I left for Rajasthan, my first trip to that state, expecting to be blown away by its beauty and history. What I experienced, however, was not even close to my expectations; I was blown away.
The first day, as I sat in the courtyard of a small haveli in the town of Bikhamkor, I was treated to a star splattered sky. Beautiful milky stars lay about in the sky twinkling away, bringing to light the gorgeousness of the universe we live in, yet barely notice.
We woke up early next morning to capture sunrise over the dunes, a sunrise so inexplicably beautiful that my heart skipped a beat, maybe two. I was awestruck. We hung around the area capturing more of the elusive beauty – peacocks strutting about, pigeons gathering in groups, and historic houses standing majestically against the desert backdrop. Finally, we set out to Jaisalmer picking up a colleague on the way at Jodhpur. Jaisalmer was our first stop on the recce.
GR Photofile: Thar Desert Wildlife. Desert has abundance of spotted deer, blue bulls, peacocks.
GR Photofile: Peacocks are fiercly protected by Bhishnoi community, and it shows in their numbers.
We set out the next morning to visit hotels that would serve as residences for runners, during that leg of the run. Needless to say, they are truly royal, and spectacular in their architecture. We were treated with great hospitality, including scrumptious food, before we set out to see Jaisalmer Fort where descendants of earlier royal families, and their relatives own apartments within the fort complex. Inside the fort was a maze of shops, apartments, as well as crumbling sections of the fort-wall. View of the city from the vantage point at one end of the fort is impressive, and one can almost see Pakistan border on the horizon, or so it seemed.
GR Photofile: Jaisalmer Fort vantage point
GR Photofile: WIthin the Jaisalmer Fort walls
My only grouse are the touts, and guides who literally mob you, and come too close for comfort. If you can block that out, you will take away a marvelous experience of seeing intricate lattice and filigree, imposing structures, and complex architecture.
GR Photofile: Beautiful Filigree work. Part of Jaisalmer Fort's intricate building structure
Our next stop: Pokhran, where it all came together. The Thakurs of Pokhran live in their heritage home, with a rich 700-year old history. Kunwara of Pokhran is the 14th generation owner of this fort, which houses 19 intricately decorated rooms, unique in style, and presentation, as well as the Thakur’s family apartments. We arrived at Pokhran around lunchtime, and waited for Param Vijay Singh, Kunwara of Pokhran. My interaction with him over the previous few months have been lengthy, and extensive. I was looking forward to meeting him in person finally. Again, I was in for a surprise when a handsome young lad walked in looking gloriously royal. No mistaking his regal lineage. We were treated to lunch before heading out to the dunes, with Param in toe, in his proper business attire and shoes. What a fun afternoon it was, running up the dunes, while Param pointed out beautiful route possibilities, and ran up the dunes with us in his, yes, dress shoes!
GR Photofile: Param on the dunes in his proper dress shoes 🙂 It sure was a hot day!
GR Photofile: Sliding down the dunes can be as much fun as running up! Thar Recce 2009
We spent the evening discussing route options and terrains available around Pokhran. The beauty of the place combined with logistics consideration had us choosing to start the race in Pokhran, and completely forgo the Jaisalmer leg of the race. And that’s how Pokhran came to be the center point of Globeracers’ Thar Run. A beautiful quaint town on the highway from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, with its unassuming Thakur family, doing their best for people who respected, and looked up to them for ages, it offers sand dunes, historic ruins, and salt flats to mix it up, thus treating runners to a variety of terrain and not limiting the entire duration of the race to dunes.
GR Photofile: Temple architecture.
GR Photofile: Camp Thar - Fourth day's stay location during Thar Race 2009
GR Photofile: Lalniwas, Phalodi, third day's stay location during Thar Race 2009
GR Photofile: Life in the Thar desert can be extremely harsh, and these ladies have been walking for over 4km by the time I caught up with them. They are extremely shy, and I had to coax them into posing for me. They agreed only after pulling their veils lower 🙂
Since we intend to change the race route every year, it might be several years before we visit these quaint little towns again, but we are positive they will be reintroduced at some point. Till then, our quest for unexplored, and under-served small towns with breathtaking beauty will be an important factor for the Globeracers’ Thar Run.
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