“You are going to Jaisalmer for a weekend? To experience monsoons there?” asks my brother, his bemusement loud and clear over phone.
“Yes,” I reply.
“Last I knew, Jaisalmer was a desert and it doesn’t rain there,” he says. “Has climate change brought about rains there?”
“Very funny,” I retort.
“But seriously, people come to Mumbai, your city, to experience the rains, and you want to experience monsoons elsewhere ?
“It will be nice to experience the rains elsewhere for a change.”
“It has to rain in the first place ! Besides, weren’t you in Jaisalmer just 5 months back? Why do you want to go back so soon?” my brother persists.
I had asked myself these questions when I received an invitation from Suryagarh in Jaisalmer to host me and experience the magic of monsoons in the desert. A luxury boutique hotel, Suryagarh wished to showcase “a representation of a unique way of life, carefully preserving the traditions of…[the] past [and] framing them in a modern idiom”. The invitation also invited me to “celebrate the exuberance of Monsoons with us… [where] Jaisalmer transforms its barren beauty into inimitable patches of green pastures, lush oasis brimming with water and newness in all forms of life”.
I was tempted. Very tempted to say yes immediately, particularly as this was an invitation for a visit over a weekend which meant that this wouldn’t interfere with my office work. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go back to Jaisalmer, a place I had visited earlier in February this year and had come back with mixed feelings. While I had loved the old world charm of the Jaisalmer Fort, its havelis, wall art and Jain temples, I found it hard to ignore the unimaginable filth all over the city and or the overwhelming sadness and grief that I felt when I visited the royal cenotaphs. But then, another part of me (the one that wanted me to accept the invitation) said that this was the chance to see the many places that I had missed out on seeing and of course experience the rains in a different setting and context.
I rarely say no to an opportunity to travel, but this was a difficult choice to make. So, I decided to take the help of good old Google and get some information on Suryagarh which would (hopefuuly) help me decide on whether this invitation was worth it or not.
A search on Suryagarh threw up the usual links and glowing testimonials on various sites (including blogs), interesting trivia (an episode of Season 2 of Masterchef India was filmed here), many photographs, and quite a few links leading to the owner of Suryagarh, Manvendra Singh Shekhawat. This is turn led me to the “I love Jaisalmer” campaign, which was initiated in March 2013 by Manvendra, and something I was unaware of till then.
As I read about the campaign through various updates on its Facebook page, various news reports and videos, it was with an increasing sense of delight that something was being done to clean up Jaisalmer and give it the chance to really claim the title of the golden city. After reading all about the campaign, I knew I had to visit Jaisalmer again and I accepted Suryagarh’s offer to host me without too much of a hesitation.
And that is how I spent the weekend of August 3 and 4 at Suryagarh, and experienced travel from a very different and unique perspective. I also got the chance to finally meet with some fellow bloggers that I had only interacted with on social media before — Mridula, Shivya and Anuradha — and also those with whom I had not — Supriya, Anita, Ruchika, Neelima and Preeti.
“Well, I’m going back to Jaisalmer because I want to,” I say. “I want to see all that I had missed out on last time. I want to see if the city has really cleaned up. And I want to experience the rains in the desert…”
“Okay, okay,” my brother says. “I hope you get to experience at least one drizzle there.”
“Oh I think I’ll experience more than just one drizzle.”
Second chances, second time or revisits to places that I have travelled to earlier is something that I had not experienced before. Till this visit to Jaisalmer, that is. It is a visit that I made the most of, saw some new places, saw some places I had visited earlier in February, enjoyed local cuisine, music, and so much more.
And did I experience the magic of monsoons in Jaisalmer? Well, you’ll just have to come back and read the posts to follow. 😀
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Read my other posts from the Suryagarh series:
- The Suryagarh experience
- Something new, something old: Jaisalmer revisited
- The incredible music of Salim Khan and Sikander Langha
My Favourite Things 
Your post is compelling me to visit Jaisalmer 🙂 really nice.
