Dispersing Sand

Suratgarh is one of the nine tehsils of the district Sri Ganganagar of Rajasthan. At the northern end, this district shares border with the Indian state of Punjab and the western limit is an international border with the Punjab of Pakistan. This proximity with the Punjab region explains the presence of significant Punjabi population and culture in Sri Ganganagar, especially in northern areas, and so popularly makes it known as ‘Punjab of Rajasthan’. In fact some notable people of Punjabi ethnicity like Colonel Avtar Singh Cheema, one of the conquerors of Mount Everest and ‘Gazal King’ Jagjit Singh hail from the Sri Ganganagar. But as we move to the south, a shift from Punjabi to Rajasthani ambience could clearly be noticed, particularly with camels and sand dunes drawing our attention. Some decades ago, as mentioned by the locals, the area was more desolated and had more sand dunes than at the present time. Indira Gandhi canal has turned the whole district into a much greener part than other parts of Thar desert, accountable to make it known as ‘Bread basket of Rajasthan’. I visited some deserted areas of Suratgarh and my observation says that this region could be referred as first conspicuous beginning of Thar desert from the northern side. I started my journey from Delhi, traversing through Rohtak, Hisar, Sirsa and Hanumangarh.

‘Dispersing Sand‘ is an effort to document and record pictorially the last signs of a typical desert at Suratgarh which might change into a greener area in coming few decades.