"India is India, desert is desert"

"India is India, desert is desert. What can you do?"

Famous words spoken often by Raman, the most humorous local I've met to date, and fortunately one of 2 outstanding guides who led a good group of friends and I out on a camel safari for 2 nights.

This quote would usually be preceded by one of us asking for something that "wasn't possible" ( a quote that only someone who's been to India can appreciate). Or it would be preceded by some sort of complaint of uncomfort, like a midnight sandstorm or creepy crawlers and flying insects invading your personal space. All in all those 2 nights spent in the desert were the most memorable days on my trip thus far. Raman and Matar pumped out restaurant quality food with a simple campfire, and they had a smile on their face the entire time on our trip.

I left Jaisalmer on top of the world but awoke in Jaipur completely rock bottom. Nearly 3 months of train travel had left me complacent, and as I slept I was completely robbed of every valuable I own. I often thought to myself how bad I'd feel if I ever lost my beloved Nikon D3100w/35mm f/1.8 lens (pardon the nerdy talk but it was my baby), or my laptop bursting at the seems with Gigabytes of photos and videos of nearly 3 months gone by in India. I never in visioned both of them being gone along with all of my credit cards, debit cards, a freshly packed wallet from a recent ATM trip and a Canadian passport to top it all off. I do hold some blame for the stupidity of placing all of these items in a single bag I suppose.

I stepped off the train with nothing but a bag of clothes and a range of emotions too long to list. Had it not been for 3 great friends I've been traveling with the past 5 days I'm not sure what would've transpired. They fed me, sheltered me, and lent me a much needed Ipad which I would use for next 24 hours skyping banks and embassies.

I also met some great bankers who went out of their way to help me access funds, having not a spec of identity makes it a rather daunting task to send money over the phone. They would stay past their working hours and even sometimes call me on their own time giving me tips and wishing me luck. Hours were spent in the police station as well, it was there after jotting down in point form exactly what I had lost that it really hit me. One friendly officer patted me on the shoulder and personally apologised for the actions of one heartless thief. Perhaps he thought I may blame India as a whole and go home to tell everyone what a corrupt and bad place it is. But the exact opposite happens here when you get knocked to the ground, everyone goes out of their way to help dust you off and to get you back on your feet so you can keep on moving.

Lately I've been wondering what Raman would say to me in this situation I'm currently in, I think the answer is blatantly obvious.

"India is India, desert is desert, life is life. What can you do?"

Raman, one of the funniest people I've ever met.

Hugh, Ben and Ian, 3 GC's from New Zealand who helped me out in a time of need.

Matar, the other great guide of our trip.