A lovely wander at the mercy of the wind in this amazing Rajasthan (page 2 of 11)

Who knows, Regis—I might’ve lent him mine 😄.

But it was better than last time; he got his bag back on the 4th day 😅

Okay, it's all well and good playing the Rajasthan princess, but the "women-farmer" in me comes back pretty quick 😄.

So, off to a place that exists nowhere else in the world—I’m talking about: an Ashram for sacred cows 🐄.



There are over 2,000 of them in the country!

And while we knew cows held a special place in the hearts of Hindus, we had no idea just how much!

Depending on the region, killing a cow can land you 7 years in prison—or even life!!

But the dark side is that it’s also a symbol of the "war" Hindus wage against Muslims (and yes, here, Muslims are more often the victims than the aggressors 😔). One of them was even killed by a mob in 2018, accused of selling beef steak 😱!

On this early morning, arriving unannounced, we got to explore different parts of the site, with multicolored and "multi-sized" cows—over 700 are welcomed in this ashram, and they really seem well cared for, with their lagoon-colored water troughs 😊.



But the best part was the welcome we received from the many employees, who clearly weren’t used to hosting foreigners (thanks, Google Maps, for the find!).

A guided tour with commentary in Hindiano-English 😂, followed by a taste of cardamom tea, naturally topped with fresh cow’s milk.

Luckily for us, they had no idea how much we love ribeye... otherwise, I reckon they’d have lynched us 😅.

But it was really a great moment. Simple, just the way we like it.

We then hit the road again with Salman, our driver for the day—a 21-year-old driver/singer/Instagrammer... who started filming us as soon as we got in his car 📸😊.

Our destination was ALWAR, and while it’s awesome to be in such authentic places, free of tourist traps, it can also be pretty tricky to make yourself understood... especially with our southwestern French accent, apparently 😊!

All in all, it took a few misunderstandings and a good 45 minutes to finally set off in a tuk-tuk. And so, by nightfall, we ended up discovering the historic heart of this city: - A tank lined with steps at the foot of the Aravalli hills,



- A huge, crumbling old palace that seems open to the four winds, where you could spend 8 days doing urban exploration 😮, - And a Chhatri with a white marble dome perched on its red sandstone pedestal 🐄.



Right when we arrived, I knew we’d be back tomorrow when the sun rises. Especially since, among the few walkers, we came across three deer! Yes, deer in the middle of the city!!

And 400 meters later, "cool as you like," a crowned head appears on the tarmac!

But those crowns were pretty big... because it was a stag!!



Yep, we nearly bumped into a stag on the prowl in the depths of Rajasthan!!!

And I’m speechless because, as a Landaise for 50 years, I’d never seen one of these animals in the wild before 😮.

Strangely, you feel protected here from the hustle and bustle of the city, even though it’s so close. Only the birdsong answers the temple bells perched on the hills 🐄.

I don’t know if it’s the atmosphere or the energy (Aurélie, if you’re reading this 😊), but there’s definitely something very, very special here. Maybe it’s the life that’s everywhere: hundreds of pigeons, dogs, monkeys, cows, squirrels, sheep, deer, stags... and a few rats here and there 😅.

Wherever you look, life is there!

Fellow travelers, tell me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me there’s no other country in the world where animals coexist in such harmony with humans.

And when I see that back home, people get fined for feeding pigeons, I think it’s a real shame that in the West, hygiene concerns have almost made "living things" disappear.



Want to see more photos? Check them out here: https://www.myatlas.com/chris40/rajasthan-2024/t/1459393

Here you are again! The destination doesn’t thrill me all that much (but that’s definitely due to ignorance). Still, since I loved your Oman travel journal, I’m jumping on board for this one... can’t wait to find out when the suitcase will arrive

Hi Christelle, I’m hopping on the tuk-tuk too 😉 — looks like there’s already a great group 🙂 I don’t know India at all, a country that fascinates me but never quite made it to the top of my list... why? No idea!



I love this photo 🙂

Hello Solene,

Fellow travelers here, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me there isn't a single other country in the world where animals coexist in such harmony with humans.

And when I see that back home, people get fined for feeding pigeons, I find it a real shame that in the West, hygiene concerns have almost made "living things" disappear.

