#wilfred thesiger

[lounesdarbois]

Qu’est ce qui a perdu les Arabes ? Le sucre (Lire l'explorateur Wilfred Thesiger, Le désert des déserts).

Qu’est-ce qui a perdu les Blancs ? Le fun. C’est à dire l’anti-sobriété, le pas-sérieux, la mondanité, le cabotinage, l’alcool, la satiété, la médiocrité des standards de vie, la radinerie, la mesquinerie, la gynolâtrie, l’impiété, la déloyauté et la délation, le friendzoning.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

In the desert, I had found a freedom unattainable in civilisation; a life unhampered by possessions, since everything that was not a necessity was an encumbrance. I had found too, a comradeship inherent in the circumstances, and the belief that tranquility was to be found there.

- Wilfred Thesiger

[totallyhussein-blog]

Join AMAR on a journey to the Garden of Eden

In 1991, Saddam Hussain’s persecution of the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq saw hundreds of thousands flee their homes. As Iraq’s historic marshes were drained and villages attacked, families had no choice but to move.

After a visit to the region, Baroness Emma Nicholson refused to ignore the situation and launched an appeal, ‘Assisting Marsh Arabs and Refugees’ - to send relief to those who had lost everything.

Today, the AMAR Foundation’s work has evolved and AMAR’s teams are working right the way across Iraq, Lebanon and Romania, ensuring that vulnerable families have access to healthcare, educational services and emergency aid.

They keep the name ‘AMAR’, which translates as ‘the builder’ in some Arabic dialects and this reminds people of their central mission - that AMAR are rebuilding lives!

By reading these two books, you can join Baroness Nicholson and the AMAR Foundation and travel to the Marshlands of Iraq, which are also said to be the biblical Garden of Eden.

'THE MARSH ARABS' BY WILFRED THESIGER

During the years he spent among the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq, Wilfred Thesiger came to understand, admire and share a way of life that had endured for many centuries.

In 'The Marsh Arabs', Thesiger pays tribute to the hospitality, loyalty, courage and endurance of the people, describes their impressive reed houses, ancient waterways and lakes teeming with wildlife.

'RETURN TO THE MARSHES' BY GAVIN YOUNG

It was the legendary Wilfred Thesiger who first introduced Gavin Young to the Marshes of Iraq.

Young became entranced by both the beauty of the Marshes and by the Marsh Arabs who inhabit them, a people whose lifestyle was almost unchanged from that of their predecessors, the Ancient Sumerians.

'Return to the Marshes' was first published in 1977 and is at once a moving tribute to a unique way of life, as well as a love story to a place and its people.

[thethirdbear]

[newloverofbeauty]

Explorer Wilfred Thesiger and friend at Lake Como, Italy (1932)

[hussyknee]

Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani’s Kitab al-Aghani records the lives of a number of individuals including one named Tuways who lived during the last years of Muhammad and the reigns of the early Muslim dynasties. Tuways was mukhannathun: those who were born as men, but who presented as female. They are described by al-Isfahani as wearing bangles, decorating their hands with henna, and wearing feminine clothing. One mukhannathun, Hit, was even in the household of the Prophet Muhammad. Tuways earned a reputation as a musician, performing for clients and even for Muslim rulers. When Yahya ibn al-Hakam was appointed as governor, Tuways joined in the celebration wearing ostentatious garb and cosmetics. When asked by the governor if he were Muslim Tuways affirmed his belief, proclaiming the declaration of faith and saying that he observes the fast of Ramadan and the five daily prayers. In other words, al-Isfahani, who recorded the life of a number of mukhannathun like Tuways, saw no contradiction between his gender expression and his Muslimness. From al-Isfahani we read of al-Dalal, ibn Surayj, and al-Gharid—all mukhannathun—who lived rich lives in early Muslim societies. Notably absent from al-Isfahani’s records is any state-sanctioned persecution. Instead, the mukhannathun are an accepted part of society.

...

Far from isolated cases, across Islamic history—from North Africa to South Asia—we see widespread acceptance of gender nonconforming and queer individuals. - Later in the Ottoman Empire, there were the köçek who were men who wore women’s clothing and performed at festivals. Formally trained in dance and percussion instruments, the köçek were an important part of social functions. A similar practice was found in Egypt. The khawal were male dancers who presented as female, wearing dresses, make up, and henna. Like their Ottoman counterparts, they performed at social events.

