Kuldhara: The Village That was Abandoned Overnight.

By Ekta Bhatnagar.

Kuldhara, a village in Rajasthan, is believed to have been abandoned in a single night by the locals. People now believe it is haunted. The story behind the village is intriguing. We heard that a long time back, the village was full of Paliwal Brahmins. Their community can now be found in the entire state of Rajasthan. But around 500 years ago, no one knew where they vanished.

Jaisalmer’s Desert: A Starry Night Affair.

The desert occupied a special place in my mind in my childhood. It was curiosity, almost skewing towards fear. The almost ‘non-existent’ water, and the possibility of getting lost in the never-ending sand dunes were my impressions of the desert. Though the fear diluted as I grew up, it never vanished. In fact, I was about to drop Jaisalmer from my itinerary. But somehow, sanity prevailed and we decided to go ahead with Jaisalmer.

The Sand dunes of Khuri at Dawn 

The plot was perfectly set. Our third marriage anniversary, intricate henna designs on my better half’s hands, and a fantastic 330 km road journey from Bikaner to Jaisalmer. The plan was to reach our destination, Mangalam Resort in Khuri, 40 km away from Jaisalmer, before sunset. However, we ran behind schedule, and had to satisfy ourselves with watching the sun set in the shadow of wind turbines.

We were expecting a plot similar to the song ‘Morni Baaga Maa Dole’ from ‘Lamhe’. The whole Khuri felt like an archipelago of resorts in the sea of sand. It was twilight, and the tourists were still riding on camels. We fortunately were guided to Mangalam, located on the edge of the village, and hence slightly peaceful. After mild (and failed) monetary negotiations with the soft spoken owner Jeetu, we entered the premises.

We felt like everybody was just waiting for us. The huge bonfire was set in the middle of the premises and the Rajasthani folk singers added magic to the wonderful environment. Since we were the only Indian couple amongst the guests, the folk singers replaced the main characters in most of the songs with me and Anita! It turned out to be the best anniversary celebration we ever had as we danced and sang around the bonfire. After a normal Rajasthani dinner, we were in for a surprise. The resort people had arranged a quick cake made of churma laddu to celebrate our anniversary.

The Fire Dancer in Khuri Village

With a smile on our faces and food in our tummies, we boarded a camel cart which took us to the desert within half an hour. I never knew I would be introduced to the desert on a starry night. The camel cart was moving swiftly, even though many people had boarded it. It was pitch dark and stunningly silent. Not a regular affair at 9 pm in the cities.

Finally, in the middle of the sand dunes, our cart stopped. It was a new moon night, but the zillion stars twinkling above made it one of the most beautiful sights we have ever seen. And ahoy, we simply put our beds on the sand (meaning no tent) and lay down staring at the stars. It looked like a congregation of beauties. The numerous shooting stars in the sky felt like naughty smiles on the faces of the beauties. Our hunky sand dunes were entirely smitten by the celestial aura. We were the only witnesses to this amazing love story. It seemed like the silence was a bard singing a song epitomizing this affair.

If it has to be believed that shooting stars actually lead to the fulfillment of wishes, then me and my better half have had enough for this lifetime. And one of them is to certainly come back to this wonderful place and watch the celestial affair from a new moon to a full moon in this lifetime, at least once! :)

 The Desert Sunrise

Author Bio: A stock market analyst, the author is a dreamer who wishes to travel the length and breadth (and wherever possible, the height) of the Himalayas, from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. In the spare time, would love to visit other places also across the globe. :) A die hard foodie who is open to all vegeterian options on the earth and follows Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma diligently. Finally, loves to pour everything while writting. He blogs at http://randomthoughtsamit.blogspot.in and tweets @amit_hiremath

For more stories off the beaten path in India, visit www.indiauntravelled.com or join India Untravelled on Facebook and Twitter. To contribute guest posts / photo essays to this blog, please send your story ideas to shivya@indiauntravelled.com. 

Pabbu ki Dhani: Adventures in the desert.

By Rakhee Ghelani.

This was my home for 24 hours when I visited this small, isolated village in the Thar desert. To call it a village is probably too big a word, it is a simple home which has 4 small huts for visitors, this is Pabu ki Dhani.  Pabu welcomed us into his home so we could experience a little piece of the Rajasthani desert. Unlike other desert treks near Jaisalmer (I went on another with my father over 10 years ago), there are no other tourists in sight, this is a true rural experience.  There is no running water, no electricity and no glamourous permanent tents. This is real life.

Pabu (along with his wife Capucine who was not there on our visit) aim to support the local villages and expose their visitors to the crafts that are practised every day.  There is no big sales push, just the chance to see people doing what they do every day.

We visited one village where we watched this man create candlestick holders, bowls and cups from a lump of clay.

The village that he lived in looked isolated.

Of course in each village there are children who followed us begging to have their photo taken and then squealing with delight when they could see there visage back on the digital screen.


These young girls were not at school even though it was a weekday, the privilege of education that is something afforded only for the boys in this village. Sadly when we asked their age none of them could tell us because they didn’t know. This was just an afternoon for us, but for them this isolated village is their life. My heart sank as I saw the squalid conditions in which they lived. Rajasthan is one of the least educated states in India and also one where poverty is more marked.

I have written before (here and here) about how helpless I feel when seeing poverty here, I now don’t even think I can verbalise how I felt after meeting these young girls.


As we drove from village to village, the long empty roads of the desert stretched before us.

The landscape is eerie but spectacular.  It seems incomprehensible to me that people have survived in this inhospitable environment for hundreds of years.  It is certainly easier nowadays with jeeps and mobile phones, but even in this modern age one cannot escape the harshness of the desert.

Of course as a guest in someone’s home I was spared the harsh reality of desert life.  Instead I was treated to fabulous home cooked food and had comfortable shelter.

Being a tourist I couldn’t resist the obligatory camel ride in the desert. I recall the last time I was in Jaisalmer I took a camel ride with my father, at the end of which he declared that it was unlikely he would travel with me again (camels didn’t agree with him  ).  Despite this memory I decided to give this odd looking beast one more chance.


Thankfully she was kind to me.

She took me through the sand dunes that seemed to stretch on for hours.

As evening approached we settled on the verandah and listened to some local men sing folk songs around the fire.  Looking up at the stars, I closed my eyes and just listened to the serenity.  This really must be the most peaceful place in India.

The author blogs at aussiegirlinIndia.com and tweets @aussiegirlindia.


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