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While working for ONGC, during 1968-69, I was posted in Jodhpur to work in a seismic party headed by SK Verma. We were working deep in the Thar desert very near to the Pakistan boarder . The experience living and working in that area is worth describing here.Personal experience of living in that special and harsh environmental conditions and dealing with different kinds of people working in the party is really quite unique. In fact, the people including the party chief sent over here to work in this exploration party were under punishment of some kind or the other , transferred as the bosses in Head Quarters were not happy with them. ( My own story is quite funny; my immediate Boss called me to tell me that I am transferred to Jodhpur; I said to him that is fine; He was not satisfied with the response, perhaps expected me to pray/ request him not to transfer me for that place; He called me again and told that do I know the harsh conditions of working in the desert and also working with kind of people etc. In reply, I have to say to Mr. MNS Rao, the Boss that do not worry Sir, I am always prepared to work even in the hell so far working with you and ONGC; and finally, I was transferred) .Dealing with such people was not easy. NC Sharma, PN Mathur were other two more geophysicists working in the party. We were working in Ghotaru area covering upto Shahgarh. Names of the places were given not as they were the villages or townships of any kind but they were known with other identifiable marks like a water well etc.
From Jodhpur to our camp Ghotaru, one has to go through Jaisalmer , Ramgarh, Gamnewala and Longenwala. Jodhpur to Jaisalmer was a tar road and Jaisalmer is the last or terminal Railway station in this area; also Jaisalmer is the biggest town in Thar desert area with lots of tourist attractions.From Jaisalmer to Ramgarh is also tar road and Ramgarh is also the last small town with stable population in this area. After Ramgarh, there is no road , it is only the desert with sand dunes of varying sizes. We have to change our mud tred tires to sand tred tires in Ram Garh. Our drivers were very experienced ones from the local area and knew every bit of the place. It was possible to reach from one place to another only with the help of these expert drivers. Our vehicles were strong ones with high powered engines , could climb those sand dunes without much problems. The journey from Ram Garh to Ghotaru was really treacherous , difficult with lots of ups and downs on the sand dunes. The desert is just empty without any visible vegetation or living animals. The journey is monotonous and full with wilderness; tiresome and takes more than twelve hours if the weather conditions are favourable ( no dust.storms and other disturbances ); During our work, we combed almost the whole north western part of Thar Desert.
The work was interesting, quite different what we used to do in plains and other areas, mostly because of the sand cover of several feet ; topography of the area, having no land marks, even the temporarily created land marks by our surveyors used to disappear due to sifting sand.;weather conditions being overbearingly hot and dust storm etc.So, mostly our work was done during night.
Our camp was - Ghotaru camp was established on mostly flat and hard surface though surrounded by sand dunes. One of the partial camp was in Shahgarh, very northwest side of the desert. Typicaly, there was no flat place where we could put two tents together ; it was so uneven place on a sand dune.
Camp was fairly big as big as of any other seismic party camp should be. We had all the facilities for living; used to get a few hours of electric supply from our own generating unit; used to have one big air conditioned trailer for our office work equipped with wireless communication set; wireless communication set was necessary to be working in the field to know each other,s location and situation; also to communicate regularly with Head Quarters in Jodhpur- a really very useful and effective means of communication and being connected with each other. We had regular supply of drinking water from Longenwala which was just around 40 kms from our camp. Our camp was just about 20 miles from the border with Pakistan. In this area, as there was no local population, only source for our labour force was from nearby villages on the other side of Pakistan. Our drivers were quite familiar and knew all those places.So most of our helpers were from Pakistan , most of them muslims- very hard working, sincere and honest . I must not forget to mention the name of our security guard and my personal care taker- KARIMA.
In my next blog, I would be writing about the living conditions and experiences in Ghotaru camp.
From Jodhpur to our camp Ghotaru, one has to go through Jaisalmer , Ramgarh, Gamnewala and Longenwala. Jodhpur to Jaisalmer was a tar road and Jaisalmer is the last or terminal Railway station in this area; also Jaisalmer is the biggest town in Thar desert area with lots of tourist attractions.From Jaisalmer to Ramgarh is also tar road and Ramgarh is also the last small town with stable population in this area. After Ramgarh, there is no road , it is only the desert with sand dunes of varying sizes. We have to change our mud tred tires to sand tred tires in Ram Garh. Our drivers were very experienced ones from the local area and knew every bit of the place. It was possible to reach from one place to another only with the help of these expert drivers. Our vehicles were strong ones with high powered engines , could climb those sand dunes without much problems. The journey from Ram Garh to Ghotaru was really treacherous , difficult with lots of ups and downs on the sand dunes. The desert is just empty without any visible vegetation or living animals. The journey is monotonous and full with wilderness; tiresome and takes more than twelve hours if the weather conditions are favourable ( no dust.storms and other disturbances ); During our work, we combed almost the whole north western part of Thar Desert.
The work was interesting, quite different what we used to do in plains and other areas, mostly because of the sand cover of several feet ; topography of the area, having no land marks, even the temporarily created land marks by our surveyors used to disappear due to sifting sand.;weather conditions being overbearingly hot and dust storm etc.So, mostly our work was done during night.
Our camp was - Ghotaru camp was established on mostly flat and hard surface though surrounded by sand dunes. One of the partial camp was in Shahgarh, very northwest side of the desert. Typicaly, there was no flat place where we could put two tents together ; it was so uneven place on a sand dune.
Camp was fairly big as big as of any other seismic party camp should be. We had all the facilities for living; used to get a few hours of electric supply from our own generating unit; used to have one big air conditioned trailer for our office work equipped with wireless communication set; wireless communication set was necessary to be working in the field to know each other,s location and situation; also to communicate regularly with Head Quarters in Jodhpur- a really very useful and effective means of communication and being connected with each other. We had regular supply of drinking water from Longenwala which was just around 40 kms from our camp. Our camp was just about 20 miles from the border with Pakistan. In this area, as there was no local population, only source for our labour force was from nearby villages on the other side of Pakistan. Our drivers were quite familiar and knew all those places.So most of our helpers were from Pakistan , most of them muslims- very hard working, sincere and honest . I must not forget to mention the name of our security guard and my personal care taker- KARIMA.
In my next blog, I would be writing about the living conditions and experiences in Ghotaru camp.
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