No, not that one. Or the coming one. On Tuesday night, freak weather hitting various parts of the world has also affected the tiny and holy town of Pushkar, Raj., upon which nature visited a storm whose proportions can only accurately be described as BIBLICAL. And there was light! What began as a tiny spark, a murmur of light in the most remote periphery of my vision amassed an almost thermonuclear amplitude and intensity in the space of just ten minutes, just enough time for me to emerge, like a reluctant larva, from my too-snug sleeping bag and scramble upstairs to watch. The atmosphere on the roof of the Shanti Palace guest house, my $2-a night palazzo with its Byronesque menagerie of monkeys, cows, dogs and exotic birds, was hushed, as everyone waited for the storm to hit. Thunder rumbled in the hills, across the dunes, and the rooftops flashed white as lightning filled the sky. Nearer and nearer it came, and we counted, but no lightning struck. Instead it flashed from one side of the landscape to the other, never finding a spire, a tall tree, even a lone camel, to carry its charge earthwards. Drops of water randomly spattered the lean-to on our roof, and we hurriedly gathered the rugs, cushions, fire-making materials, secured the hammocks, and waited for the rain. Imagine, imagine! dear reader, our surprise, standing there on this tiny rooftop as we were, in the tiny town of Pushkar, Raj., in the middle of the Great Desert of Thar, our great surprise as ice, not rain, came falling from the sky in great chips, centimetre-sized cubes, hammering and rattling the corrugated aluminium of our rooftop den. A miracle of rare device! The deluge continued for about ten minutes, scaring everyone and everything in sight or sound of it, and eventually gave way to rainfall. The next morning everyone seemed slightly sheepish, almost embarassed - as though they'd been surprised in the night while making love, or had been overheard bickering.
Fortunately, in my random and unpredictable wisdom, I'd missed the nightbus to Jodhpur, where I'd planned to see the blue city and its glorious fort. I'd checked out, packed, gone to the travel agent by the bus stop, accompanied by my new and dear friend Angel (really. From America.), and waited. Promises by the agent that the deluxe bus, a 2x2, would arrive with a seat reserved in the name of Y.Truly, proved empty. A government bus, packed to bursting with locals, their grandmothers, aunts, children, goats, etc. etc pulled up, and my agent deftly attempted to get me on it before I noticed that it wasn't what I'd ordered. My luggage secreted in the bowels of the bus, I climbed the steps up to the cabin, in time to see the agent hurriedly shooing a woman and her child from a seat, gesturing for me to take it. By this time, I realized that the rat I'd smelt was probably a real one, so I turned on my heel, relocated said mother and brat, collected my luggage, and headed back to the Shanti Palace, where I was given a hero's welcome.
So I leave tonight, for Jaisalmer and its famous camel safari. I'll take notes.
Fortunately, in my random and unpredictable wisdom, I'd missed the nightbus to Jodhpur, where I'd planned to see the blue city and its glorious fort. I'd checked out, packed, gone to the travel agent by the bus stop, accompanied by my new and dear friend Angel (really. From America.), and waited. Promises by the agent that the deluxe bus, a 2x2, would arrive with a seat reserved in the name of Y.Truly, proved empty. A government bus, packed to bursting with locals, their grandmothers, aunts, children, goats, etc. etc pulled up, and my agent deftly attempted to get me on it before I noticed that it wasn't what I'd ordered. My luggage secreted in the bowels of the bus, I climbed the steps up to the cabin, in time to see the agent hurriedly shooing a woman and her child from a seat, gesturing for me to take it. By this time, I realized that the rat I'd smelt was probably a real one, so I turned on my heel, relocated said mother and brat, collected my luggage, and headed back to the Shanti Palace, where I was given a hero's welcome.
So I leave tonight, for Jaisalmer and its famous camel safari. I'll take notes.
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