Modernity Shock

The most developed looking infrastructure in the Thar are the gas stations. Indian Oil and other gas companies have been rapidly involved in the construction of bright new stations up and down the rural roads to serve the growing demand of motorcyclists and Tata trucks. These stations are so modern they may as well be on any American corner, besides the fact that they’re surrounded by thatched huts, sand and camel carts. Seriously. As soon as you step off of their smooth cement you’re back in the sand and a thatched hut is not more than 20 feet away to which women spend hours of the day bringing water. I’ve even seen one gas station in the desert that had a plot in front for a patch of grass like most American gas stations. We’re in the Thar Desert for crying out loud! You’d think the building plans for a gas station for a national oil company might change with locality, but no, of course not. We only get 200 mm of rain per year here on average, but that’s not going to convince a company that a patch of lawn is a little unnecessary. I was happy to see goats coming to munch it up.

Last week I saw a mirage on the desert: in the far distance the trees seemed to be reflected on a huge body of water. Everything was in mirror vision along the horizon, but of course it was simply due to the heat on the land, not any oasis or lake. I’ve seen mirages, black camels, and brilliant peacocks in the desert, but none of these sights were as strange as what I saw last week. Just coming from a field visit to a pastureland, we pulled the jeep off the main road to a Hotel boasting an “All Veg Restaurant” and “Guest House” in English. Tourism has been growing in the Thar, but awareness of this fact had not prepared me to see a gigantic white tourist bus gurgitating out a pack of tourists in shorts and tank tops into the Rajasthani heat. Although this is exactly what I would wear in the States, I found myself instantly offended by these middle-aged women’s exposure of leg and their teenage daughter’s exposure of cleavage. The daughters stood around looking bored in their fashionably large sunglasses while their fathers in baseball caps and sports jerseys excitedly videotaped the camels. This is exactly the kind of tourist I DON’T want to be, traveling around isolated and air conditioned, I thought to myself, and I wondered how people here in the villages regard ME. While I’m trying to be culturally aware and modest, there’s no doubt that I’m probably offending people right and left. If it’s only taken me a couple months to be shocked by this amount of exposure of skin and whiteness, what must people who have lived their entire lives in the sand and scrub be thinking? This image momentarily shocked my system.