The day of travel, we rose with the Sun; a 5.30 am start dragging a multitude of bags through the station that burnt rings in our hands, arms and shoulders with their weight. A collection of home comforts no doubt we would soon disregard as part of our former selves. We boarded the train to Bikaner, awaiting the journey ahead, to which none of us anticipated the increasing aridness and thronging heat that seemed to hit us the closer we got to our destination.
Though such heat it seemed, only propelled our excitement further as none of us had ever ventured into the desert before.
Finally, part baked and thirsty, we pulled into the station.
The guest house owner, aboard a buzzing little scooter, aided the auto driver with navigation to our guest house. Our first impression of Bikaner was the immense heat of the place; the adjustment of breathing scorching air and an auto journey with 4 of us tentatively balancing a gazillion bags in our laps.
Upon arrival, his wife warmly welcomed us with Swagat ; A traditional way of way of welcoming new friends into the home.
Swagat
Once inside, we were greeted with amazing food; a thali of daal and fluffy rice with tastily spiced potato at the side (Aloosabzi) and homemade curd. Dainty cups filled with steaming masala chai warm our spirits and make us feel rejuvenated again. At least after the lunch we knew that we were really lucky with our accommodation.
The house is lovely and airy with high ceilings and large windows. We have two shared rooms; one big and traditionally decorated with beautiful curtains over the windows and doors. The other a previous kid’s room, which has pictures of aeroplanes on the wall and at night glow in the dark stars on the ceilings. The traditional beds are hard but more than appealing at the end of a long, exhausting day of travelling.
The family’s home is a guesthouse that boards students; they are bedding us, feeding us and welcoming us into their home. Even with the language barrier for all of us, we feel completely warm and at ease. Kaveri is the only one of us speaking some Hindi, so is constantly translating and helps to keep the rest of the group right. They have two young sons who help the parents with everything. Aunty and Uncle equally split chores; they are very in sync with each other and are a truly lovely couple. Well fed and relaxed entirely, we all retired for a nap that seemed endless and well needed.
Our evening ended with a homely family dinner and watching the sun rapidly descend over the multi coloured houses into indigo dusk, harmonised by cicada song.
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