For the full version of this post, please click here.

I met Mr. Desert in Jaisalmer, a city in the heart of Rajasthan, where I planned to embark on an overnight camel safari.  He stood in the doorframe of the modest Sahara Travels, his striking blue eyes smiling a warm welcome.  His simple white dhoti provided the perfect backdrop for his most prominent feature: an impressive, well-manicured, and somewhat mind-boggling beard.

After a long day atop our camels, we 6 travelers arrived, sun-stroked and bowlegged but happy, at the campsite. In the quiet vastness of that place, we spread blankets on the still-warm sand and watched the sun disappear behind the dunes.  I decided, then, to ask Mr. Desert the question that had been on my mind all day: “Mr. Desert…how did you get your name?”

He smiled, his beard broadening in tandem, and we prepared to listen.  This was his answer.

Note: the music you hear in this piece is the work of Krishna, a street-musician I met in Udaipur, India.  He was kind enough to let me sit with him for hours as I attempted to learn his instrument, the ravanhattha.  When I abandoned that endeavor, he was kind enough to let me record his own expert playing.

-Catherine McCarthy, Thailand ‘09