Togehter

"... they put up at Jaisalmer for ten days and the desert brought them closer. They got a chance to peep into each other's soul and mind. Both discovered that they were seekers of the same destination."
(The Times of India)
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"Both have completely adapted themselves to the village way of life. ... Both are teetotalers and practice vegetarianism.
...They both would like to stay in the rough desert countryside and lead a quiet, nomadic life ... in harmony with nature."
(Jetwings Magazine)
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Meeting Gazi Khan
After ten days in Nand, at the Camel Fair and the Pushkar Valley, still new in India, Nashi was eager to see more of the country. Via Mertha and Jodhpur she and Jyoti went to Jaisalmer, the 'Golden City' pearl of the desert.

On the train from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer Jyoti and Nashi had the venture to meet the famous folk singers Gazi Khan and Anwar Khan of the Manganiar musicians' community. They told about a camel fair in Jaisalmer that was approaching, where they were going to perform.
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Gazi Khan well impressed by Jyoti told him how his uniqueness and deep knowledge should be used to promote Rajasthan. In so many years in India Jyoti had been aloof, never consent to be interviewed, but the speech with Gazi Khan, as well as with Nashi, made him more open. As Gazi told, Jyoti could really be a link between two cultures, two worlds, a special chance for visitors to meet with the Real India of the Indians... "You definitely should get in touch with the Department of Tourism Art and Culture of Rajasthan", he said. It is so that, when in Jaisalmer Jyoti stepped by the inauguration of the camel fair, for the first time in his life got available to the questions of the journalists which came to be assembled around him.

The first winter
With the approaching of the cold, Jyoti considered taking Nashi to the south and visit his Indian family. They went by train three days and nights, along the Indian west coast towards the state of Karnataka, arriving in the middle of a warm and tropical night to the village of the Pillay family. The mother and father so like all the brothers and sisters, being Christians, got particularly happy to have them home for Christmas.
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Spending one month with them Nashi got nice opportunities to learn about the south of India too, so different from the north.

On the journey back they went via Kutch - the salt desert region of western Gujarat - and then hitchhiking the last days of the way to Rajasthan. For Jyoti it was the first time he hitchhiked with a woman, but they met no surprise, it is not uncommon for Indian village women to travel in such way.

1997-2001
Having seen enough of India, Nashi wanted a 'base', a place to make home with Jyoti. She desired an own hearth around which to live with the village women, a place where to be able to receive guests and going on in her learning of traditional textile works and handicrafts.
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  Jyoti wanted it too, but first he wanted to be able to get a longer visa.

Beside their life with the shepherds they visited Jaisalmer (97-98), where they thought to have had a good start, and Bikaner (99-2002)...
  How suggested by Gazi Khan, they also have been in Jaipur, to the Tourism Department of Rajasthan where they are much appreciated. Tourist officer Mrs. Kaneez Bhatti got so well impressed, not only to put up a real press session in her own house inviting journalists and engaging her husband (Mr. Liaqat A. Bhatti, photographer) for a full coverage, but writing herself an article about them.
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Many articles were appearing in Newspapers and Magazines in India as well as in Sweden, and their participation at various Rajasthan festivals made them soon very well known.
  In Sweden, where they use to spend some time every autumn, Nashi was invited to give a lecture at Indiska Magasinet Ltd. and then, with Jyoti, she was asked to take care of a Swedish expedition to India ('Camel Caravan 1999').
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Since then Nashi continued to give lectures and, with Jyoti, to take tourists to the desert.
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  Per Kåks, Director of The National Museum of Ethnography - Sweden, encouraged them in their idea to collect items and information about the material culture of the shepherds.
  The Gov. of India Tourist office, promote and recommend them. The Embassy of Italy, New Delhi availed of their collaboration in (99-2000) and the Embassy of Sweden avails of their knowledge (Nashi was invited to speak about the condition of women in India, before the women organization of the Scandinavian embassies, in occasion of the International Women Day - 2001).
  After the second year they were granted the much-coveted long visa.

2000-2008
In 2000 Jyoti and Nashi created www.marustali.net web site with the idea to reach more people who may have an interest in their experience. Consequently they started increasingly to share their knowledge, in the west mostly by lectures and in India though offering know-how and guiding, Hindi courses and handicraft workshops.
  Having been addressed as ‘THE KEY TO INDIA’ by an official of ’ Govt. of India Tourist Office’, Jyoti and Nashi choose this name for their exclusive service. Offering the unique chance to a visit to India on a deep level, they rigorously take care to train and instruct the visitors on how to adjust to the local customs and how to behave and dress in accordance with the situation so that they may get the best experience without by any means disturb or create a negative impact on the local environment and people.
  It has turned out to be a very positive experience for the visitors as well as for the villagers who, relying on their trust of Jyoti and Nashi, dare to give voice to their curiosity and enjoy the meeting with these unusual visitors. Explains Nashi: " It becomes an exchange of experience and understanding on a base of mutual respect. That’s what we want!"

Based on the same philosophy they also offer tours for agencies. From 2003 Nashi organizes and leads the special ‘Women Tours’.

In 2001 they created Organization Marustali and launched the Project Marustali for the work of preserving the knowledge about the shepherd’s vanishing lifestyle, traditions and handicrafts, and they have since then been working with photo documentation, collection of materials, and started a small production of textile handicrafts.

Meanwhile Jyoti and Nashi continue to live the simple every-day rural life. Since 2004 they are settled more permanently in a small village situated in the Pushkar valley, chosen not only for its supreme beauty and the presence of a large Gurjar population, but because lying so conveniently at the centre of the state it offers a good break-journey point from destination to destination and Pushkar let them fulfill the needs to be more reachable for their work as ‘THE KEY TO INDIA’. In addition, it is there where every year in November thousands of camels are gathered for the Camel Fair, pivotal point to meet Raika friends coming from afar with news...

Apart from the daily work of household chores Nashi relaxes with the intimate relation with the neighbor women and Jyoti continue to participate in the life of the men and move wide-around by walk in the valley, keeping the connections they enjoy in all the area.
  Nashi’s wishes of an own home and hearth have finally come true: "I enjoy having an own place where to return and where to keep our belongings, but quite soon our souls are longing away again, the legs become restless, the eyes become glued on the horizon of the wilderness… we are born nomads…"
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