I’m used to hiking (trekking) in the mountains all over the world, and I’ve noticed that in India, the "flight distance of birds" is shorter than anywhere else. During a picnic in the mountains, it’s common to see crows, ravens, or jackdaws landing to pick up crumbs from a meal. These birds keep a certain distance from humans—a "safety distance" below which they feel they can’t escape... Well, in India, this distance is so short you could almost touch them! They practically came to peck from my hand! A few memories come to mind. I was waiting for a bus on the terrace of a tea house in a village in Himachal Pradesh. About 10 meters away, a sweets vendor had laid out a series of pastries for sale on a table in front of him. The man was calmly sitting in his chair, reading his newspaper, when a bird came and pecked at one of his cakes less than 50 cm from his face... The scene lasted a little while, and by the time he noticed, the cake was already half-eaten. Then, with slow and careful movements, he simply moved the cake a few centimeters away and went back to reading his paper. The bird came back to feast, and after about fifteen minutes, the cake was half gone. He eventually put what was left under a wire mesh cover... 😏 At a fruit and vegetable market in a big Indian city—I think it was Bombay—a cow calmly approached a stall and grabbed a cabbage in its mouth. When the vendor noticed, he briefly tried to get his cabbage back but didn’t insist, and the cow ate it a few meters away. 😏 With the aggressive and thieving monkeys that actually enter people’s homes, it’s sometimes another story... They chase them away, but I never saw or heard of anyone trying to kill one.

Great idea to visit the retirement home for cows! There was one in Benares (Varanasi) near my guesthouse, and I missed that opportunity!

You're back! I'm not exactly thrilled about the destination (though that's definitely due to ignorance). But since I loved your Oman travel journal, I'm coming along for this one... can't wait to find out when the suitcase will arrive

Haha, this suspense is unbearable, Patricia—but it’s gonna last a little longer 😜

Thanks for these lovely stories, Jean Michel. We’ve all seen those cows lying right in the middle of the road, with all the vehicles swerving around them without anyone "chasing" them away. But I get the feeling it’s not just cows—any animal seems to have as much of a place in the landscape as a human being. That’s really what I felt during this trip, even more than in the other states we’ve visited before (though I don’t know the ones you mentioned). Maybe the presence of Jains in this part of the country has something to do with it 😊. Christelle

Well, when Isabelle, the great photographer, tells me she "loves" one of my photos, I'm really flattered! 😳😍

Hello Christelle, I’m hopping on the tuk-tuk too 😉 — looks like there’s already a great group 🙂 I don’t know India at all, a country that fascinates me but never quite made it to the top of my list… why? No idea!



I love this photo 🙂

Oh, Isabelle, what about my monkey cuddles — aren’t they cute? I’ll admit they don’t quite compare to a blue-eyed cheetah, but it’s the best I can do 😄

Yes, Christelle, I loved the monkey cuddles too 😊 but you know, I’m not very objective when it comes to animals 😄

And we're off again for another round, with 2 nights in BHARATPUR 😁

Lucky for me, Lulu loves nature just as much as I do because the "safari" wasn't planned in Alwar but here, in Keoladeo National Park, which is pretty unknown to Westerners (except for a few ornithologists with cameras as heavy as our backpacks 😄).

So here we are at the bike rental at 7 AM, choosing our bikes... for a bit too long, because it's a tad complicated to find ones that aren't too beat-up 😄.

Right off the bat, after about 20 pedal strokes max, a few people are already looking up at the sky 👀. Yeah, well... it's just the most beautiful bird in the world perched way up there, with its long, multicolored tail swaying in the breeze 🦚!



Yep, a peacock, which we admire for a loooong time and that almost seems to be posing for the photo!



We then ride through beautiful forests with intertwined trees and arrive at the water's edge, which looks like a swamp 😵.

And yet, we immediately turn into weather vanes, not knowing where to look first!! (Sorry, but my rhyming disease just won't let go 😂)

So no, there are no elephants or tigers around here. "Just" deer, sambars, nilgai antelopes, and thousands of birds of all sizes and colors since over 350 species have been recorded here 🦅.



And in this water that really looks gross, we quickly realize it's teeming with life: huge fish brushing against each other, creating bubbles, and a big weird thing slowly moving toward us that takes us a while to recognize 👀: a giant turtle! But maaaan, it's as ugly as the water it's swimming in 😂.

But despite these uninviting marshes, at sunrise, with the misty veils and bare trees, the scenery is just magical.



After an hour on the main road, we decide, as usual 🙄, to take a side path. It's "packed" with rocks, we're getting shaken like Oranginas, and Lulu starts complaining: "Seriously, where are we going?? There's nothing to see here."

Sure enough, we're alone in the world in the middle of the bushes when I spot a crowd in the distance: "Hmmm, there must be some cool stuff to see over there!" But nope... it's just our first swarm of Indian women in saris!!



At first glance, they went to fetch water before heading back to their village. And honestly, they seemed to enjoy this encounter as much as we did—they laughed so hard when we rolled up on our mountain bikes 👀... unless it was our exhausted faces that made them giggle 😅.

