Across the Rann-0
It is said that love finds us, we do not have to find love.
Humans travel and it is only through real travelling that distances end and we come close to our real selves, we know people and places we might have never known. It completes us in several ways. It is a story of one such journey made by Meher, the daughter of an Afghan father and a Spanish mother and the story of Roohab, a son of the salt farmer and his extremely beautiful doe eyed Pakistani mother who worked also in the salt farms to make ends meet, a brief glimpse into their lives and thoughts.
It was almost two in the morning. Meher was already up, scanning through several equipments which she would need while out in Rann. She was an astronomer, astromy was her first love. This trip, she was able to undertake, only because her husband agreed to baby sit their young son for a week. She was usually home, tending to her house, husband and son, along with her occasional visits to her mother and sister, who stayed in another town.
Love had made her stay where she had no hope in this field and also made her find work. She believed that the world lies where our loves lie, whether it's our first or second families or our journey with friends or strangers who care and share with each other. A family is one such place or either of these places. There was nothing more dignified and beautiful than this, for Meher.
She removed the small window cover and found the cold, white sand desert as white as the full moon above. For a moment, a mirage appeared, she was unable to understand if it was water or sand, the salty sand seemed to be producing waves out of nowhere. The mind played the trick, since her mind wasn't used to so much sand and so much of whiteness. Her mind knew water and was making her consider the very sand as water.
She shut the window, and began repacking again. She glanced at the watch, as Souzy and Stephen helped her in the packing, they had come down to help her. Souza and Stephen both worked as freelance helpers. Outside the jackals howled, snakes slithered and it seemed as though the scorpions wriggled and wiggled. Shutting her mind off, she began working again.
Suddenly, she heard the bell tinkling somewhere in a distance, "Okay, guys, I got to leave. You take care, and take care of everything till I return."
Roohab was man in his early twenties but was lean, tall, worked with slight bend of the shoulders towards the front and had a ready smile and his teeth were as white as the sand of the Rann itself. She looked no more than twenty.
"Memsahib ready, come fast." He turned as though there was spring on his legs and made a move forward.
Meher took up speed to be by his side.
"By four, can we reach doongar?"
"Yes, we can. But, before we start we must feed the jackals, this way memsahib," this was a slight detour, Meher observed, and Roohab sensed.
"You don't worry, you are safe with me, madam. No harm will come to you and besides I am a local."
He knew Kutch well. Meher in her cotton jumpers and a t-shirt with long boots walked trusting her guts. They carried a lot of water and food since that would be scarce in two days trek to the mound. Roohab had one more ability as per the travel agents, nothing could deter him,nothing was big enough for him. If he set his heart into something, he did it or failed, but never backed off.
"Nothing matters as long as you are alive, so cross any barrier, transcend anything, commute wherever required, stay with love and live, memsahib, my mantra."
He wore a richly green coloured turban, with salwar kameez, loose on his lean body.
"You wear a green turban?" She held the torch on his head.
"My favourite colour memsahib." The innocent smile flashed again and Meher was wondering, she would find the smile more often for the next two days. The camel was called Shanno and she made that jingling noise as she walked beside Meher. The strong smell of the animal filled the very air which she breathed and til Hernandez nose adapted breathing was a little hard for Meher.
......to be continued.....
Humans travel and it is only through real travelling that distances end and we come close to our real selves, we know people and places we might have never known. It completes us in several ways. It is a story of one such journey made by Meher, the daughter of an Afghan father and a Spanish mother and the story of Roohab, a son of the salt farmer and his extremely beautiful doe eyed Pakistani mother who worked also in the salt farms to make ends meet, a brief glimpse into their lives and thoughts.
It was almost two in the morning. Meher was already up, scanning through several equipments which she would need while out in Rann. She was an astronomer, astromy was her first love. This trip, she was able to undertake, only because her husband agreed to baby sit their young son for a week. She was usually home, tending to her house, husband and son, along with her occasional visits to her mother and sister, who stayed in another town.
Love had made her stay where she had no hope in this field and also made her find work. She believed that the world lies where our loves lie, whether it's our first or second families or our journey with friends or strangers who care and share with each other. A family is one such place or either of these places. There was nothing more dignified and beautiful than this, for Meher.
She removed the small window cover and found the cold, white sand desert as white as the full moon above. For a moment, a mirage appeared, she was unable to understand if it was water or sand, the salty sand seemed to be producing waves out of nowhere. The mind played the trick, since her mind wasn't used to so much sand and so much of whiteness. Her mind knew water and was making her consider the very sand as water.
She shut the window, and began repacking again. She glanced at the watch, as Souzy and Stephen helped her in the packing, they had come down to help her. Souza and Stephen both worked as freelance helpers. Outside the jackals howled, snakes slithered and it seemed as though the scorpions wriggled and wiggled. Shutting her mind off, she began working again.
Suddenly, she heard the bell tinkling somewhere in a distance, "Okay, guys, I got to leave. You take care, and take care of everything till I return."
Roohab was man in his early twenties but was lean, tall, worked with slight bend of the shoulders towards the front and had a ready smile and his teeth were as white as the sand of the Rann itself. She looked no more than twenty.
"Memsahib ready, come fast." He turned as though there was spring on his legs and made a move forward.
Meher took up speed to be by his side.
"By four, can we reach doongar?"
"Yes, we can. But, before we start we must feed the jackals, this way memsahib," this was a slight detour, Meher observed, and Roohab sensed.
"You don't worry, you are safe with me, madam. No harm will come to you and besides I am a local."
He knew Kutch well. Meher in her cotton jumpers and a t-shirt with long boots walked trusting her guts. They carried a lot of water and food since that would be scarce in two days trek to the mound. Roohab had one more ability as per the travel agents, nothing could deter him,nothing was big enough for him. If he set his heart into something, he did it or failed, but never backed off.
"Nothing matters as long as you are alive, so cross any barrier, transcend anything, commute wherever required, stay with love and live, memsahib, my mantra."
He wore a richly green coloured turban, with salwar kameez, loose on his lean body.
"You wear a green turban?" She held the torch on his head.
"My favourite colour memsahib." The innocent smile flashed again and Meher was wondering, she would find the smile more often for the next two days. The camel was called Shanno and she made that jingling noise as she walked beside Meher. The strong smell of the animal filled the very air which she breathed and til Hernandez nose adapted breathing was a little hard for Meher.
......to be continued.....
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