The 12 hour train journey from Delhi to Phalodi had blown out to a 16 hour journey. We were travelling in a 2nd class sleeper carriage which was comfortable enough but made for a very interrupted sleep. We were also very hungry having survived on nuts and dried fruit, terrified of contracting Delhi Belly from the hawker food. Of course we drank plenty of delicious sweet milky chai, 5 rupee a cup.
We had no way of knowing when our station would be next. Asking fellow passengers produced various results from 'yes' (yes what?) to 'maybe 2 hours' to 'Phalodi?'. gulp. So we sat with our bags packed , ready to leap off at any given moment. (I somehow left my book, 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry with photos of my Ava, which would become the bane of my trip! Too many hours in the heat of the desert day when there is nothing you can do but....sit and read nothing!)
Our moment arrived at 10.30 am. My first impression of Rajasthani people as I alighted the train was their beauty! The women were stunning with their vibrant ghargra's - fuscia, orange, red, gold and plenty of adorning jewelry, even when working hard in the fields. We were met by Mr M.P Singh and driven to his house in the village for some breakfast. We wouldn't find out till later that Mr M.P Singh was the Raj of this area, and his family considered royalty! Whilst the Raj doesn't have any official power anymore, they are still very much revered in their communities.
Mr M.P Singh, Raj
Their home was simple and a little run down by Western standards, but a few things such as his daughter-in-laws' ghargras and jewelry collections that were discreetly locked away gave us clues the family was of some significance.
As we approached midday the heat became unbearable. It was more than 40 degrees...something we weren't quite prepared for. This was practically winter!...it reached the mid 50's in Summer we were told.
We spent the day in the family's hospitality whilst waiting to meet our group. We played with his grandchildren (gorgeous!) dressed up in their local dress and one of the daughters gave me a beautiful henna tattoo on my hand. It was a very special day.
The cultural divide reared it's head again. There was much confusion about why a married woman with a child would be travelling without her family - and worse with another man! The concept of a male/female friendship does not really exist in their culture, nor did they understand the idea of a "work colleague". Their seemed to be a question mark about my morals. The language barrier did not help.
The group arrived about 4pm, and we were taken to camp. It was great to meet everyone we would be working with over the next few days. A mixed bag as you would expect, but everyone shared the same excitement about the project.
The camp site was all set up - a tent each for sleeping (bliss!) a tent for meals, a kitchen tent and two toilet tents. A delicious meal was served and I immediately excused myself and fell utterly exhausted into my tent. The jet lag had caught up with me, the lack of sleep from the train, the extreme heat and all the cultural confusion had drained me.
I finally slept.