But I'll let you discover all this in pictures—it's so much more telling: https://www.myatlas.com/chris40/rajasthan-2024/t/1468430

After a much-needed break because we were wiped out 😵‍💫😂, we set off in the late afternoon to explore the city of Bharatpur with Tara Singh, a skilled Sikh driver of an electric tuk-tuk.

As usual, it starts with HELLISH traffic—smelly and noisy—but pretty quickly, while crawling through the jams, we catch lots of smiles lighting up at the sight of us (yes, it's possible 😄), with kids waving at us like "ohhh, cool, white people!" Mmm, that feels good 😌.

And then, as we approach the old town, little by little, a line of brightly dressed Indian women forms, snaking for 500 meters in the same direction: "Wait, what's going on here??" we ask Tara.

He explains they're heading to a temple, so we go too.

And we're back to being weather vanes because we're truly taking it all in—these colors and laughter bursting everywhere!



And our noses too, with incense everywhere!! And our ears too—it was such a joy to hear them sing and see them gracefully twirl around 🦚🦅🦚!!!



I have to admit, my heightened sensitivity was deeply touched 🥲🦢, and it took me a few hours to understand why!

Well, I think it was because of the joy!

A joy that completely filled the atmosphere, even though you can imagine how tough their living conditions must be.

Actually, for the first time in my life, what I felt here, is that this must be it, the power of faith 😊.

Fifth day in the country, you open your eyes and think, what extraordinary things are we going to experience today? 😄.

And of course, here you’re never disappointed! Just 30 minutes after leaving our digs, while driving on the highway, we see nothing less than a caravan of about ten camels right above us on a bridge. Well, that’s a great start! 😆!

Today’s destination is DHOLPUR, a small town off the beaten path according to the info I’d gathered.

The thing is, "small town" on an Indian scale means 250,000 inhabitants... something we realized when we arrived 😅.

So Aleph, lucky I trust you completely because otherwise, I think we would’ve turned right back around—our hotel for the day was right by a highway that looked like hell on earth 😱🚖.

But as usual, just 4 kilometers later, you step into another world called Teerthraj Machkund: - A big, green lake (and pretty clean by local standards 😆),



- Ancient red sandstone buildings, some dating back to before Jesus Christ!!



- Chhatris everywhere you look

- And as always, animals *everywhere*!



Seriously, you get it by now—here, every day is an endless emotional rollercoaster: Yuck 😱/Wow 🤩, Yuck 😱/Wow 🤩... you see what I mean!!

At Machkund, I thought we were just going to see one or two monuments, but we actually discovered this whole huge village that wraps around the lake and is apparently a major Hindu pilgrimage site. Once a year, there’s a massive fair here that draws hundreds, maybe even thousands, of devotees.

But there was no big commotion when we visited. When we arrived around 4 PM, everything seemed abandoned except for scattered temples where locals were praying at the end of the day.



It was so peaceful in this incredible place, which we explored calmly as the sun set.

At one point, a group of women workers joined us on the path.



After our smiling Namaste, the boldest one in the group started telling me all kinds of stories that had her friends laughing, and of course, we didn’t understand a word!!

But she quickly found a way to make herself understood and suddenly yanked my dress energetically twice: "Hey, I love your dress—give it to me!" So I touched her outfit and replied, "Okay, but give me your sari first" 😅.

It was all really good-natured, and we had a good laugh before they scattered to head home.

And then we finally ran into some tourists... still all Indian 😆. And there it was—Namaste🙏, smiles😄, photos📸: the winning combo we’re starting to know well and still love just as much.

Reluctantly, we finally started heading back with Sonu, our tuk-tuk driver for the day... and we just missed the photo of the century 😢. The landscape flew by. We watched the sun set over the wheat fields and spotted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 peacocks with long blue tails pecking at the ground!!! I swear it’s true! And yeah, because here peacocks are just free-roaming birds you can see flying.

So of course we asked Sonu to stop, but apparently, we’d dawdled a bit too much for his liking... that jerk just sped off 😅.



See you soon near Karauli 😊

Okay, I hope there are still a few readers here, because it's time to set off and discover the charming KARAULI 🤗.



Once again, thanks to Aleph, who really got my mouth watering by telling me about this town, so much so that I changed our route just a few days before leaving! And wow, Marie Jo 😂😂😂. I don’t know what the rest of the trip has in store, but I have a feeling this stop is going to be right up there on the podium of this journey 😊!

Karauli is a "real" small town of 66,000 people that we start exploring on foot. Not exactly ideal for being discreet, since really, everyone is staring at us!! We throw out a few Namastes just to test the vibe, and faces light up easily.



