People & Places - Part II

Our guides were our chefs who prepared simple and tasty food. The menu is always Rice, Dal, Roti and Vegetable. One should appreciate the efficiency of these guys, during the preparation of food. They use to carry only some plates, 2 bowls and some tumblers, with this minimal vessel they use to prepare food. One thing can be noticed is that these are not washed by water, but by sand. As a city dweller we will find this odd, but due to heat of the sand, I think this is more hygienic than washing it by water. Also if every time they have to wash things with water then they have to walk 10kms back to the well to get water. This area is survived without rain for the past four years.

In this region there are around 20-30 villages, and each village is situated at a distance of 10 to 15kms. Each village has a drinking water well near by, which is around 2kms. I had the chance to see the water, it was actually brown in color, they draw the water, keep it for a day so that the dust settles down and then they distill it and use for drinking. These villages do business not much with money, but it is through give and take. Every four to five villages have a hospital and the nearby big hospital is 50Kms away with very minimal equipments. In most of the villages there is still no power supply. The relationship is worse between Hindus and Muslims when they are inside the village, but when they are outside the village they are like brothers. It is been told that if either a Hindu or a Muslim tries to sneak into the others territory, the intruders eyes, hands and legs could be cut off.

For the past 50yrs our great politicians have been promising these people that they would provide electricity, water and other basic needs. But the villages near Jaisalmer are lucky enough to get at least electricity and water. The remaining villages are still in the same state. For people over here getting a loan of 10k from a bank is like getting water. After bribing all the people in the bank and outside these people may get 5k for a loan of 10k, and still pay the interest and principal for the 10k.

But still these people love India.