- In South Asia, the hijra were and are third-sex individuals. The term is used for intersex people as well as transgender women. Hijra are attested to among the earliest Muslim societies of South Asia where, according to Nalini Iyer, they were often guardians of the household and even held office as advisors.

- In Iraq, the mustarjil are born female, but present as men. In Wilfred Thesiger’s The Marsh Arabs the guide, Amara explains, “A mustarjil is born a woman. She cannot help that; but she has the heart of a man, so she lives like a man.” When asked if the mustarjil are accepted, Amara replies “Certainly. We eat with her and she may sit in the mudhif.” Amara goes on to describe how mustarjil have sex with women.

...

Historian Indira Gesink analyzed 41 medical and juristic sources between the 8th and 18th centuries and discovered that the discourse of a “binary sex” was an anachronistic projection backwards. Gesink points out in one of the earliest lexicography by the 8th century al-Khalil ibn Ahmad that he suggests addressing a male-presenting intersex person as ya khunathu and a female-presenting intersex person as ya khanathi while addressing an effeminate man as ya khunathatu. This suggests a clear recognition of a spectrum of sex and gender expression and a desire to address someone respectfully based on how they presented.

Tolerance of gender ambiguity and non-conformity in Islamic cultures went hand-in-hand with broader acceptance of homoeroticism. Texts like Ali ibn Nasir al-Katib’s Jawami al-Ladhdha, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani’s Kitab al-Aghani, and the Tunisian, Ahmad al-Tifashi’s Nuz’ha al-‘Albab attest to the widespread acceptance of same-sex desire as natural. Homoeroticism is a common element in much of Persian and Arabic poetry where youthful males are often the object of desire. From Abu Nuwas to Rumi, from ibn Ammar to Amir Khusraw, some of the Islamic world’s greatest poets were composing verses for their male lovers. Queer love was openly vaunted by poets. One, Ibn Nasr, immortalizes the love between two Arab lesbians Hind al Nu’man and al-Zarqa by writing:

“Oh Hind, you are truer to your word than men. Oh, the differences between your loyalty and theirs.”

...

Acceptance of same-sex desire and gender non-conformity was the hallmark of Islamic societies to such a degree that European travelers consistently remarked derisively on it. In the 19th century, Edward Lane wrote of the khawal: “They are Muslims and natives of Egypt. As they personate women, their dances are exactly of the same description as those of the ghawazee; and are, in like manner, accompanied by the sound of castanets.”

A similarly scandalized CS Sonnini writes of Muslim homoerotic culture:

“The inconceivable appetite which dishonored the Greeks and the Persians of antiquity, constitute the delight, or to use a juster term, the infamy of the Egyptians. It is not for women that their ditties are composed: it is not on them that tender caresses are lavished; far different objects inflame them.”

In his travels in the 19th century, James Silk Buckingham encounters an Afghan dervish shedding tears for parting with his male lover. The dervish, Ismael, is astonished to find how rare same-sex love was in Europe. Buckingham reports the deep love between Ismael and his lover quoting, “though they were still two bodies, they became one soul.”

...

Today, vocal Muslim critics of LGBTQ+ rights often accuse gay and queer people of imposing a “Western” concept or forcing Islam to adjust to “Western values” failing to grasp the irony of the claim: the shift in the 19th and 20th century was precisely an alignment with colonial values over older Islamic ones, all of which led to legal criminalization. In fact, the common feature among nations with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation isn’t Islam, but rather colonial law.

Don't talk to me I'm weeping. I'm not Muslim, but the grief of colonization runs in the blood of every Global South person. Dicovering these is like finding our lost treasures among plundered ruins.

Queer folk have always, always been here; we have always been inextricable, shining golden threads in the tapestry of human history. To erase and condemn us is to continue using the scalpel of colonizers in the mutilation and betrayal of our own heritage.

[nejjcollectsbooks]

black & red & black & red & black & red

> The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco > The Complete Poems by John Keats > Stoner by John Williams > Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger > The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse > The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston LeRoux > The Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft > The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins > Dracula by Bram Stoker

Thrifted tea set that my brothers got me. I had to pair it with my penguin classics and vintage classics.

[british-revolution]

Wilfred Thesiger, the British explorer and writer, was a private individual, and there is no widely accepted or confirmed information about his sexual orientation. Thesiger is best known for his travels and writings about his experiences in the deserts of Africa and the Middle East, particularly his books about the Arabian Peninsula and the Marsh Arabs of Iraq. His personal life and sexual orientation were not subjects he publicly discussed, and any claims about his sexual orientation are largely speculative and lack concrete evidence.

