captain. I called him Captain America.

Before going to Jaisalmer, I used to think what else could be more beautiful than mountains, river, waterfalls, and beaches. But now I can convincingly say that deserts are equally beautiful.

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Then, we reached Sam sand dunes, the ultimate destination of the trip. I was shocked, and I still am. It was mesmerizing. I hadn't seen anything so soothing before. We all got lost in the beauty of those sand dunes. We reached there at the time of sunset which made it even more beautiful. As it was 30th of December, the weather was freezing. Temperature was around 2 degree celsius. We had worn many layers of clothes yet we all were freezing.

https://vimeo.com/426112548

We saw the sunset, took pictures, and had fun. It was dark by then. Camel owners stayed with us. They were pathani people and very kind. They made delicious dinner. The garlic chutney I ate that night was one of its kind.

Now we were under the stars with bonfire. A group of foreigners and a group of gujratis were also there with us. I just enjoyed listening to their conversations. I realised all we want in our lives is peace and happiness, irrespective of where we come from. But politics make people suck.

That night was kind of a rollercoaster. I stayed in a small tent with two of my cousins. There was no toilet. No light. No heater. The temperature was nearly zero. But we all were so tired that we were asleep before we knew. Sam dunes is also a good place for stargazing. I had never seen so many stars before. I felt as if stars are very near to me and fell asleep while watching them.

In the morning, we woke up with beautiful sunrise and had breakfast, explored the whole of the dunes. Later we returned to Jaisalmer city

What else you can explore in Jaisalmer?

I'll write that in the next blog. See ya!