Taking Care Of Business

In the Thar desert, many kids never get the chance to attend school. From an early age instead, they shepherd goats and sheep. At about 12 years old, if lucky, they might find a safari operator to employ them. Mr Bangali explained to me that at that age, with no English language, the boy is paid about 500 rupees per month ($10) for his help with the camels and tourists. After about 2 years, having picked up substantial English (and other languages) from the tourists, the young man may find a camel owner to rent camels from and start his own safari business… getting about 1500 rupees per month from the safari operator in Jaisalmer to take their customers out. The goal at this point is to save up for their own camels. Each camel costs between 20,000 and 50,000 rupees. This is a huge sum for these people, but its not the end of the cost.

Right now this area of Jaisalmer and the Thar Desert is in drought. They have not had rain for 3 years and where once the desert was farmed, with plenty of food for the villagers and their animals, now the land is dry and mostly just sandy. Fewer people live here and memories of the monsoon time (July-August) are just that - memories. Life is extremely difficult. Yes, there are still wells… but they have to actually buy in food. Food for a single camel cost 200 rupees/day ($4 or a bit more). The camels HAVE to work with safaris in order to pay for themselves.

Mr Bangali is 24 years old. Not yet married, although I get the feeling his parents have started looking. Until recently he owned 3 camels - Rocket, Robert and Lalu. Unfortunately Lalu died suddenly a few months back. I can see hurt in his eyes. She was more than just a huge investment for him. She was his friend. He takes very good care of his camels, telling us that if you treat them right, not overwork them, feed then good food (not just desert bushes!) and water them without stressing them too much, they will live 25-27 years. Otherwise, not so long.

On day two in the desert we stop to water the camels. Using a simple pulley system, three men drag the rope attached to an inner-tube bucket, up from the well. Water spills down a chute and into the camel trough. Each camel can drink up to forty gallons!