Shekhawati: mille et une nuits...mille e una notte

Shekhawati : a la decouverte des Havelis
Nous voila donc en route vers le desert, dans la region 200km au Nord-est de Bikaner nommee Shekhawati. Notre hote dans la guesthouse de Bikaner en est originaire. C'est un sacre caractere ce Vijay! 57 ans, une energie debordante et une carriere reussie comme "Camel man" et manager d'hotels . Sur la fin de sa carriere, ce qui lui tient a coeur est de developper le tourisme dans sa region natale. Il a fait construire une petite guesthouse a Thelasar, village ou bien peu de touristes ont du passer. Nous traversons des terres arides et plates ou sur une route bien entretenue se cotoient camions, jeep, voitures, motos, vaches et chameaux. Le premier village que nous
visitons en fin d'apres-midi nous epoustoufle. Des dizaines, voire plus de cent petits palais ont ete construits au 18e et 19e siecle par de riches marchands. Pourquoi se sont-ils fait cette competition artistique et architecturale? Mystere...mais toujours est-il que ces palaces aux murs entierement ornes de fresques colorees sont incroyables. Shekhamati a tire sa richesse de taxes sur les marchandises en route du Pakistan ou de Gujarat (port au sud-ouest) vers delhi ou le nord. Mais au 20e siecle, cette source de revenus s'est tarie et ces marchands ont emigre vers Delhi, Calcutta ou Bombay. Ils ont ferme les havelis qui depuis se delabrent, laissant une impression d'apres-guerre ou de nostalgie poetique, c'est selon. Lors du 2e jour de visite, nous avons pu constater que dans d'autres villages certains havelis ont ete renoves en "heritage hotel". Grace a Vijay nous avons pu rentres dans plusieurs d'entre: decor des milles et une nuits. D'autres sont habites et les familles font comme elles peuvent pour les garder en etat, le gouvernement n'offrant aucune aide. Des dizaines de villages, des centaines de palais...plusieurs d'entre eux devraient  etre classes au patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco. Il y a 200 ans, cette region devait etre etourdissante de beaute, les restes sont des plus beaux a admirer...

A l'indienne!
Quelques moments inoubliables avec Vijay: les pakoras du marche, legumes delicatement frits, delicieusement preparees et empaquetees dans un papier journal (gloups..tant pis pour l'hygiene:-), les aperos au coin du feu au whisky et rhum indiens (3 jours loin de sa femme et un Indien se debride!), les repas with "little chilli" (ouais ouais) du vieux cuisinier - homme a tout faire (gloups encore pour l'hygiene), les pauses avec massala-chai tea toutes les heures, les discussions sur les marriages arranges, les castes, la corruption, les belles nuits etoilees ( mais qu'est ce que ca caille la nuit dans le desert!) , et au final de beaux souvenirs et un estomac qui a tenu le choc:-)

Rajput woman in a village or how I thanked my good karma..
One of the haveli we visited was owned by a Rajput family, meaning the warrior caste, one of the highest. The fort was renovated as a heritage hotel. A young man welcomed us warmly in the courtyard. We went upstairs with him where his wife, a smily young Indian, proposed to guide the visit. It really looked like a medieval fort with the traditional patio and a fantastic view from the terrace. She explained her family-in-law used to be the kings of the village, now they have several properties and are starting this hotel. She told us with a lovely smile that Rajput women can not go out in the village, not even to the temple or to the market. Why? Tradition. She looked so young and educated and I was puzzled: How do you feel about it? It's fine, when I want to go out I go to Jaipur or Jodhpur...Then it struck me that she was proud of her status. When saying good-bye in the living-room, we saw briefly her parents-in-law: closed figures, the least smily we had ever seen in India. She said "Please go downstairs to meet my husband. I can't..." In the courtyard, guys were happily enjoying a tea. Oh ...my...God....if we have several lives, I have no idea what I did in my previous ones but I must have had some pretty good karma to be born in France in the 70's.....

The caste system
It is difficult to write about it and the following is just the understanding from a Western woman with only 2 months of experience in India... So...the caste system is issued from Hinduism. If you were born in a high caste, it was because you had done good things in your previous lives. If not, bad luck, and you would be paying for it until you could be reborn. There were 4 main castes (Brahmans, warriors, merchants, crafstmen), the untouchables were outside the system. There was no way you could move from a caste to another during your life time. Around 500BC, Budhism developped partly as a way to  overcome this injustice: everybody could be enlightened, everybody was equal. It spread to the East while Hinduism had a revival. Today 80% of Indians are Hindu.
After independance in 1947, Indian constitution was written and discrimation based on caste is nowadays illegal. The government has put quotas in place in Universities and some civil jobs to help promote lower castes in the social scale.
From what we read and from what people told us, it is easier to overcome the caste system in big cities. In villages, life is tough: special plates and glasses are kept for untouchables, they may not be allowed to wear shoes or sunglasses (yes yes..) and have to do the s... jobs.
Here in Bikaner, people do get married within their own caste. But of course, even if you are a Rajput, you gotta to work...Brahmans, originally the highest caste, the priests, are not the richest one. It makes sense since they are not supposed to be attracted by money (well well...donations to temples are sometimes criticised).
So it looks like India is moving forward.
One of the most famous Untouchable, Ambedkar, who helped to write the Indian constitution converted to Budhism in a very famous and touching ceremony.
Will Hinduism eventually detached itself from this caste system?
No one knows but as it stands, Budhism appears like a fairer way of approching human life.