SHAILANDRA JITTU KACHHAWA

Shailandra is a guide with a passion for his city. The eldest of a modest family of tailors, he became a guide and learned French and English from the tourists. He will make you discover his city like nobody else and will lead you in unsuspected places. Punctual, he prefers to start early in order to begin the visit by the vegetable market hidden in a tangle of lanes. He will make you take a break at the inevitable chai stand, in the company of the wholesale market gardeners. The visit continues through the dyers' alley, the old town and its sumptuous havelis, the temples, the street food vendors. You will say hello to the water distributors (an endangered profession), to the man with the longest moustache in Bikaner or to a very picturesque paan roller. Shailandra will provide you with many interesting anecdotes and information. He can also take you on a tour of the historical monuments of the city such as the Junagarh Fort or the Lalgarh Palace. In this case, his ticket to the monuments will be at your expense, but the entrance fees for Indians are much lower than for foreign tourists.

Shailandra has an extensive address book in the vicinity of Bikaner as well. Thus, he can organize for you one (or several) day(s) of visit of remote villages with a lodging in the inhabitant's house or an excursion in dromedary in the dunes of Bikaner.