A visit to a rural village

These are the men who work on the farm and their families. There are also women who work on the farm, but they were in the fields most of the time and did not come over for the photograph.

Abhijeet's family recently bought farmland between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. We had the chance to not only visit the farm, but also experience what life is like in the nearby rural village. I prepared for the visit by making sure that I was not only wearing long pants, but also a shirt with long sleeves. This helped to maintain propriety, but there was nothing I could do to stop the curiosity that arose about the foreigner who was visiting. We received a warm welcome by all of the local farmers. The land is owned by people who lived outside of the area and farmer will live on the farm or nearby with their family to take care of the farm in return for 25% of the crop yield. Some of the farmers who stay there live in a simple tent like hut and spend their days working the fields. The neighboring farmer was so excited that Abhijeet was in town and that he was able to meet him, that he invited us for dinner later that evening at his house in the village. The house was occupied usually by 15-20 people. It consisted of an open air courtyard and the surrounding rooms held each of the nuclear families. The women were all huddled in the kitchen squatting over a wood burning fire and preparing the meal. We were led up to the rooftop to enjoy the cool evening breeze and relax until the meal was ready. We heard stories (translated for me of course) about their farm which consists of nearly 100 camels, 150 cows, and 200 sheep. We also met another brother who does not farm, but instead works in one of the mobile ATM's (an ATM in a small van) that have recently become popular to bring banking access to rural areas. The head father of the family died this past year and he was so well liked that people came from 24 surrounding villages to mourn. In the distance I could hear singing. I soon learned that this was a song of welcome that one family was singing for the visitors in their house. There is a famous family of singers in this village that has been known for singing for the royal family of Jodhpur. We headed to one of the downstairs rooms to eat and sat on a carpet on the floor and ate from small, low tables. They had prepared an elaborate spread of food for us including okra, daal (lentils), chapatis (flat bread), raita (yoghurt), and a sweet made from fried lentils.

This is the small building that the farmers use for cooking, sleeping, and relaxing. Every house big or small always has some type of steps to access the roof. It is a popular morning and evening hang out spot.

Resting on the cots at the farm

Traditional low dining tables (Picture taken from a museum)