Deserted with a priest in a desert temple!

The smiling priest :)

We were a group of few travellers and we were on a temple trail, exploring the temples in villages around Jaisalmer. Muhar Mahadev was first on our list and we reached there late in the morning. The sun was high and it was very very hot. It was also our first outing tougher and sun was least of our concern, we simply wanted to be explorers :)

Something really interesting happened here. After chatting up with the priest and enjoying the wild berries growing on the trees there, I decided to walk towards the back of the temple and found some really interesting and older looking structures. The shot below is taken while I was exploring there alone.

Temple from the back side

I also decided to take a leak and so walked a distance away from the temple. As I was walking back towards the temple, I heard the  noise of engines starting and dust rising far in the distance. I was absolutely sure that someone would see that I am missing and the caravan would wait for me. I learnt later that everyone thought I would be in another car and so never stopped :)

Anyway, by the time I reached the cars were already gone far and I was left behind in a storm of dust. I did try walking on the trail left behind by the tyres but soon had to give up - the sun was too strong and I was completely dehydrated. I decided to go back to the priest and ask him for suggestions.

The cars leaving me behind :(

The priest was mildly amused to see me again and asked me to wait with him. He was quite happy with his smoke and I was curious to ask him to share it with me, but the heat stopped me. I had no number to call in the group so decided to sit back, relax and chat up. There was another young shepherd from a nearby Muslim village sleeping there and got up to have a look at this lost wanderer :) I somehow found it really interesting to see a young Muslim lad befriending a Brahmin priest. Life seemed simpler there...

The jolly priest did mention that he would drop me somewhere in his open jeep if none came to help in a while, and I almost hoped that I would be forgotten and would get a ride in his awesome vehicle! But my logical side of mind also wanted to explore other places which I would not be able to explore on my own...

The young shepherd 

For half an hour no one came back and I got decided to look through my phone again and found a screenshot of everyone's numbers from an e-mail! A few phone calls later, help was on it way and I was soon rescued (haha). All I wanted was water and some cool air, and I got them both :)

Such incidents do not happen often and when they do happen, they stay with you!