In some of the toughest landscapes in the country, dunes offer water and beauty in the desert

WE most often lament over the destruction of beauty near the cities or where the word ‘development’ occurs. The beautiful lake-forest of Makhi was drowned following the construction of Chotiari Dam; a lush green caravan of shisham or tali trees was pulled off overnight from the snake-like banks of lower Nara for a new barren dike of the sandy reservoir. A far more devastated consequence is occurring to the beautiful hills of Karoonjhar for its valuable stone. Manchar has already died because of the poisonous water of RBOD. Many articles have been written about these losses, but we listen, feel sorry for that, and then forget. Few don’t. This is for them.

Away from the thickly populated southern Thar, there is a particular patch of the white desert that is hard to live in. Thinly inhabited by the shepherds, the region is occupied by gigantic sand hills with very narrow valleys (talis) in their base. These sand hills are stretched long in the sea-wind direction (southeast to northeast). Vegetation being its main resource for the survival of both human and animal, is not as thriving as it seems in Tharparkar. It is only kandi (specigera prospis) that have bound shepherds to their livestock. Thus, they love it more than their offsprings.

The best gift this desert has to offer a human eye is its dunes. We may have heard about the shimmering dunes of Sahara, the Gobi, Libya, Egypt etc. but have never heard of the ones that lie within our tropical borders. The Rajasthan dunes, which are often shown in Indian movies, are also part of these great dunes. The Pushkar annual fair which is popular for its camels and colourful clans, attract the eyes of cameramen and the visitors when they are viewed among the dunes during the sunset. Thousands of tourists, models, journalists, environmentalists, filmmakers go for those catchy moments before the dusk and after it. A goat or two, with a dune in the background, a little before sunset, is far solacing and comfortable than the scenes taken in any of the background on the Earth. The question is why have our dunes been left high and dry?

Often it is said that desert areas are opposite to that of riverine ones. But the dunes are not. They have a bulky reserve of rain water conserved in their base and ridges. Evaporation is restricted to the surface level, that helps in griping the sand in layers through the moistness and thus they are naturally prevented to move along. It is true that smaller dunes move and it is because they cannot hold water in their base layers and there is little chance to keep it from being evaporated. The rain water sucked by these dunes goes deep to the bottom and may not moisten the base layers of these small dunes. I have seen these dunes with preserved water, help in the growth of vegetation around it. It is really marvellous to see a plant or tree grown in the dune’s area.

There are two types of dunes — the crescent-shaped and long, narrow, ridge-like dunes. But these don’t extend in the direction of prevailing wind, as is often the case. It may be that in this part of the white desert the winds are variable, so the dunes formed do not have fixed shape. The question why does it move is easy to understand.

The dunes are always growing and extending because of the capability of its particles being carried away by the wind. It moves or extends in the windy season.

It is interesting that the settlement phenomenon (the huts of the shepherds) in this part of the desert also moves along with the dunes. As the dunes are the reserve of sweet rain water, so the settlement of shepherds in and around the dunes does change in the wake of creeping sand. In early May we visited a long stretch of dunes that was only last year, some 60km northeast of Chotiari. There is also a particular story that goes along with this streatch.

There was once a thickly inhabited river valley where a river flowed through it. It was so populated that there was great trade along and across the embankments. Then one day a stranger came on this side of the river and asked the boatman to row him across. He agreed instantly and began to sail the other side. However, in the middle of the river the boatman demanded some more money from the stranger. As it was against the accord, the stranger refused. Consequently the boatman struck a hole in the boat and asked the stranger to be ready to face certain death. Filled with rage and humiliation, the stranger bade him a curse that the river might not flow again and that he (the boatman) might also not find any employment again. God fulfilled the curse and the river immediately went dry. The stranger stepped out of the boat and walked away to the other side. From that moment on, the silt took over, the river turned into a dune and long straw bushes turned to small sweet water bushes. The fish became sandfish (a kind of lizard) and that’s the way the story goes. Today, many locals believe that the river is still flowing under the dunes.

The dunes of our desert are part of that long serpent-like path stretching into Rajhistan. So the water possessed by them may have an underground flow to north-south direction. Some believe that the ancient Sarsuati River too had its underground current through this great desert.

The water that is stored in the hedges of dunes is only two to three feet deep, which can easily be had by digging sand even with hands or a piece of stick. This sweet rain water is known as tas in local language. That is why people of this part usually travel from one village to another along the dunes.

Another great feature of these dunes is their colourful landscape. As the dune sand is constituted of the silicon particles of various hues, so they refract light as does the prism, showing a colourful landscape to the human eye or camera lens. This happens when the wind blows and the sand is carried out from the slopes to the top of the dunes and then dropped in the leeward side; the thin particles of sand occupy the surface of the bowl. These thin particles play the central role in refracting the light rays into the coloured landscape. These dunes show three main blazing landscapes, i.e., golden or yellow, pink and red. These appear even more beautiful when seen through camera lens.

Despite being beautiful, the dunes are a menace to the desert flora too. Light as they are, the dunes’ particles are mostly stopped by the trees and other impediments. Hence when the wind becomes variable, the shepherds are stunned with the fear of losing pastures and the dung places. They have already been deprived of cemented wells twice in the last 15 years. Despite all these dangers the dunes are one big blessing in the toughest regions of our country.