India’s Ragasthan Music Festival (a video, too).

{can’t view the video? click here to play it.}

While we were in Jaisalmer, India I saw this Coachella-looking poster for the Ragasthan Music Festival and stopped in my tracks. “D! What’s today’s date?” (we honestly never know what day it is). When he said Feb. 13, I was super excited.

Our Jaisalmer hotel (Hotel Himmatgarh Palace) that we dubbed “creepy palace” didn’t have any WiFi, so we were at the mercy of asking locals for information. After some conflicting tid-bits (nobody really had any clue what we were saying or what the hell was going on with the festival), D made the executive decision that on February 14th (yes, Valentine’s Day), we’d roll the dice and make the hour drive into the Khuri Sand Dunes to check it out for ourselves. This is a map of where the festival was located.

(we saw loads of military trucks and tanks the closer we got)

As we drove deeper into the desert towards the Pakistan border, our nerves were mixing with anxiety & excitement until a sign made it clear that we’d made the right choice — all of a sudden we started seeing a ton of windmills! It was so reminiscent of Indio / Palm Springs / Coachella that we just got the biggest grins on our faces and knew we’d made the right choice. We made our driver pull over to take photos and then he launched into this whole thing about the windmills making electricity… in fact, one of the only obscure Hindi words we learned was “Panchukee” (phonetic) because each time he’d see one he’d point and say that. Yup, we got it!

doesn’t it look like I’m on the road in Indio?… I mean India… I mean…

We arrived early afternoon at the festival tents and got a glimpse of what Coachella must have looked like that first year. Excited people in a pop-up tent, low maintenance, easy breezy set-up and no frills. We paid our 3,000 rupees per ticket, got our wristbands and were told to load up in a nearby Jeep for the drive deeper into the dunes!

private Bolero ride into the dunes!

We spent the entire day and night bouncing between festival stages, sipping on cocktails, swaying to the music with about 1,000 others and chatting with hippies who made the journey up from Goa. Dubbed “India’s Craziest Music Festival,” this was the 2nd Annual Ragasthan Music Festival backed by MTV Indies & Pepsi and def has a shot at becoming something big for the area. It was really refreshing to spend a day around “modern” people and doing things that felt totally normal.

there were two camping areas: BYOT (bring your own tent) and the Swiss Tents (more VIP)

upon entry, each person got a crossbody thermos that was used for all drinks / cocktails. at the bar, your cocktail/water/beer was poured directly into the thermos. smart! there were no cups/water bottles for trash and all your cocktails stayed chilled and the lid served as a cup! coachella should take note.

our festival map & set tim

the main stage during warm ups.

alright coachella… step up your game. party camels roaming around make everything more fun.

the singer / songwriter stage.

chill out zone with hammocks, a bar, cots & food stalls.

lots of art to brighten up the sand – lollypops!

the dance tent was the furthest out in the dunes (for obvious reasons) and had glittery teepees all around it!
  
promoting the festival’s hashtag in hay & lights #hellocrazy
decided to do our first camel ride at the festival! more photos seen in this post.   
the Swiss Tents.

art in the making.

  
i guess we can’t complain about our festival port-a-pottys. yup, just a wooden box with a hole – straight into the sand.


the minute the sunset, it got chilly. we kept warm with blankets & rum.

and this is where we spent the night! in a tent in the middle of the sand dunes.

watching the sunrise…

good morning ting-a-ling! would you like a chai?

would you like to join me on my rock hard bed? pretty snazzy tent, huh?

um, check out the toilet. literally felt like you were sitting on a throne.

not quite sure it gave me my full coachella fix for the year,
but this budding baby fest did give us great memories, a new fest on our roster
and most importantly allowed us to dance in the desert.
:::