WHY THARPARKAR? MUCH MORE THAN A DESERT

It's hard to describe the feeling of approaching a desert to someone who has never seen one before. You can describe what you see; a fertile landscape, a greenish of land and a slow appearance of trees and shrubs and signs of life. Before, all of a sudden, the dunes with green oasis appear. A sea of golden greenish mix waves that appears to have no beginning and no end cut by road. You can show pictures and write words but portraying that feeling is harder. Perhaps it's one of those things, like seeing the ocean for the first time that you need to experience for yourself.

I've approached to visit many countries but never knew that Tharparkar in my own country would all be turned powerful and desolate and imposing. Yet still, the Tharparkar felt different. Perhaps it was the knowledge and tales from our decenters about the Marvi and Mithi who call the Tharparkar home of MITHAAS and respect. The closer it got to the desert, the more excited it had become for majestic blooms and desert springing to life.

It's true "One cannot resist the lure of Tharparkar." Especially once you've gotten a taste of it.

Simply! Discover the magic of Tharparkar in Rains.

 Visiting the Thar Desert and witnessing how tribal communities live with scarce natural resources in the south of Pakistan's Sindh Province, bordering India to the east was a memorable lifetime experience. I have always admired tribal people and their capacity to live in the wild together with dangerous animals and without having the facilities of Western modern life.

In September 2019, I headed into the depths of the Thar Desert where water, food, and other essential resources are always in short supply. 

My first glimpse of the desert was in village Bewato, a town placed strategically in Thar. I still had the feeling of a colorful kite, sandy green in color and each winding corridor cooling from the midday sun. Children ran through the hot dunes of sand.

At sunrise, light floods the valley, scenes of greens are the magnificence of its natural beauty and shimmer on a faraway village. I can see from the window of my room. It's the first view of the trip which has taken my breath away, but as prepared to ahead into the Tharparkar, I'd a feeling there will be many more to come.

"What attracted me to document the scenes of green deserts. It can continue growing for a year if rains continue. The green plant appears in some areas to show the abundance of rain, a plant that the cattle eat and feed off of, as well as the bees. "The green seems 'happiness' because it is easy on the eyes and sprouts after rain.

After a traditional breakfast of anda paratha and of course a pot of sugary mint tea, however, begin the drive to the green dunes. Although Midst already felt like a desert town, it turns out I'd a little long way to visit villages before we reach the MITHI WALL, where the scenes of the city have begun and wall. Moreover, local people told me that during Diwali firework view is spectacular and special from here.

I'd three hours of driving to go, but luckily the landscape changes enough throughout the day to keep my eyes constantly occupied. My first stop is a happening roadside tea shop with traditional music and people relaxing. Where children pose wearing traditional bright colorful on the road to their village and camel rides at the road corners drive ahead. This time of year, the heat is manageable yet the sky as the rains after three years hit the Tharparkar recently is a constant bright blue that appears never-ending above the road. Windows down and drifting into the home mindset. While here local people speak the Thari' is a Rajasthani language they sing in and it gives the melody of the music a whole new meaning.

Green Oases are common in this part of Thar, where the desert lets go of its unforgiving nature and give water, palm trees and a place for life to settle. I stopped at viewpoints to find green blooming oases in the valleys below.

My lunch stop was in traditional another oasis Valley, at one of the most idyllic restaurants of the trip. While I take shelter in the tin hut, a sandstorm takes over and the rainbow shawls blow violently in the wind. It's a reminder of the power of the desert about to head into. Camelback is the main mode of transport to enter the dunes, and a row of 10 are majestically lined up.

Explains that people of the desert always know the time and direction based on the sun, stars, and moon. While I whip my iPhone out to check which way the sun will set, the nature of these people is to understand the earth based on the sky.

The real lure of Thar, I think, is the knowledge that there's always more of it to explore. As the camels dip their hooves into the soft sand, the landscape of the Tharparkar opens up to us. Dunes roll into one another, merging and changing shape as the wind blows over each sand mountain. The setting sun creates long camel shaped shadows and in each direction, the sand appears a different shade of golden yellow. Although I've seen deserts before, nothing compares to the sheer scale of the Thar, the dunes rise and fall so dramatically, and the sea of sand seems to go on for miles.

Tents can be rolled up and transported on pack animals (usually horses, donkeys, or camels). Nomads move frequently so their flocks of sheep and goats will have water and grazing land. Peacocks, when out of the shade, display their mesmerizing bluish-green feathers which glimmer and bring color to the desert's pastel-colored landscape.

While a short trip might show vast landscapes and huge skies, it's the people that call this place home which are the only ones who can truly understand the diversity of Tharparkar. The nomads who know what each of the stars in a milky way means. The people that know which way to pray at sunrise and which way to walk the camel's back to civilization.

Clothing is versatile and based on robes made of rectangles of fabric. Sharp bright colors Kurta/shirts Long-sleeved, full-length common trends in man and the Thari women wear ghagra's which are long swirling skirts with a hand full of bangles, these robes shield all but the head and hands from the wind, sand, heat, and cold. White reflects sunlight, and the loose fit allows cooling air to flow across the skin.

Desert women are very tough. They walk for hours to fetch water from lakes to supply their family daily needs. They carry pottery jugs of brackish water on their heads. Their colorful, yet very simple saris dance in the wind. They protect their faces from the intense sunlight and from sand storms using a kind of veil that still allows them to see through. Many young girls help their mothers in this daunting task instead of attending school.

Some desert areas rely on resources brought from more fertile areas—food trucked in from distant farmlands or, more frequently, water piped from wetter regions. Large areas of desert soil are irrigated by water pumped from underground sources or brought by canal from distant rivers or lakes.

The kitchen gardening and, yet effective small-scale water harvesting methods and drought prevention measures have enabled the Thar Desert communities to become less vulnerable and more resilient to the negative effects of climate change. The role of water storage plays in enhancing the community's resilience and adaptation in drought-prone areas are highly significant. Preparedness and prevention have transformed the almost uninhabitable environment and made it more suitable for living.

Water is a very precious resource for them and they use it for various purposes: drinking, cooking, cleaning, washing clothes and even for the practice of small scale agriculture. Hopefully, their hardship has been alleviated a bit since now, a few water tanks can be found nearer to their homes. They collect this water through a hand pump which is connected to the underground rainwater harvesting tank.

Furthermore, I also got the chance to visit Hindu Shiva temple; its walls were decorated with posters of Lord Shiva and other saints of Thar. This reflecting a general mood of tolerance and support from the local people and government authorities – a situation that allows for the local Hindu communities to build their temples and honor their beliefs freely.

My experience in the desert was extremely significant because I was able to be in touch with a totally different culture and learn about their peculiar and unique lifestyle. My short encounters with Thari people which had made the Thar much more than any dessert I'd seen before. For now, I can attempt to relieve that feeling through photographs, the melodies of Sindhi Folk Music and a handmade handicraft that hangs in my room.

Having had the opportunity of analyzing what it is like to live in a tribal way, opened my sight to new horizons making it easier to realize how life can be lived in a simple but still pleasant way.

Indeed, the desert is a place of contrasts, and there's no greater example of that than out here in the Tharparkar, the world's greatest. A place of solitude and intense heat. Yet also a place of music, stories, cultures, and traditions.

One of the sunset in Thar,

is woven of soft lights

The winds of the day drop dead

And dreams come home to me….

The desert is still —and apart

Is a stillness in my heart?

©Zahra Khalid