DAY 4 (4/5): DESERT HERITAGE, Hotel Nachana Haveli and Thar Heritage Museum, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India, 2018.11.27

From our guidebook we picked Saffron Restaurant for lunch. Situated on the leafy rooftop of Nachna Haveli Hotel, Saffron Restaurant offers an atmospheric venue away from the busy lanes of Jaisalmer. The building complex is owned by the Nachna family. They are direct descendants of Maharawal Jaisal, the founder of Jaisalmer. The Nachna Haveli was partially converted into a heritage hotel in 1996.

We entered the Nachna Haveli Hotel through a elegant gateway.

Beyond the gate, we arrived at a sleepy and lush green courtyard.

Comfortable seating adjacent to the courtyard offers visitors and guests a great place to escape from the afternoon heat.

We were told to go upstairs to the roof for the Saffron Restaurant.

Compared to the dusty and often busy street outside, the leafy and tranquil rooftop of Saffron Restaurant felt like a paradise to us.

At Saffron, it was a big surprise to find that film shooting was going on at part of the rooftop. It was a scene of causal talk between a mother and daughter while hanging the laundry.

After lunch, we went to check out the guidebook recommended handicraft shop Desert Handicrafts Emporium.

Desert Handicrafts Emporium is owned by LN Khatri, a knowledgeable historian and folklorist of the Thar region.

After purchasing two embroidered pieces, Mr. Khatri led us to his Thar Heritage Museum. With a decent collection of artefacts and antiques from various desert villages.

One of the most interesting display was a Gyan Chaupar (meaning ‘Game of Knowledge) game, which sometimes can be referred as the Snake and Ladder game. The game has been around in India since the 2nd century. It is a game that involves educating people about religious vice and virtue.

Displays at the Thar Heritage Museum are grouped in such a way that visitors can easily learn about the specific life and work of various kinds of people in the Thar Desert.

Opium was popular in Rajasthan in the old days. Khatri’s museum designates a corner to display the artefacts used for opium smoking.

Mr. Khatri’s father was actually a ghee collector in the Thar Desert. A number of old ghee containers are on display.

The displayed items in the museum reflect a bygone era of the Thar Desert.

Embroideries with gold and silver threads are popular in villages of the Thar Desert.

Vintage black and white photographs in the museum convey a romantic sense of the bygone Rajasthan.

Mr. Khatri was kind to show us around and talked about the highlights of his collection. The visit offered us a thorough glimpse of what life was like back in old Rajasthan.