We can go for it 😊

Like any good tourist, our visit starts with the City Palace. Once again, a MONUMENTAL building, yet our paper guide doesn’t say a word about it!!



Restoration work is underway, and we’re lucky enough to see an artist hard at work.



If all goes well, they should finish the renovation job in 200 years 😱😆.



It’s 5:30 PM when we leave, the time of the evening Puja (prayer), and it’s perfect because there’s a temple right next door. It starts with dozens of pairs of shoes tangled up in front of the entrance. So, barefoot, we join the hustle and bustle. We enter a huge room packed with people, and pretty quickly, we become the center of attention—so much so that it’s almost overwhelming! So, we plaster two goofy smiles on our faces and wait. The adults keep their distance with friendly smiles while the kids come charging at us 🤼. Lulu has about ten around him, and I’ve got just as many, all wanting to shake our hands or take photos. And then they throw flowers at us—lots of them, literally, not figuratively 😆.



For a moment, it felt like Charles and Camilla had arrived (yes, I’d have preferred to say William and Kate, but let’s be realistic 😏).

At the back of the room, women sitting in a circle sing like in Bharatpur.



And in front, the crowd cheers the icons, raising their hands to the sky to the rhythm of the gongs setting the pace.



And then, right in the middle of the crowd—even right next to your feet—the devotees lie down full-length to kiss the ground, men and women alike!!

Seriously, it’s mind-blowing!! So, on the way back, Lulu gets a haircut. And as often happens at Indian barbers, it ends with a massage... that nearly twisted his head off 😱😏.

We’ll come back the next day to see the bazaar wake up, and we’ll find so many smiles and so much cheerfulness 🤗.



.......

But now the sun has set, it's time to head back to our lodging for the day, and we can definitely say we're making quite the leap from our windowless room in Dholpur: this evening, we're sleeping at the Maharajah's place 🤴.

It's not a magnificent palace, I'd say it's more of a beautiful old building in its own juice, with its many free-roaming peacocks, its lovely farm right next door, portraits of ancestors everywhere... and its stuffed wild animals 😱😂!



Well, the lifestyle of these high-ranking figures has taken quite a hit, so many have turned their homes into hotels and live elsewhere most of the time... or hidden away 😏.

At aperitif time, we settle into the cute outdoor lounge in the center of the building.



And as we're having a drink, a rather chic older gentleman walks past us: "Good evening, you must be the master of the house?" Lulu calls out to him. "And how do you know that?" he says with a smile. "Because of your presence," replies this smooth talker 😂.

And then we hear: "Yes, I am the MAHARAJAH" 😲😲😲.

NO WAY, TELL ME THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!!!

He could've added "Are you Charles and Camilla?" and we wouldn't have been more surprised 🤯.

So, he ended up sitting with us for a chat for over an hour, and we covered a lot of ground: his palace, his family, his farm, India, France, politics, and he even ended up laughing his head off when Lulu showed him the little massage he'd just had 😂.

Really a great moment... which I hope my "leftist" parents will forgive us for 😅.



And this one, in case you think he was making it up 😏😜🤴 (yes, I admit, I didn't believe it either, so I checked 😂).

Well, Christelle, you had a VIP trip there! 😄 Staying with the maharajah is awesome 👍 such a great encounter. On the other hand, the stuffed animals—yeah, not so great 😬

Don’t worry, Christelle. Just because we’re not saying anything doesn’t mean we’re not reading 😄 Your encounter is excellent. Your Lulu has a great nose! !

Hey Christelle,

Wow, you’ve really set the bar high this time... The Maharajah, I’m dreaming! 🙂

Anyway, I’ll keep this in mind for later—I want to be reincarnated as a cow (but only in India, though 😉)

One constant in all your photos: your smile. You’re having the time of your life on your trips—it’s so great to see!

Don’t worry, Christelle. Just because we’re not saying anything doesn’t mean we’re not reading Your encounter is excellent. Your Lulu has a good nose!

I agree, we’re following along, we’re following along 😊

Well, Christelle, you had a VIP trip there 😄 Being hosted by the maharajah is awesome 👍 A great encounter! On the other hand, the stuffed animals aren’t so great 😬

Let’s just say they were stuffed a loooong time ago, Isabelle. Besides, the Maharajah told me that recreational hunting has been banned all over India since 1971!! We weren’t exactly in a position to lecture him 🤭 And anyway, at least I can say I’ve petted a tiger once in my life 🐯

Don’t worry, Christelle. Just because we don’t say anything doesn’t mean we’re not reading Your encounter is excellent. Your Lulu has a good nose!

Oh wow, yes, thanks Lulu! I would’ve been completely oblivious—it was so unimaginable for me to ever cross paths with a Maharajah in my life!