Chasing the Elusive Sun

Think of Rajasthan and images of vast sand dunes and handsome camels come to the mind. Every photographer, amateur or professional has to have a sunset or sunrise picture on the dunes to complete their portfolio - it is a must-have kind of a picture. As if, it says “been there done that”!

We, who specialise in tourism in Rajasthan have been seeing these tourists and photographers for decades now, facilitating their photography quests by providing information, support, logistics, and tips too. This time around, we thought of walking in their shoes and getting some of such shots of our own. So the team that makes all the wonderful packages happen, embarked upon a “Rajasthan Bhraman” of their own with a primary agenda of clicking some fabulous pictures of our beautiful state of Rajasthan.

We started from Jaipur and snaked our path via Alsisar and Mandawa onto Bikaner. The beautiful haveli city of Bikaner kept us mesmerised with its many palaces, forts, sanctuaries and of course, havelis. Next stop for us was Jaisalmer. 

Jaisalmer - the golden city, the city of sand dunes, the city that lives in a fort! The tiny photographer in me dreamt of clicking the perfect sunrises and sunsets on the dunes and getting some 20-30 k followers on instagram complimenting me for those perfect shots - hey we are talking about dreams here, right? Not just that, I dreamt of clicking the lovely fort with its many inhabitants and all the beautiful havelis I had been hearing about all my grown up years. Dreams do become reality and I managed to grab some amazing shots of the fort and havelis. A few good clicks of the markets too but the sunrise and sunset - NO, the sun had his own attitude and clouds joined his party too. As we were climbing up and down the Jaisalmer fort all drenched in sweat, we wanted a little respite from the heat - prayers were answered and it became quite pleasant with clouds shielding the UV rays emanating Sun. This was such a relief to us that we did not even realise that the sunset would be difficult to witness in this cloud filled sky. 

After our city sight seeing tour we headed towards the world famous shifting- sand dune area of Sam Sand Dunes. I am a highly creative person with a very imaginative mind and I could visualise myself sitting on a camel clicking away an orange hued sunset on the cool sands of Sam! The clouds and Mr.Sol had some other plans though, alas! And just as we were greeted by the camels at the gates of our camp site, little pitter patter of rain drops started singing their own songs. We waited till we polished off the tastiest pakoras and Garma garm chai but the winds and rains showed no signs of going away any time soon. The sunset happened somewhere behind the clouds only and my Canon companion and I were disheartened. The camp site people suggested we go for an early morning camel ride and view the sunrise as another option. And the dreamer dreamt of another camel, another ride, Canon in hands and an orange-pink sunrise behind the golden sands with the sun emerging from a sea of pure gold!

Next morning, my alarm went off and my feet promptly swung upon the tent floor looking for my warm slippers which weren’t where they were supposed to be and were sailing their own sails all around the tent because while I slept and dreamt of the camels and sunrises, the rain wreaked havoc around the camp site and all over western Rajasthan and filled my tent with some much needed water supply - only that the supply wasn’t needed tonight! A quick shower and fresh clothes, a little of my pink lipstick and a happy me headed to the camp site gates. Not a soul in sight, I wondered if my phone is showing the correct time or not, is it still midnight by any chance? At the gates I was greeted by two kind camel men - Manwar and Raju and their camels - Michael Jackson (a very popular name for camels) and Lalu. Other enthusiasts from our team joined in and we were rocking and rolling towards the dunes in no time. Still dark around, our excitement about witnessing the sunrise over the sand dunes was hard to contain.

Sunrise aside, the early morning experience on the sand dunes is something everyone should live at least once in their lifetime. Blue hues turning to white, darkness vanishing and making way for light. The world famous shifting sand dunes, right in front of our eyes - first white, then beaten coffee and then golden. Everything changes colours at this time of the day. But hey, wait a minute, the dunes are all rain soaked! They aren’t as high as I had imagined, they look like mounds of mud. “But lets just wait till the sun rises” were the words that came to my mind as I jumped off Lalu after he sat. 

I looked around for a spot where I could be below the dunes and could capture a lovely sunrise from, and waited patiently. The sky started changing colours, pink, orange, blue, white, grey but no sign of the ball of fire anywhere. Kept clicking all these phases and got some splendid shots of the clouds and hues of the sky but the actual sunrise eluded me. Finally, a peek-a-boo moment and the sun peeped through the clouds, but it had already turned bight yellow. So, while we thoroughly enjoyed the lungfuls of pure oxygen and caresses of the gentle morning breeze laden with soft moisture , our purpose wasn’t achieved. The sun just decided to keep us away from that lovely sand and sun moment. Can it by any chance be a conspiracy to make us visit the place again?? My guess is as good as yours!

Hearty breakfast, and many thank yous later we left for our next destination which was Osian, popularly described as the “beginning of the desert”. Hopes intact, and camera ready I was definitely praying to get a sunset click on the sands at Osian. Many a winding roads away, many many kilometres far, we arrived at Osian in the nick of time - just before the sunset. The best host ever, Mr. Pratap Singh drove us himself and let us unexpectedly experience the sand-bashing for a good 20-25 minutes. By the time we kind of got a grip on ourselves we were on top of a sand dune, a dry sandy sand dune at that! And there faraway the sun was ready to bid adieu to us all. What a perfect moment, I quickly found my picture spot and kept clicking till the sun was down. Many many many orange and pink shots, lovely ones, some with clouds and some without. I finally partially managed to get what I wanted. The clouds played some tricks here too but weren’t as stubborn as the ones back there in Jaisalmer.

Content with my clicks, I thoroughly enjoyed my gracious host’s hospitality in high-tea with folk dances on the dunes. We were ready for our drive back and held onto whatever we could get a hold on in the jeep and were driven back to the lovely camp and resort, and guess what, the dune was right adjacent to the resort, so no roller-coaster ride this time, the sand-bashing was an experience accorded to us as a very special gesture. Can not thank you enough Mr.Pratap Singh for the entire evening.

To sum it all up, a lovely experience at both the places but the Sun still managed to elude me and my Osian pictures can still not be termed as the sun and sand pictures because the mischievous photo bombers aka clouds kept beaming their smiles at the camera. Jaisalmer, we shall soon meet again and maybe the clouds won’t play such spoilsports the next time around. See you soon, ciao!