Wed Nov 18-
early morn start yet again as we headed for Pushkar/ Took one of the worst local buses of my life. Pathetic horns yet again blowing every second and very windy roads- not good for my motion sickness. Pushkar is siutated on the eastern edge of the vast Thar desert and has a beautiful backdrop in the mebracing arms of the Aravalli hills. it is one of hte most sacred and atmospheric towns in india. Legend has it that the holy lake at its center (now dried up) was created when Lord Brahma dropped the petals of a lotus flower (pushpa) from his hand (kar). In recent years the population has swollen dramatically by hippies who came for a few days and never left. A lot of Israeli's are to be found here too, from hippie marijuana smoking tiypes to Rabbi's roaming the streets. Many street stalls serve Israeli fare to cater for them. they've made themselves right at home- just like i'd seen in Thailand on the islands.
i've got nothing against Israelis let me clarify foremost BUT the hoards of tourists in Pushkar have really ruined what i once imagine was an untouched charm. the town is now steeped in commercial prospectors who thrive on making a quick buck, often at the expense of Pushkar's spiritual roots. This sleepy desert twn has now been transformed into a semi-permanent trance party with bhang (marijuana) lassis imbibed at the myriad tiny eateries, falafels on evry menu, long-bearded rabbis on bicycles, boys perfectly dressed up like Shiva posing for photographs, and world music pumping from speakers that line the street bazaar that runs along the lak'es northern edge. We spent most of our time strolling up and down this street as there's aint much else to do in Pushkar but "chill" with some help to do that, or shop for knickknacks. This street is the center of all commerical activity.
This town is akin to varanasi (where we headed later) except that the road traffic is far less. The main way to explore the town was on foot and it wasnt nearly as clautrophobic as we found varanasi to be. on the first day we visited the famous Brahma temple and some of the 52 ghats that line the holy lake. Ghats were built to represent each of the Rajput Maharajas who constructed their "holiday homes" on its banks. They are broad sets of stairs from where Hindu pilgrims take ritual baths to cleanse their souls. We'd heard of the "Pushkar passport" when we arrived but weren't too sure what it meant. We soon realised when we got to the ghats. this passsport is entirely different to what we expected: Brahmin priests bullied us left,right and centre into performing puja (prayers involving a scaterring of flowers into the water)- after which we were expected to make a hefty donaton. Typically once the ceremony is over, the priest would tie a thin red thread around your wrist which you can brandish at the next Brahmin priest who will almost certainly approach but quickly retreat upon seeing your newly acquired "passport". Being INdians, we rejected all priests offers to perform puja for us and did it ourselves. Admittedly, i had no clue what i was doing but hey, i figure that a prayer for those you love and a heartfelt and genuine one at that, is all that matters. Many priests continued to tell us we'd be punished by god and experience ill fate as a result of declining their offers - cheeky sods!- but what the hell?!! What's going to happen is going to happen. So i was granted my passport, i have been to many a temple over the past few months and so have a plethora of red threads around my wrists, it's just that i issued this one to myself, from myself!
As i mentioned above, the Brahma temple is the most famous, said to be 2000 yrs old, not least because it's one of only a handful in India dedicated to the lord of creation. the other two temples are dedicated to Brahma's consorts, Savitri and Gayatri. It is said that Brahma was cursed by his first wife, Savitri, when he briefly took up with another woman, Gayatri- and so, to this day,the temple of Savitri sits sulking on a hill overlooking the temple townm while across the lake, on another hill, no doubt nervous of retribution, the Gayatri temple keeps a lookout. We visited the Gayatri temple, situated atop a steep hill which took 2000steps to climb in the dark at sunrise one morning. It was such a tough climb- esp for me the laziest girl in the world- but was breathtaking- literally and metaphorically- when we got to the top. One could see the whole of Pushkar from a bird's eye view and far and beyong the Thar Desert.
Pushkar is most famous for its annual mela- the largest camel fair in Asia which attrats an estimated 20,000 rural traders, red-turbaned Rabari and bhil tribal folk, pilgrims and tourists but sadly we missed this and arrived only a few weeks after. Aside from experiencing the splendour of this mela, I would not return to Pushkar again. There are a wealth of boutique hotels opening up in the town which is nice (we stayed in one of them) but that's not enough of a reason for me to come back. I was so saddened to see how commercialised the place had become. One didn't feel totally safe at night, having heard many stories of how dangerous the place had become, and i felt cheated of a true Pushkar experience.
