The Gypsy Wife

Today Mohammed Yussef scooped me up and took me out to see the Kumbhalgarh fort which was the second capital of the Mewar State after Chittor had been sacked. Built on a rocky hill it took many u bends in the road to get up to it high in the Aravali hills. It took many more of my steps to then climb to the roof and survey the kingdom. 36 kilometers radius of wall enclose it and 4 horses astride could be ridden around on it. Apparently the second largest wall after that in China. The other place we planned to visit was the Jain Temple at Ranakpur with 360 enormous carved marble pillars holding up the roofs and domes – no two the same. But it was the journey there and back which was what I really enjoyed.

Seeing goats and sheep in a walled field was too much of an invitation to miss so I leapt the wall and found myself surrounded by 8 turbanned, moustachioed, black eyed gypsies with their 250 goats and sheep and was invited to eat chapattis cooked over wood fires by the three other women present. There were a few children running around under school age but the older ones had been left in Jaisalmere, the Rajasthan Desert City, with grandparents and to go to school. There are 4 gypsy tribes – one lot roams around with their goats and sheep being asked and paid to coral them at night in someone's field so the animals can naturally fertilize it. A second group are itinerant blacksmiths who carry all they need on ox drawn carts and camp in tents. The third are entertainers and dancers and I think the fourth are itinerant labourers - am so tired I can't think!

Then I sat on the side of a road eating thistle seeds with a man who was collecting them to feed his buffalo. The thistle heads were the size of golf balls and he was carefully cutting them off and putting them in his basket for they were covered in vicious spikes. When he gets home he sets fire to them quickly to burn off the spikes and bits of old petals. This leaves the black seeds for him to feed to his buffalo – they were very slightly oily and didn't taste of much.

Time was also spent with a family making jaggery. Two oxen were being driven round a contraption that was squeezing juice out of sugar cane. This was poured into a huge shallow pan over a nearly equally large fire hole to cook for several hours and reduced enormously. When it is thicker than can be stirred it sits for 3 more hours away from the fire and becomes solid enough to carve. It is sold for 50p a kilo in every spice and vegetable market where it sits uncovered except for a few flies.

There were stops to watch women winnowing wheat, to drink sugar cane juice, ox being driven round a bucket well, birds, particularly cranes and kingfishers, lakes, dams and rivers. If you want to see I will try and give a link tomorrow as I can't sort anything more tonight.

We stopped on the way home to watch a herd of camels being driven along the left hand lane of a dual carriageway – where else but India? The fruit bats were waking up and getting ready to fly for the night – they are so huge – and an elephant was threading it's way through the home going traffic in the dark. It was very difficult to see with its grey skin being so wrinkly it didn't reflect the headlights.

Here is a link to yesterday's pics for the wifi connection was abysmal.