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Thank you, Jas. And to my surprise I found that this so-called off-season is a good time for there are no tourist hordes and in many places our group was the only one there 🙂
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Compelling post and Rajasthan is definitely on ma list:)
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Thanks, Vishal. I hope that you get to visit this beautiful state soon. 🙂
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Like everyone seems to have voiced before me, compelling seems to be the word here. This is one of those posts which say go-there-right-now! Lovely! 🙂
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It was the thought of a different experience and the hoe to see a clean Jaisalmer that compelled me to accept the invitation from my host, Suryagarh. And I’m glad I did as I saw a Jaisalmer that I completely missed last time. 🙂
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Lucky that you got to visit the beautiful city twice … 🙂 🙂 I read about the chudail trail in your trip in one of the post 🙂
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Yes, I consider myself very lucky to have visited Jaisalmer twice. I did not do the chudail trail as I had hurt my leg, but the others in my group did and they have written about it / will be writing about it on their blogs. But I visited Kuldhara, one of the sites on the trail, when I had visited Jaisalmer in Februrary. 🙂
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Chudail trail? 😮 What is that?
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Chudials are like pischachis and this trail led through the haunted village of Kuldhara, which you have read about in my blog earlier.
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Having read some of your travel posts, including on Rajasthan, I am certainly looking forward to some interesting and off-beat travel posts from you Sudhagee. More so, because I have not seen any place in that state except Jaipur.
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You must visit Jaisalmer, Alarmelvalli. The lansdscape, the desertscape and the vastness is something else altogether. People say they feel dwarfed by mountains. Well, I felt like that in the plain, vast, emptiness of the desert.
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And oh, loved the conversation between you and your brother 🙂
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😀
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wonderful post, Sudha!!!! cant wait to read all about what u did a second time at jaisalmer!!!! and btw, looks like i have missed quite a few of your posts… hope to catch up soon!!!
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Thank you, Anu. The second time in Jaisalmer was so different from my first time that I am actually wondering if I should revisit all the places I have travelled to before 🙂 I have 3 more posts lined up of Jaisalmer. Hope you enjoy those too !
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have read a lot from other travel bloggers on suryagarh….looks like an enticing place definitely 🙂
http://www.myunfinishedlife.com
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Welcome here and thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. 🙂 We were 9 of us at Suryagarh so yes, you are going to read a lot about this faulous place and our experiences there in the coming week or so.
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From what I hear of monsoons in Mumbai, a break from that should count as joy 🙂
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Suresh, there are two types of monsoons in the world. The ones in Mumbai and ones elsewhere in the world. I love rains anywhere in the world, even the bleak one in London. So the rains in Jaisalmer was another experience altogether 🙂
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This seems to be far better than tv serials…suspense, doubt, magic, monsoon, travel..and the quintessential question..what happens next? Will Sudha experience more than one drizzle? Can’t wait to know more…:-)
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Phikar not ! The wait will not be long, the next post comes up tonight 🙂
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Waiting to read more here. I’m off to Jaisalmer in Novemeber for a 3N – 4D trip. Will be great to hear recommendations from you, even greater if they come in an email 🙂
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That’s wonderful. And I hope that by the time you go to Jaisalmer, the “I love Jaisalmer” campaign would have made further inroads into cleaning the city and who knows, you just might be looking at a model tourist city in India. Do read my Jaisalmer posts and I will send you the interesting tidbits about the city for mail. Yes, there are some which is not meant to be shared in a public space like this 😉
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Loved the trailer for your Jaisalmer trip post/s. Looking forward to the movie now. 😀
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Glad you liked the trailer. I hope that the movie is just as interesting. *chews nails*
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Why this suspense?? When are you penning the next post in the series?
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Suspense acchha hota hai 🙂 And the next post is up 🙂
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This is a nice curtain raiser. Looking forward to the story as it unfolds….
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Thank Deepa. The next post on my stay in Suryagarh has been published. Hope you enjoy this series 🙂
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Very beautiful place…
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Yes, Jaisalmer is a beautiful place. Very beautiful place.
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