(via Altogether Intact)

[elihinze]

Here are the articles and books I went through in my research for book 3 (still untitled) in the Imposter King series! I went over everything from ancient Akkadian demons to linen production to marsh life and more, and got a TON of excellent fodder for book 3 in this 5 book series. I can’t wait to bring you all this next installment. ✨ (Also, Jstor is bae.)

Here’s a full list of the articles and books listed: - The First Ghosts by Irving Finkel - The Arab Marshes by Wilfred Thesiger - Ancient Mesopotamian Religion by Tammi Schneider - Spinning in the 5th Millennium in the Southern Levant - Nomadic Tradition in the Prehistoric Near East - Demons in the Hebrew Bible in the Ancient Near East - Reviving Eden in Iraq’s Marshes - The Sacred Marriage in Early Times in Mesopotamia - Astral Divination in the Context of Mesopotamian Divination, Medicine, Religion, Magic, Society, and Scholarship - The Eastern Marshes of Mesopotamia - Iraqi Marshland Women - The Tangible Evidence for the Earliest Dilmun - Gender and the Verification of Prophecy at Mari - Prophecy as Divination

[honeyleesblog]

Astrological Outlook and Personality Analysis for Individuals with a June 3rd Birthday

Smart, chatty, exuberant and with a unique capacity for movement and change of climate, with a specific propensity to the roaming life. Imperious, anxious, dynamic, fiery individuals - they show conciliatory abilities and can capably track down their lifestyle. They frequently show a specific familial person, despite the fact that they are typically enthusiastically forfeited for other people. They can be impassive, chilly, unconventional. The best calling for individuals brought into the world on this day is connected with scholarly work, the press, news-casting, instructing or travel. They likewise show surprising expertise in manual work and have creative capacities. Their imperfections: they are to some degree malignant, bad tempered, and, surprisingly, handily irritated. They appreciate sterile contentions and immaterial questions. These imperfections are more unmistakable in individuals brought into the world during the day. What undermines them? Collaboration and associations with others will be fairly challenging for them. They will most likely be unable to pivot unreasonable changes, whether inside or brought about by life altering situations. In such a case, your life is spent in interruptions and diversion. Astrological Outlook and Personality Analysis for Individuals with a June 3rd Birthday 

