Travelogue The Travellers Club of Chichester designed our tour of Rajasthan especially for photographers and artists. Starting and finishing in Delhi, our journey took in all the major sites and was organised in such a way that enabled us enjoy hassle-free sight-seeing. There was time for the artists to sketch, the photographers to choose their viewpoint and others to wander around and drink in the scene. The tour leaders were Norman and Val Shepherd, a photographer and a sculptor and painter, were on hand to give expert advice and ensure that we got to the right place at the right time

Rajasthan in the north west of India is large, about 700 km by 700 km, much of it arid. The attractions for us were the temples, Maharaja’ palaces and ancient hill fortresses and the people - many of the villagers were in the most vibrant colours with gold and silver jewellery.

A major highlight was our visit to the Pushkar camel fair. It’s attended by 250,000 people and 50,000 camels over 4 days in November, turning the area into a small town. The exact date of the event depends on the full moon and the fair is also an opportunity to enjoy a carnival with wall of death rides, side shows of all kinds; you can have your teeth done or ears cleaned all while watching camel racing! It was all very good natured and people didn’t mind us taking photographs.

We were happy to oblige the colourful and eccentric holy men with a small fee for a picture. Being housed in a hotel on the edge of the lake was ideal. Some people stay the desert tent town where the tourists go - that maybe very colourful but definately not for me!

Our accommodation overall was good with clean 2 star to 5 star hotels with a lovely breakfast and full evening meal often in the most spectacular surroundings. On one occasion a Maharaja’s manager asked if we would like to dine at the palace that night - what followed was straight out of a film set. We were treated to an open air evening in a court yard under the stars. Just picture the scene - candle lit tables, sitars playing across the night air, ornamental ponds parading lotus flowers with floating candle boats and tall men with beards dressed in uniform and turbans attentively serving us.

Part of the tour was led by a local medical doctor who would only guide us if we visited some of the rural villages where he practiced. He wanted to get us off the main tourist trail and see the real India and it was fascinating. A lasting impression was of the local school. Classes of 50 or more produced exceptional work. The students were attentive and polite to their teachers - all were bilingual. The English copperplate writing and contents were excellent. We took boxes of pencils, chalks and pens for the school as they were very short of equipment. The group was entertained that evening by a touring set of entertainers visiting one of the villages. It was refreshingly different from UK entertainment - much simpler, slower and non-violent.

The towns were a step back in time. Intermingled with the shops were small one man factories making all sorts of things. There were cows in the street and Vespa scooters transporting whole families - we saw a father driving with a boy between his legs mother on the back side saddle holding a baby! All competing with small three wheel taxis with two stroke engines called “tut tuts”, named after the noise they make.

Because of the type of tour, I expected something to go wrong somewhere. I had mentally planned that if it did I would make an adventure of it. Nothing went amiss, although I think it was rather like a swan, all smooth and serene above for us but the organisational feet paddling like mad below.

Throughout the article are some of my photo’s which speak more than any narrative.