A Day in the Life of a Camel Herder

The diet of camel herders is heavily dependent on camel milk.

Several times during the day, boiled camel milk was consumed. And at least 3 times I was offered tea made with camel milk.

Dinner of a ‘Kheer’ a sweetened dessert-like milk dish made of camel milk. On the odd day, there may also be vegetables and Bajra millet bread. But the preferred food is Kheer.

Here are some shots from the day. And the last one from the bonfire while we cooked kheer.

Throughout the day I had the milk and tea enthusiastically …. but by dinner, my body proved to me that the spirit and the body are not always aligned.

And that ended my experimentation with other types of proteins.

But it was fun while it lasted.

Here are some videos:

1. Milking a Camel

2. Making Fire in the Desert

3. Boiling Camel Milk

Spent the night under the stars. With five men I’d never seen before that day. In the presence of NO ONE that I knew from my regular life. Just me. With camels and their herders. Under the stars. In the cold. NO money had been exchanged or even discussed. It happened through the act of requesting. And trusting.

And that is the beauty of rural India.

A shot of sunrise with the camels!

And THAT plant below is my personal ladies room …. (if you know you know). And once you’ve used one of these open-air-under-the-sky spaces, the little cubicles back home feel like a huge compromise. Truth.

***

Nov 2021

jm

wovensouls.com