 Assuming your birthday is June 3, your zodiac sign is Gemini June 3 - character and character character: great, autonomous, focused, adversary, mean, awful calling: model, fireman, designer tones: beige, purple, daffodil stone: pearl creature: camel plant: red oak fortunate numbers: 5,14,16,24,26,27 very fortunate number: 32 Occasions and observances - June 3 World bike Day Banner of Argentina.svg Argentina: Italian Settler Day. Regulation 24,561 June 3 VIP birthday events. Who was conceived that very day as you? 1901: Josდ© Lins do Rego, Brazilian essayist and columnist (d. 1957). 1903: Pedro Garcდ­a de la Huerta Matte, Chilean government official (f. 1994). 1906: Josephine Pastry specialist, French artist and artist (d. 1975). 1910: Wilfred Thesiger, English wayfarer and essayist (d. 2003). 1911: Paulette Goddard, American entertainer (f. 1990). 1913: Pedro Mir, Dominican public writer (f. 2000). 1916: Aldo Zeoli, Argentine military and astronautical architect (f. 2003). 1922: Alain Resnais, French producer (d. 2014). 1924: Olga Lamas, tango vocalist, with a diverting collection (f. 1988). 1924: Jimmy Rogers, American blues artist. 1924: Torsten Wiesel, Swedish analyst, 1981 Nobel Prize victor for medication and physiology (d. 1997). 1925: Tony Curtis, American entertainer (d. 2010). 1926: Allen Ginsberg, American writer (d. 1997). 1927: Eliseo Mourino, Argentine soccer player (d. 1961). 1928: Donald Judd, American stone worker (d. 1994). 1929: Werner Arber, Swiss microbiologist, 1978 Nobel Prize victor for physiology or medication. 1930: Marion Zimmer Bradley, American essayist (d. 1999). 1931: Raდºl Castro, Cuban lawmaker and progressive, sibling of Fidel Castro (1926-2016) and leader of Cuba somewhere in the range of 2008 and 2018. 1931: Walter Malosetti, Argentine jazz guitarist and arranger (f. 2013). 1931: John Norman, American sci-fi author. 1931: Lindy Remigino, American competitor. 1933: Roberto Bodegas, Spanish movie producer. 1933: Anthony Harvey, American movie producer. 1935: Carlos Jimდ©nez Villarejo, Spanish law specialist. 1935: Imanol Murua, Spanish legislator (f. 2008). 1936: Larry McMurtry, American writer and screenwriter. 1936: Enric Gensana, Spanish footballer (d. 2005). 1939: Steve Dalkowski, American baseball player. 1939: Marcos Velდ¡squez, Uruguayan performer and artist (d. 2010). 1942: Curtis Mayfield, American performer (d. 1999). 1943: Billy Cunningham, American b-ball player. 1944: Edith McGuire, American competitor. 1944: Tony Vilas, Argentine entertainer (f. 2013). 1945: Isabel de los დ?ngeles Ruano, Guatemalan author and artist. 1946: Michael Clarke American performer, of the band The Byrds. 1946: Penelope Wilton, English entertainer. 1947: Mickey Finn, English percussionist, of the band T. Rex. 1948: Carlos Franzetti, Argentine writer, piano player and arranger, champ of a Latin Grammy grant. 1950: Frდ©dდ©ric Franდ§ois, Italian vocalist and arranger. 1950: Suzi Quatro, American vocalist and entertainer. 1952: Billy Powell, American keyboardist, of the Lynyrd Skynyrd band. 1954: Dulce (f. 2003) and Inma Chacდ³n, Spanish authors. 1954: Jiri Georg Dokoupil, German vanguard painter, brought into the world in Czechoslovakia. 1954: Claudio Hohmann, Chilean specialist and legislator. 1954: Angela Irene, Argentine people vocalist. 1956: Danny Wilde, American performer, of the band The Rembrandts. 1961: Lawrence Lessig, American attorney and author. 1962: Susannah Constantine, English style advisor. 1964: Doro, German vocalist, of the band Warlock. 1964: Kerry Lord, American guitarist, of the band Slayer. 1964: James Purefoy, English entertainer. 1967: Takehiro Ohno, Japanese-Argentine culinary specialist. 1970: Peter Tდ¤gtgren, Swedish performer, of the Deception band. 1973: Sargis Sargsian, Armenian tennis player. 1973: Tonmi Lillman, American performer, of the band Lordi. 1973: Sebastiდ¡n Teysera, Uruguayan vocalist, from the band La Vela Puerca. 1974: Kelly Jones, Welsh vocalist, of the band Stereophonics. 1974: Martდ­n Karpan, Argentine entertainer. 1975: Russel Hobbs, American drummer, of the Gorillaz band. 1977: Cristiano Marques Gomes, Brazilian soccer player. 1979: Redimi2 (Willy Gonzდ¡lez Cruz), Dominican Christian rap vocalist. 1982: Yelena Isinbდ¡yeva, Russian competitor. 1983: Javiera Mena, Chilean vocalist lyricist, maker and performer. 1985: Papiss Cissდ©, Senegalese footballer. 1985: Dan Ewing, Australian entertainer. 1985: Tavion La'Corey Mathis, American vocalist, of the band Pretty Ricky. 1985: ვ?ukasz Piszczek, Clean footballer. 1986: Rafael Nadal, Mallorcan tennis player. 1986: Al Horford, Dominican b-ball player. 1987: Lalaine, American entertainer and vocalist. 1987: Masami Nagasawa, Japanese entertainer. 1988: Tomomi Nakagawa, Japanese vocalist. 1989: Imogen Poots, English entertainer. 1989: Megu, Japanese vocalist, of the band Negicco. 1991: Natasha Dupeyrდ³n, Mexican entertainer. 1992: Mario Gდ¶tze, German footballer. 1998: Logan Fabbro, Canadian entertainer and artist.

[x00151x]

Efemérides literarias: 3 de junio

Nacimientos 1635: Philippe Quinault, poeta francés (f. 1688). 1876: Ramón Cabanillas, escritor español en lengua gallega (f. 1876). 1898: Rosa Chacel, escritora española (f. 1898). 1901: José Lins do Rego, escritor y periodista brasileño (f. 1957). 1910: Wilfred Thesiger, explorador y escritor británico (f. 2003). 1913: Pedro Mir, poeta nacional dominicano (f. 2000). 1926: Allen Ginsberg,…

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The desert is so vast that no one can know it all. Men go out into the desert, and they are like ships at sea; no one knows when they will return.

- Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio

At weekends here in Dubai, I have been escaping into the desert with good Arab friends from my boarding school days. With them, we go off-roading in Land Cruisers amongst desert dunes, hiking and camping near wadis, ballooning, and camel riding with the Bedu. Because all Emiratis (citizens and native inhabitants of U.A.E.) have a fairly recent Bedouin past and still strongly share many Bedouin values, it is difficult to draw a line between Emiratis and their Bedouin offshoot. In any case, Emirati Arab hospitality is generous to a fault.

I’m struck by the awesome beauty of the desert landscape even as I view it in the relentless glare of the midday sun. It is at once a kaleidoscope of images, a land of contrasts and paradoxes. The immense desert, empty as a bird’s wing, lifts me with promise and hope as I try to imagine the desert through the eyes of my heroes (if one is allowed to still call them that), Hester Stanhope, TE Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark, and Wilfred Thesiger.

[totallyhussein-blog]

Through the power of books, return to the marshes of Iraq with Thesiger and Young

During the years he spent among the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq, Wilfred Thesiger came to understand, admire and share a way of life that had endured for many centuries. Travelling from village to village by canoe, he won acceptance by dispensing medicines and treating the sick. 

The Marsh Arabs is an account of his time there, where he pays tribute to the hospitality, loyalty, courage and endurance of the people, describing their impressive reed houses, the waterways and lakes teeming with wildlife, the herding of buffalo and hunting of wild boar, moments of tragedy and moments of pure comedy, all in vivid, engaging detail.

Untouched by the modern world until recently, these independent people, their way of life and their surroundings have suffered widespread destruction under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Wilfred Thesiger's The Marsh Arabs is a magnificent account of his time spent among them and is a moving testament to their now threatened culture, and the landscape they inhabit.

It was the legendary traveller Wilfred Thesiger who first introduced Gavin Young to the Marshes of Iraq. Since then Young was entranced by both the beauty of the Marshes and by the Marsh Arabs who inhabit them, a people whose lifestyle is almost unchanged from that of their predecessors, the Ancient Sumerians.

On his return to the Marshes some years later Gavin Young found that the twentieth-century had rudely intruded on this lifestyle and that war was threatening to make the Marsh Arabs existence extinct. Return to the Marshes, first published in 1977, is at once a moving tribute to a unique way of life as well as a love story to a place and its people.

[q8overseas]

أفراد من قبيلة الصيعر (Sa'ar)، قبيلة من قبائل بدو اليمن، بين شهري ١١ و١٢ من عام 1947م.

قبيلة الصيعر قبيلة بدو كبيرة وقوية، وُصف أفرادها بأنهم ذئاب الصحراء؛ وقد كانوا مكروهين من قبل كل قبائل الصحراء العربية الجنوبية، الذين كانوا يتعرّضون لهجماتهم بلا رحمة.

يظهر في صورة رجلين وإمرأة من بدو الصيعر ينقلان الماء من بئر منواخ (Manwakh).

وفي الصورة يبدو أنهم يفحصون الحبل.

Photo taken by- Wilfred Patrick Thesiger.

[mortraveling]

