The Marudhar Express has a somewhat notorious reputation for being late and waiting for hours on the platform, being accosted by Hijdas (transgender/men dressed as women), is part of the experience. But after a 2 hour wait, boarding the train and finding a window seat in AC class, promised a modicum of relief and expectation.
All journeys between cities seem to take about 6 hours and traveling between Jaipur and Jodhpur was no exception. Observing life and landscape from the window, provided a perspective on this part of India and stopping at Junctions every few miles, created a slow, timeless, inescapable and mesmerizing rhythm.
But one of the more surprising sights out of the window, as it chugged slowly through Rajasthan, apart from camels and a lake of flamingoes, was a field of peacocks, pecking away in the dirt of the arid, semi desert, in a run-of-the-mill, everyday, sort of way - this prosaic setting was shockingly different from the usual romantic image, of a fabulous bird seen at a distance, beyond the spray of an exotic palace fountain, or hauntingly glimpsed, in the shadows of a cusped colonnade - illusive, distant and unapproachable.
It's the National Bird of India and protected - its beautiful feathers may not be exported and sometimes one reads in the Times of India, of bulk packages of feathers being dramatically seized at airports, with heavy fines for perpetrators - though feathers which fall from the bird naturally, can be traded locally, where they are regarded as a good luck talisman.
In Renaissance paintings, the peacock was tucked away discreetly, into images of the Birth of Christ, to remind us of his resurrection and immortality, as it was believed, according to ancient mythology, that the flesh of the peacock was incorruptible !
All journeys between cities seem to take about 6 hours and traveling between Jaipur and Jodhpur was no exception. Observing life and landscape from the window, provided a perspective on this part of India and stopping at Junctions every few miles, created a slow, timeless, inescapable and mesmerizing rhythm.
It's the National Bird of India and protected - its beautiful feathers may not be exported and sometimes one reads in the Times of India, of bulk packages of feathers being dramatically seized at airports, with heavy fines for perpetrators - though feathers which fall from the bird naturally, can be traded locally, where they are regarded as a good luck talisman.
In Renaissance paintings, the peacock was tucked away discreetly, into images of the Birth of Christ, to remind us of his resurrection and immortality, as it was believed, according to ancient mythology, that the flesh of the peacock was incorruptible !
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