This section will inform you a little more about your hosts in Jodhpur, the Devraj Rathores of Setrawa:

We – this is “Mumy”, Govind Singh Rathore and his wife Mukta Kumari with their son Ayushraj, brother Shakti Singh, grandma Thakurani Dev Kumariji and our cousin Bunty, our friendly dog Whisky (we keep her away if somebody is allergic to dogs), some chirping birds and some very nice people helping us with our daily work.

In the early 50´s, as a tradition that one son from the family in the thar desert should go and work outside home for some economic support to help family survive in bad conditions of drought (most people in western part of Rajasthan depend on agriculture) and unexpected epidemics, our grandfather out of 5 brothers was the chosen one to go out of the village and work to fulfil the needs of the family whenever they were in need.

Th. Durag Singh Rathore, who was captain in the army and later deputy superintendent of police, moved from the desert village Setrawa to Jodhpur and in 1961 he bought a piece of land from the former Maharaja of Jodhpur and built the (Setrawa House) bungalow number 1 which is till date situated at the Old Public Park Lane. On half of this bungalow which went under possession of our father, Surendra Singh, later in the year 1990 Durag Niwas guest house was built upon.

On one part of the roof of Durag Niwas Guesthouse Sambhali Trust, an NGO teaching and helping to empower women and kids from the Dalit community, has its Jodhpur base. If you are interested in the project feel welcome to visit.