Escape to Abu Dhabi: A Journey Through its Islands and Deserts

Escape to Abu Dhabi: A Journey Through its Islands and Deserts On a long weekend getaway to Abu Dhabi, we wanted to explore the capital’s outskirts and hidden (not so hidden) gems and why Abu Dhabi should be your first port of entry in the United Arab Emirates. Explore the Islands of Abu Dhabi The emirate of Abu Dhabi is the largest in the UAE, by far, and with a proportionally much longer coastline, has a larger number of offshore desert islands. Off the shore of the Abu Dhabi emirate are several islands, including Reem Island, Saadiyat Island, Sir Bani Yas Island, Sowah Island (Sowwah), Maryah Island, Reem Island, and Yas Island. Abu Dhabi is located on one of these islands. Sir Bani Yas Island is the largest natural Island in the UAE and awarded the ‘World’s Leading Sustainable Tourism Destination’. On this occasion, we explored Sir Bani Yas Island.     Safari Game Drives at Sir Bani Yas Island More than half the island is made up of the Arabian Wildlife Park, one of the region’s largest wildlife reserves, which is home to more than 10,000 free-roaming animals including Arabian Oryx, gazelles and giraffes, hyenas, and cheetahs. You can take a 4×4 Nature & Wildlife Drive of the park in specially made vehicles accompanied by expert guides.     Stay at Anantara Al Yamm A 2-hour drive from Abu Dhabi into the natural beautiful Island of Sir Bani Yas, a 25-minute ferry ride, and a 7-minute drive into a unique and one-of-a-kind property in the UAE, Anantara Hotels & Resorts & Spa. With three Anantara Hotels Resorts & Spas’ retreats on the island, you can choose between 3 accommodations at Desert Islands Resort & Spa by Anantara, beachfront seclusion at Anantara Al Yamm Villa Resort on the eastern shores, and take in the natural beauty of Sir Bani Yas Island at Anantara Al Sahel Villa Resort.     Learn to Ride a Horse on Sir Bani Yas Island If you are a beginner or an experienced rider, the stables in Sir Bani Yas Island have around 30 horses of different breeds suitable for ages 13 years old. You have a choice whether to ride by the beach or in the mangroves.     Experience The Bird Sanctuary Beautiful flamingos can be seen on Sir Bani Yas Island; for the most part, they are seen around the many mangrove areas, other birds such as Emu, Blue Neck Ostrich, Grey Crowned Crane, and more!     Visit the Al Ain Desert A one-and-a-half-hour drive from Abu Dhabi city, Al Ain is one of the world’s oldest permanently inhabited settlements and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The desert is one of the most beautiful parts of Al Ain after the Empty Quarter in Abu Dhabi and so make sure you visit the beautiful Oasis in Al Ain desert.     Experience Waking up in the Desert Waking up in the desert is complete isolation feeling. Staying in a heritage-like luxury hotel is also one of the experiences one must do when visiting!     Horse Riding on The Beach There is always something magical about riding a horse on the beach and yet alone on an island in the UAE. The beautiful Arabian horses are located in Anantara Sir Bani Yas and you have an opportunity to ride the horse by yourself or with an instructor by the shores of the island.     Explore Jabel Hafeet Rising 1,240 meters, Jebel Hafeet is the emirate’s highest peak and UAE’s second. This towering rocky height, which stands guard over Al Ain and borders Oman, is forged out of craggy limestone that has been weathered over millions of years. Significant fossil discoveries have been made in the area, which is vital pieces in the jigsaw of the city’s ancient history.     Ride The Dunes at The Empty Quarter Almost like a fairytale! The world’s largest uninterrupted sand mass, the Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) will blow you away with massive expanses of awesome desert and enormous dunes. It’s a landscape of ever-changing endless dunes made famous by the British explorer Wilfred Thesiger and his Emirati and Omani companions in the 1940s and 50s. via Blogger https://ift.tt/oiN6UqQ February 01, 2023 at 06:33PM

[peterpijls1965]

Tussen de Eufraat en de Tigris

In Jaisalmer douchte ik het stof van de Tharwoestijn van me af, met een lichte zonnesteek. Ik had een zware Engelse fiets gehuurd en trok kilometers de woestijn in, met een tweeliterfles water. Dat bleek te weinig.

Ik begon al een fata morgana van een omgekeerde olieraffenaderij te zien, trillend van de hitte in de verte. Het kwik liep op tot 50 graden. De lucht was droog, het waaidde verrraderlijk. Binnen geen tijd droogde ik uit, want het water was op.

Na het douchen ging ik met hoofdpijn naar ben. Ik dronk water en thee. De volgende dag voelde ik me kiplekker, misschien had mijn queeste de woestijn in, op de zware fiets, me ergens van gelouterd. De Thar-woestijn was rood, mijn ziel voelde gepurificeerd.

´s Avonds op het dakterras van mijn Middeleeuwse hotel, de facto onderdeel van de stadswallen, kletste ik onder een sterrenhemel met een Fransman, die ontslag had genomen als kok van de ambassade in London. Hij keek belangstellend rond in de zwartgeblakerde, vettige hotelkeuken en noemde het 10-jarige jongetje dat daar omeletten stond te bakken en thee serveerde consequent ´chef´.

De doucherat voelde vertrouwd, de kamer van 50 eurocent was een cel met een brits en een stromatras. Maar de lakens waren schoon.

Mijn belangstelling voor de woestijn was gewekt door de Britse ontdekkingsreizer Wilfred Thesiger (1915-2003). Zijn Arabian Sands verslond ik. Ik wou ook kamelen en dragers huren om de Rub al Khali te doorkruisen, Het Lege Gebied van Arabie.

Tevens doorkruiste Thesiger met een karavaan de Grindwoestijn van Oman, en leefde hij 8 jaar te midden van de Moerasarabieren in Irak, tussen de Eufraat en de Tigris. De bedoeienen van Arabie sloeg hij niet over. Als een antropoloog met een zwak voor de plaatselijke knapen, werd hij een van hen.

Foto: De stadsmuren van Jaisalmer.