Lakh Singh – the Million Dreams of a Desert Child

Jaisalmer, 2009. Lakh Singh , the “camel-boy” kept me entertained through the half-hour ride to the dunes. In the process, I believe he found out more about me than I did about him. He was curious about big city-life, and tried in earnest to understand what I meant when I said that I design stuff for a living. Also seemed to be terribly disappointed about it not being architecture (something he seemed to have a lot of appreciation and respect for), even more so when the closest he got to the nature of my work was his self-cited example of “Accha, like movie posters and stuff?” I let it rest at that inaccurate summary and he had by now probably dismissed me as a worthless dimwit who can”t even explain the silly stuff he does for a living.<br/>\r\nDespite his curiosity, he never really expressed a desire to migrate to big cities himself, and his dreams comprised mainly of owning a camel some day, winning camel-races and not having to surrender the tips he received to the owners of the camels he would chauffer.

© 2009 Nishant Vats