Deserts of Rajasthan

For miles just sand. Camels and goats feeding on the sparse grass around. The sound of silence can be heard… not even a leaf moves. Just some bare and rough shrubs around.

Then there are the huge dunes, hovering at the horizon, threatening to swallow everything… like guardians of the mystifying desert. They are like slow moving waves which come cascading down when the wind picks up.

Away from the maddening crowd, noise and millions of electric lights, in the midst of nature, under the sun, moon, millions of stars and the open sky, just sitting, lost in a world of dreams and not even the rustle of a leaf… the silence is deafening and soon descends over everything. The sound is so satisfying, yet there is an emptiness. A lonely feeling comes over you as you realize, you are all alone… you would do anything for company.

Then you begin to seek solace in trees and animals. You realize how much you have missed. Their colours have never been so beautiful, their demeanor, never so graceful and their presence, never so important. Then slowly you begin to reflect on your own thoughts and feelings. Altogether, they are as wide as the desert itself. Suddenly, loneliness doesn’t matter anymore and you want to stay away from the place you left. You are no longer lonely. Your two best friends are with you– nature and yourself. You can play in the lap of nature… in its unending deserts and its life saving oases.

And then, when you do have to return to civilization, you will miss your new friends and know that you will get lost in the crowd. The same kind of lonely feeling settles over you as it did the day you left civilization!


You can be lonely in a crowd, yet in good company alone!