Introduction
Rajasthan is the largest state of India, located in the northwest part of the country. In this region is the Thar Desert, populated by a great number of people known as the Roma, or Romani. It is said that these nomadic Romani people (also called gypsies) originated in this region of what is now India, came to the Near East, and then arrived in Europe and North Africa at least a thousand years ago, though even to this day there are Romani people in Rajasthan who travel around the country performing as bards the music of the desert.
By around the 11th century, these people were moving further and further west, leaving the Middle East, Turkey, and Egypt behind, pushing into the Balkans, and reaching Europe and North Africa, over the course of centuries of hardship.
While these wandering people had rich language, they did not write it down, and so the memories of their travels and history of their people was passed along through the ages in song and dance.
They continue to move, and to live, without putting down roots in specific places. And when their houses wither as great old branches or cast-off husks, their homes stay within them as they move on. Utterly different from my current life in Tokyo, this world of the desert captured my heart, to stay with me forever.
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