Our morning started relatively early. We booked a Village Safari tour to take us into the villages of Rajasthan. At 9 am we met our driver, whose name escaped me, who was overly excited to have us on his tour. He was driving a war-time Willyz American Jeep (including steering wheel on the "left" aka correct side of the car, so I'm sure it wasn't a street legal vehicle in Jodphur) and wanted to know all about us, including if we had any boyfriends (why he was asking was beyond me, as we eventually learned he had just had a baby with his wife, oh well). He was proud of his limited American knowledge, which mostly centered around types of cars. We headed off the road and into the villages.
Our first stop was to a Muslim community of potters. We were able to see clay pots being made, using a wheel that rotated on a piece of wood and manually had to be turned. It was pretty fascinating how they could create pots and matching lids with a wheel that spun crookedly. Next we went to a Bishnoi Village, where they believe in eco-friendly behavior (very unique in the trash-covered India) and protection of the green trees. They are thoroughly dependent on the monsoon, and live in very isolated villages where farming provides their main source of income. They share an opium pipe with us (I did not indulge) which is actually illegal everywhere in the world, offered us some tea, and allowed us to dress up in traditional Rajasthani outfits and attempt to carry a pot on our heads (we were unsuccessful in the balancing act). We continued on our way to a Unicef School, Shepherd's Community, a Co-Operative Weaving Society (who was very proud to show us his book of famous visitors, including Richard Gere, Prince Charles, the Smashing Pumpkins, and a few others I wasn't familiar with), and a Block Printing Family, and finally a nice lunch at the driver's brother and sister-in-law's house. We also spotted lots of wildlife along the way, and stopped at a bird sanctuary.
The highlight (which is probably the wrong word) of the safari was when we were stuck in a herd of sheep (which we actually encountered multiple times). Our driver was quite impatient (he was a fast driver, which was annoying on back dirt/sand roads with lots of bumps, while we had to hold on to straps for dear life in the back of an open-air WWII jeep!) and continued driving into the herd, despite our protestations. Well, he ran over a sheep. The sheep managed to get out from under the car, but was limping, and it just about broke my heart. The shepherd came to confront our driver since he had hurt one of his sheep, which is the shepherd's livelihood. Our driver refused to apologize, and a 20 minute fight ensued that scared us all. The shepherd wanted our driver to pay for the sheep and then take the sheep, since a lame sheep was no good to him and would slow the progress of the herd. Finally the argument ended with our driver agreeing to pay Rs 100 to the shepherd (which he had to borrow from us).
Finally, much later than we had anticipated, we arrived back to the hostel. When the driver offered one last plea for us to get him into Lonely Planet (Lonely Planet recognition means the world to businesses here! If they get in the guide, their business is set. There is a story of a man who had a shop somewhere in Iraq perhaps that waited 5 years for Lonely Planet to come visit, and was so excited when they did, the advisor had no other option but to write a lovely review). The village tour was rather fascinating, as it was like a heritage village, except these were real people living their real life. Apparently, National Geographic is coming in two weeks to do the same tour to film a special for TV.
I rested in the evening, read some more of my second book of the trip, Sunflower, and wound up having a very active evening!
I was on TWO Indian National News Channels.
So the owner of the guest house asked if I wouldn't mind dressing up in Rajasthani clothes and filming a special on Diwali. Myself, Stella, and Amanda (from Australia who was at the guest house helping with the NGO for Empowering Women), and Sofi (from Germany who was also with the NGO (Non-Government Organization) were dressed up in beautiful dresses and worked with a film crew for more than 2 hours. We created traditional symbols on the floor, adorned them with flowers, did a traditional Indian dance (that we were improvising by attempting to follow Sofi's lead), participated in a prayer ritual, and finally were interviewed about our thoughts on Diwali (The Indian New Year/Christmas equivalent). The interview questions were very leading, and you could sense the sound clips the station wanted us to say, which none of us did. They asked questions like "Do you feel more beautiful in this traditional Indian dress?" "Do you feel better with having yourself covered?" "How does this festival compare to those from your home country?" "Do you want to come back to India every year for this festival?" I was very careful with the wording of my response, and the other girls were impressed with my PC responses (perhaps from years of working with a State Senator). The evening was fun though, and I was very honored to be involved. I can't wait to share the pictures!
After our very long, tiring evening in the bright lights with the film crew, we were hungry. We went to a restaurant called "On the Rocks" and had a really nice dinner. The ambiance was great, as it was like the Rainforest Cafe (except real). I do find a funny similarity in the restaurants here, however, and that is the number of menus they bring. We are a group of 4 at most meals, and it would seem that most restaurants only have 3 menus... as we never get enough menus and always have to insist on more!!
I went to bed exhausted, and knew I would have an early morning with the alarm set for 5:15 (ugh!) to catch a train to Ajmer.
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