The immediate sign of not being in Mumbai is the absence of incessant honking. It feels almost uneasy at first as we drive into the village of Narlai on a warm April afternoon. Located at the foothills of the Aravallis, adjacent to the Kumbhalgarh range, the village offers an escape to tourists looking from the familiar destinations of Udaipur, Jodhpur, or Jaisalmer. “You have to be a traveller to discover this,” our driver Kishore reminds us.

The village entails 10 clusters of hamlets of communities as diverse as Jains, Mevashis, Bhils, and nomadic tribes. With education, mobility, and access, provided by the Maharaj Shri Swaroop Singh ji Charitable Trust (MSSCT), the village is keeping up with the pace of its more urban neighbours.