Namaste!

I could not have wished for a better birthday present... :-) :-)

In the desert we laughed like children. It was a laughter that could not be expelled from my belly fast enough and caused me to become so weak that I could not hold onto Tara (my camel). Once when seated on Tara I had to beg Sarjan to stop the camels from trotting for fear of my falling off due to my uncontrollable laughter because I could no longer stand to watch K bobbing up and down abruptly on Pepsi whilst I fell to the left and then the right unable to get a grip. Just like children, we had all the time in the world, we did not have to be anywhere, do anything or be someone other than ourselves. It was a wonderful experience that has left me feeling sated and peaceful.

Sarjan's accommodating and warm character welcomed us into the land which he knows so well, I am certain that it was his company that made our experience so fantastic. He shared details of his life and gave us an insight into life in the desert. Sarjan has an amazing memory, his English is astounding, he speaks with colloquialisms and has grasped humour in a language other than his mother tongue - often a difficult thing to do. A man who never went to school, he cannot read or write even his own name yet he has much skill. He is highly resourceful, imaginative, sincere and has a talent in communicating with people. I loved the way he said K's name, drawing it out slowly and deliberately in exactly the same way he said Pep-si. He constantly sang, he looked after us and was a great host. We felt much affection for him - it was hard not to.

Tara and Pepsi made various sounds - occasionally a short high pitch whistle, a gurgle like water running down a drain and sometimes they would sound like Jabbawockies. Sarjan knew what the sounds meant, whether the camel was hungry, thirsty, frisky or tired. He knew which plants and trees the camels needed to feed from, whether they needed something salty or sweet from the leaves. He was commanding of them, even when they were disobeying his commands he still managed to remain gentle and respectful when issuing discipline. They burped and made foul smells as they regurgitated their food, their constant flatulence was also more humorous than foul in smell. They constantly ate, feeding either from the plants around, bags of hay (that they hauled themselves) or from the food brought up to their grinding teeth from their stomach. As they chewed various muscles about their head, around the eyes, behind the ears flexed and undulated. At every opportunity there was the sound of tearing shrub and snapping twig from their mouths as they snacked and walked. They held their heads high as though they were Maharajahs of the animal world in the desert, we were honoured to be in their presence. They sweated only from the back of their neck, it beaded in the small patch of hair and looked like thick blood or oil. When you touched it, you found that it was more like grape juice. They had a unique smell, not unlike a horse but definitely camel, we too had the same smell after three days in their company!

We were constantly accompanied by the wind. It rushed over the hills and dunes, through the trees and around rocks, villages and herds. It was never too loud more like a constant reminder of the space around us in which it flowed, if you shut your eyes you could hear the shape of the landscape because of it.

Of the sand I continued to see a sea captured in time. The region was once covered in salinated water, there is much evidence of this particularly in the vast number of tiny white spiral shells that can be found floating in the sand. I imagined the dunes to be raging waves upon which ships with white sails floated, the skill of the crew continuously challenged. There was spray when the sand was finely blown in the breeze over a soft ridge.

I looked at sand untainted by tracks and wanted to run across it as though it were virgin snow.

I watched our footprints disappear in the breeze as though we had never existed and I wondered whether this is how the ghosts of the desert felt (Sarjan told us that there were desert ghosts).

It was great to dream and observe, to become lost in ones thoughts....the thought of TE Lawrence, Arabia and World War battles. Of African savanna, when graceful antelope crossed our path in the distance. Of Tatooine, Jawas and Tauntauns.

I have much more to share with you but we are starving. I lost this post twice when writing it and it has taken me forever to get it back from memory. I am glad to have gotten this much down..... finally and am now posting before there are any other disasters....!!!! :-)

The next post will be from Delhi. Goodnight.