Nude Camels

Naked camels of Rajasthan

Bijoy Gupta’s story can now be told. For it had taken a rare stroke of genius on Saturday for him to deduce that his bumchum, Shekhawat is not responsible for his behavior. “Even the camels of Rajasthan are shameless,” Gupta proclaimed in the middle of the exercises, sending everybody reeling in laughter.
Recounting his recent trip to "Shekhawat’s quam", Gupta was at his hilarious best as he went on to elaborate: “Can you imagine,

Bijoy Gupta

the camels in Rajasthan roam around stark naked? I can understand small animals – dogs, cats, rabbits, mouse… but such huge, tall camels, absolutely nude in the middle of the desert!”
And then came the absolute whacker: “The niyat (intent) of those camels was bad. They were least bothered that we were izzatdar (respectable) people representing Big Laaf in Mumbai. Still they roamed about naked in front of us.”
“If you were so concerned about nudity, why did you not get the camels to wear knickers?” Shekhawat challenged.
Pleading helplessness, Gupta pulled a long face: “What could I have done all alone? There were so many camels -- such huge, big naked monsters – walking around audaciously.

Lt Col Angad Singh treats us to revdis on his return from Mohali today

 

I was badly outnumbered.”
Clearly, this explains why Gupta had refused to climb up on a camel, even as his wife, Pushpa had galloped away merrily with the rest of the group on the camel safari in Jaisalmer. Left stranded in the open expanse of the sands, he tried to retrace his way on foot to the desert camp – only to realize, before long, that he was hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere.
In the gathering darkness, a tall, burly man spotted the solitary figure walking aimlessly. “He must have taken pity on me because of my age,” Gupta narrated. “But I had no clue where I was. I could not even recall the name of our camp. All I could tell the goonda was that I was with a 28-member group from Mumbai and we were lodged in a camp somewhere. Once I reach there, I shall be able to recognize my tent.”
The goonda turned out to be Gupta’s savior that fateful evening. To cut a long story short, he dispatched a henchman to escort “the old man and deposit him at his thikana” in one piece. The henchman did as instructed and Gupta lived to tell his tale. So much for his phobia of 'naked camels'!
Bihari Milwani:
The nude camels Gupta-ji saw, were they male or female?
Dilip Babani:
Gupta-ji, you were lucky! People in the desert, once lost, are lost forever. You do not know where you are going or coming. And if you were wearing gold that evening, that goonda would have taken you somewhere else. So next time don't go there alone.