Not everyone is same in this world.

“I am going to Kuldhara (a haunted village near Jaisalmer, Rajasthan).”, said I.

“This is not the way to it”, were the only words that came out of his mouth.

His name was Dineh Khan, a boy of 12 who lives in a remote village far from the modern world. His village only had 12 houses, yes I counted, a school and a water tank sitting on top of a wooden tower that was on the verge of collapsing anytime soon and, huge windmills in every direction.

The school only had three classrooms, a neem tree in the center with a swing tied to one of its thick branches and, a washroom without a gate. During the day, the wind always carried a lot of dust with itself I wondered if the school even had teachers.

It was an hour before noon when I reached the village. It looked like a foreign land where I never dreamed of coming, a quaint picturesque desert village that had nothing but itself. I sighed and analyzed almost everything and didn’t found anything usual, everything was unusual. There was not even a bird or an animal outside. I grew worried, not on being lost but on losing the opportunity to see what I came to see. I had only one day before returning home and half of it was already gone and it will take another half if I decide to turn back now. At this time of the day, the sun grew stronger. I was near my bike when about 12 children came running to me from the school which was not far from where I was. I sighed with relief that it was not another abandoned village because, in old times, it was common in this place of Rajasthan to abandon a village when the necessary resources become unavailable.

The children surrounded me and every one of them greeted me with a firm handshake. A boy wearing a navy-blue kurta with a bright red colored shawl, pushing everyone aside came with a broad smile on his face. His smile widened when he shakes my hand.

He was Dineh Khan, studying in 4th standard in his village school. He came and greeted me with a handshake, but not like everyone else. He, in a way, was different from others. I have met people so empty of joy, that when I shake their hands, it seemed like I was shaking hands with a body without a soul. Others there are whose hands have the shine of a star in them so that their grasp warms my soul and Dineh Khan was one of them.

Without even asking, he said, “You took the wrong directions. A lot of people come here mistakenly.”. And I thought that I was the only one. “So, what should I do now.”, said I, anxiously. “I will take you to a graveled road which will take you to the major road. And from there you will get to where you are going. Let’s go.”, said he, proudly. This might be my only chance to experience a desert village, I said to myself. “Why don’t you show me your village first.”, said I. “OK. Let’s go then.”

He sat on my bike, the remaining children running behind us and shouting Bye-Bye. He took me first to see the dunes. Initially, I didn’t believe what I saw there, sand dunes as high as a two story high house. But then, when I climbed it, I saw the whole place was full off these.

“Don’t tell them where are you going and who is taking you there.”, said he in whispers while pointing towards three boys not very far from us.

Why he said that I thought. The three teenagers greeted me with hugs. The names were Mohamed, Sahil, and Saleem. The words of Dineh Khan was still revolving in my head. Why he told me not to tell them where I was going. I became a little anxious around them. They were constantly talking to each other. They look at me do a little chit-chat and then laugh. But they looked fine so I dropped the thought that Dineh Khan gave me.

They showed me around like every other tourist that comes here, lost on their way to Kuldhara and they help them get back on the road in exchange for a little amount of money or a fancy thing to eat. Walking past a burnt bush I saw hundreds of grasshoppers lying half-burnt on the ground. The grasshopper storm, yes you heard it right ‘A grasshopper storm’.

“They came last night. We burn the bushes, the fire attracts them.”, said Sahil.

They burn the grasshoppers because they destroy their crops. “They come at night with camels. They eat chicken and drink alcohol.”, said he pointing towards a bone-fire and some wings of a chicken scattered all over the ground. “They also play loud music. We don’t like it.”, said Saleem this time, angrily. I felt disappointed that even in a calm and isolated place like this people still want to enjoy their luxuries. They wanna have party, booze, loud music even if they are disrespecting the silent nights.

At last one of them said: “Give us money and we will take you to Kuldhara.” Even though I didn’t tell them about any of that they still knew that I was one of many tourists who depend on digital mediums of direction and eventually end in a place like this. Now I knew why Dineh Khan was telling me to be private about going to Kuldhara. But I insisted on going Dineh Khan.

“We should leave now or I might get late.”, said I, loudly and then left the place. Later he told me that they made up their names. I wondered why they did that.

I asked Dineh Khan to take me to the nearest wind-mill. They were so huge. This was the first time I was standing near a windmill so big that eventually, my neck would fell off if I stared at the top for a long time.

Then off we go towards the graveled road which was supposed to take me to a major road that would eventually take me to where I was going. We reached the graveled road at around 2 p.m. I stopped. He climbed off from the bike and stood in attention position, staring straight at me with a broad smile. I looked at him for 10 seconds and he didn’t move.

“Ahh! Money. You want money, wait.” I reached for the cash in my pocket. “No! I don’t want money. I want chocolate if you have one.” Well, who in this world carries chocolate into a desert?

Anyway, I didn’t have a chocolate. So I told him to take the money and buy a chocolate bar himself. “There are no shops here. It’s ok. No problem”. He left and I became alone in a foreign land, again.