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Pushkar, one of
the oldest towns of India,
is one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites for the Hindus and a popular
destination for foreign tourists. It is near a lake where pilgrims take the
holy dip. Considered pious to Hindus it is doted with hundreds of temples, holy
men, pilgrims and tourists.
In the eighth
lunar month of the Hindu calendar, a huge number of camels, horses, cows,
bullocks, sheep, goats and many other cattle congregate at Pushkar for the week-long fair devoted to them. The place becomes extraordinary swirl of color
sound and movement, thronged with musicians, mystics, tourists, traders, and
animals and devotes.
At the fair the
animals are beautified, raced, paraded, sold and purchased. The other aspect of
the fair includes musicians, snake-charmers, children balancing on poles and events
like walking on hot coals. The fair also serves as a meeting point for parents
to seek a match for their children as well as a partner to mate their cattle.
The fair is
predominantly a rural gathering, where villagers from different parts of state
come with their animals and lakes are flooded with the pilgrims for the holy
dips. The sudden arrival of people and beasts turn the parched & barren
landscape of the desert into a riot of colors - the large turbans of men and
the loud hues of the pleated ankle-length skirts of women bejeweled from head to toe.
Travel and
documenting places is a medium of self-discovery and a dialogue with self.
Besides meeting new people and culture, a travel scholarship with an expert
would provide an education which otherwise would take considerable time to
acquire. It would give me greater confidence to undertake such challenging
assignments and help me overcome my shortcomings of telling a story through
images.
