Artiya village woos Charles, Camilla in style

Jodhpur, Mar 29: Overwhelmed by the warm traditional welcome accorded by the villagers of Artiya, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla today spent more than two hours in the dusty village, about 50 km from here.

Although it was just a familiarisation trip for Prince Charles to get acquainted with the water conservation measures taken up by the village in Pali district, Prince Charles seemed visibly impressed by what he saw.

Prince Charles enquired about the traditional water harvesting methods employed by the villagers at the Gangeshwar Mahadev pond which has been deepened in two phases to store water.

The Prince went round the decked up village and visited some of the decorated huts to see the villagers' way of life.

Although Duchess of Cornwell Camilla in a blue-white polka dotted skirt top and a hat, was all smiles, she just acknowledged the villagers'greetings with namaste.

The couple also visited the village school and planted neem and shisham saplings in its premises and viewed the paintings by students.

The village is part of the project undertaken by Jal Bhagirathi Foundation, one of its trustees being erstwhile ruler of Jodhpur Maharaja Gaj Singh.

Dressed in colourful attires, the girls of the village performed the matka dance to symbolise the importance of water in their lives.

Prince Charles told the villagers that their beautiful village and warm welcome had touched his heart and he will be carrying back sweet memories to England.

Earlier, Prince Charles inaugurated the two-day Asia Pacific Conference on Water Conservation at Umaid Bhavan Palace by watering a tulsi sapling but did not address the session.

UNI