NAU TAPA

 

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

26/V/2025

 

Here in the desert of Rajasthan, we are braving high temperatures which may reach up to 50°C during this annual phenomenon called the ‘Nau Tapa’. Those who stay here know it.

 

This period of nine days is intense heat. What is experienced is scorching heat, high speed winds called Loo, storms called “Aandhi and Andhad”, burning or tanning of the skin if exposed, dehydration, in extreme cases sunstroke too.

 

This phenomenon causes the warm air to rise and cold air from the Himalayas to rush in causing massive storms and even pre monsoon showers.

 

By the way, this time is also an indicator to the farmers to start preparing for the next crop to be planted in the coming season. In Rajasthan, except for the canal irrigated zone, rest of the areas depend on rainfall or underground water.

 

With the onset of modern technology, farmers have bought tractors, but in the good old days it was the farmer and his camel who would walk up and down the sand dunes, tilling and sowing mostly ‘Chana and Bajri’ after the first rain. The cycle of nature is such that the showers return when it is time for the second and third watering. However, the rain gods can be merciless at times. Rest is destiny.

 

The most effective way of cooling is a “Desert Cooler”. As the name suggests, a fan and a water pump, surrounded by wood shavings or Khus a kind of grass which emits odour like petrichor, which has gone missing from the market due to availability of alternatives. People have now got mistifiers installed in open spaces like gardens and verandas to keep temperatures down.

 

During my service in the army that too in the desert, we would ensure that we would be under some shade by about 10.30 am. The shade of a ‘Jaal or Khejri’ tree was ultimate. Deploying the camouflage net around the Jonga would further shade your halt. Then we would wait for 4-4.30pm to resume what we were doing. It had logic and saved us from falling prey to the heat.

 

Sometimes, if we were close to a ‘Dhani’, the villagers would offer a vacant thatched hut with mud walls. The bright sun which shone from the door could just not affect you sitting inside. A charpoy or even a durrie and a snooze followed by some Chaach offered by the villagers would refresh you no end. Those were the days.

 

Mind you, one used to sweat like a pig, but the heat would evaporate it without you realising it. Salt which oozed out of the skin used to calcify around your shirt and cap making wavery designs. The only way to make up for the lost salts was to drink lots of nimbu pani and lassi, which was always kept chilled in an ice box in the Jonga. In the summer, instead of hot tea, it would be Lassi. Water “Chaggals” were better than refrigerators.

 

During OP Vijay in the peak summer of 1999, my company would enjoy buttermilk provided in ‘matkas’ by the villagers. Sometimes we would make ‘Karhi’ out of it. We stayed so long there that we had grown our own ‘Dhaniya’ and ‘Pudina’ in the space between the BMPs. Imagine freshly chopped greens, washed in the flowing canal water, finely chopped and added to your Chaach. It made the tastiest drink on this side of the Rajasthan Canal.

 

One of my COs had a fetish for some different kind of “brewed tea” which I was not aware of. He missed out on the ‘desi me’, when he refused a hot cup of ‘Kadak langar chai’ which would have been followed by the most energetic butter milk I had to offer. His loss not mine.

 

We have already seen a sandstorm, but it was a scale lower than an ‘Andhad’. The Andhad blinds you that is why it is derived from the word andha or blind. Sand particles in the winds are so thick that visibility drops drastically. Everything goes ‘kirkir’ (crunchy) when you chew sand between your teeth.

 

Plants and animals are affected equally. My fish are stressed. The locals wear “Paggars” and the ladies their odhni to keep their heads and faces covered. This keeps them safe from the vagaries of strong winds and of course placing an “odhni’’ on their heads as a mark of respect for elders.

 

There is a saying ‘Agar Nau tapa tappe to sawan Chaye” if the nau tapa is intense, there would be a good monsoon.

 

During Nau Tapa sand is carried by the winds to fertilize places. Some precautions and regular hydration help.

 

Will this year’s “Nau Tapa” bring a better monsoon? I wonder!!!!!!!

 

Please find the YouTube link as to how the people of Rajasthan understand Nau Tapa-

https://youtube.com/shorts/6w3pA4U2r4I?si=MZNjJ6IOrUCEYWYT

 

JAI HIND

©® NOEL ELLIS