Breakfast on the terrace, last wander around Sardargarh (with an eye out for cobras) and on the road through mostly agricultural lands to Rohet Garh.
Nandu explained a bit about the names of cities in India ... "pur" can be translated as "city", so Udaipur would be Udai's city -- Udai being the Mahanrana Udai Singh who founded the city.
"Garh" can be translated as "fort" -- Sardargarh was the fort found by Sardar Singh.
"Abad" (i.e. Hyderabad) would indicate a settlement/area that had been founded by Muslim Rulers.
Today's destination was Rohet Garh, about a 150 km drive, where I would again be staying inside the walls of a 16th century fort in a more desert like area.
Last look through part of the unrestored Fort at Sardargarh
Milkman on deliveries
Mud bricks drying
Locals make mud bricks, drying them in the sun, then make a 'beehive' of them and put a fire in the centre for about one month to cure them.
Don't feed the monkeys!
Baby camel strolling the streets
Herd of camels trimming the trees
We made a stop at a road side shrine, called Om Banna or Bullet Banna, visited by hundreds every day seeking blessings for a safe journey. The shrine is to 350 cc Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle and the young man (Om) who was riding it in the late 1980's when he lost control, hit a tree and was killed.
Incense burner with a picture of Om Banna
The locals tell of how the police took the motorcycle to the police station but the next morning it had disappeared and was discovered back at the accident site. The police took it back to the station a number of times, putting it under lock and key, but it kept reappearing at the accident site.
The locals believed this to be a miracle and built a temple around the motorcycle, with pictures of Om Singh, incense burners, and a priest who maintains it.
When you visit, you are given a blessing with a 'tilak' marked on your forehead and worshippers tie bits of red string, thread, bracelets or what-have-you to the shrines or trees there, and burn incense and pray.
The motorcycle - Bullet Banna
Young worshipper
Young woman who was singing songs at the shrine
Baby girl toddler - heads are shaved with the belief it will grow back stronger and fuller.
Suite in the old fort - looking down from upstairs sitting area.
Reached Rohet Garh in the early afternoon, quick check in and off in an open jeep to visit some of the surrounding Rajasthan villages.
Upstairs sitting room.
Black buck antelope
The first village was about 45 minutes by jeep through the low scrub and sand of the sparse edge of the Thar Desert, and it was hot -- bordering 40 degrees celsius. The grandparents were there, minding the children and chores about the homes, while the parents worked out in the fields or tended animals.
Huts and thorn fencing
The cluster of 'rooms' were mud walled with thatch roofs and smoothened mud floors swept immaculately clean. Separate huts for cooking, sleeping, and storage -- all surrounded by a low wall and fencing of thorny branches.
Elder, spinning wool
Grandmother, minding children and preparing food.
Kitchen with interior firepit for cooking.
Outdoor meal prep and clean up area
Bedroom
Benches/outdoor sleeping cots and piles of delicious melons surrounded by thorny fencing.
Hoe and hand broom
The children were home from school and absolutely delightful -- curious and eager to show their schoolwork which, again, had me astounded at the levels of math and English they were learning.
Off to visit the next Bishnoi village, unique in that although opium is illegal in India, this tribal Hindi sect have special permission to use it for religious and ceremonial purposes.
Another immaculate kitchen.
Poppy pod
I was invited to watch the Opium Ceremony performed by the elders of the village. A wave of a hand directed me to sit on a thin cotton pad to the left of the elders. The flower pod of the poppy was ground with a pestle in a hard wood mortar, mixed with sugar and water and filtered through twice through a system that looked somewhat like a set of scales.
Atop the 'scales' was a miniature shrine and I was invited to place a small piece of opium while the three elders offered up chants. The amber colored liquid drained into the mortars which also acted as serving vessels with a spout to pour the opium tea into the palm of the elder in the centre. He then offered his hand to the elder on his right, who drained the liquid in noisy slurps only to have the palm filled another two times for him to drink up.
Pieces of the pod to be ground in the mortar/serving vessel
This was repeated to the elder on the other side and then to my guide, who then rinsed his hands and repeated the ceremony for the elder -- a ceremony the elders of the village perform 2-4 times a day.
While I couldn't detect any noticeable effects on any of them, the elders eyes were glassy.
Afterwards, they each cupped a lit bidi (rolled tobacco encased in a leaf and tied with a bit of red string) to the inside of their hands and inhaled the smoke with their mouths pressed to the opening made by their curled thumb and index finger.
Elders and the filtering system with small shrine on top, bowl and mortar below catching the filtered opium tea.
The ride back in the jeep as the sun set was, well, a bit uncomfortable. I became aware that my bottom was itching, a bit, then a whole lot. Each bounce seemed to irritate it more as I squirmed trying to relieve the most intense itching I have ever felt.
By the time we reached the Fort at Rohet Garh, I practically leaped out of the jeep and tore into my room, slamming the door and shedding clothes as I headed to the bathroom.
My bottom was covered in huge angry hot red welts, pretty much solid with them. "Sheesh" (not quite what I said), must be flea bites! Hundreds, thousands, no millions of them!
Figured the cotton pad that I had sat on for the opium ceremony was infested as the welts were exactly where my bottom had been in contact with it. The little buggers had feasted as I sat there and I been watching the ceremony so intensely I had not noticed.
Into the shower, clothes I had been wearing on the shower floor that I stomped as I soaped up, figuring they must have been crawling with the critters.
Afterwards, an antihistamine and a coating of cortisone cream seemed to marginally reduce the craze to scratch and off to bed.