It's true! We're not joking - we have the pictures to prove it!
OK then, she wasn't up against any camels - or even racing one (hahaha) but came third in the Ladies Musical Chairs Race no less!
We were ambling our way up to the Mela ground - the main arena for the camel fair and all it's sundry madbess. And in the middle of the stadium they were setting up the chairs for the next event of the day - the musical chairs race. They were looking for foreign volunteers (read - victims) and Sarah was press-ganged by a friendly Indian judge into taking part.
As the competitors fell one by one, and via increasingly violent collisions, Sarah managed to hold her ground for the (by now rather rosy-looking) tourists, and came a respectable third - 'allowing' gold and silver to go to the locals. A popular result with the local press and spectators alike, much to Sarah's relief!
There was apparently a prize-giving ceremony that evening, which we managed to miss 'cos we couldn't find the stage amidst the hundreds of thousands of people that had descended on this tiny town by then. A shame since it would have been a bit of a first to share a stage with so many talented horses and camels (since Sarah's Bristol panto efforts at least...), but small compensation came the next day when we gave our names to the travel agent arranging our onwards bus journey - and he had read about Sarah's 3rd place fame in that morning's papers!
It was just a pity that there wasn't an equivalent race for Phil to get involved in... strangely he wasn't that tempted by the slightly terrifying Wall of Death motorcycle antics that we saw at the fairground that evening (clearly this is what happens when all of the world's most efficient Health and Safety officers have emigrated to the London Borough of Harrow...).
Apart from these slightly madcap events, we did also see some more traditional festivities in Pushkar. The festival itself is timed to coincide with the week leading up to the full moon - and built rapidly into a fairly frenetic Hindu celebration with praying and bathing in the holy waters of the lake to the sounds of music and singing being the main focus.
The Rajasthani women dress in full traditional dress with really beautiful saris, jewellery etc. - making everything look incredibly colourful against the desert background - and the men make an effort too with some pretty gravity defying turbans and moustaches (also the subject of a competition at the fairground you won't be surprised to hear!)
So we had a lot of fun and games in our five nights here, and overall will leave with memories of Pushkar being a really unique and quite timeless place - perhaps the closest we'll get to going back in time a couple of thousand years.
There were also some sadder sights to go with all of this though - the crippled beggars, orphans and un-cared for animals that are all too commonplace everwhere we've been so far in India - it's not a particularly easy place to be a tourist.
Anyhow, onwards and upwards we go - next to Agra, where we'll hopefully see the inevitable numero uno on the India checklist - the Taj Mahal - then we plan to visit Delhi to stock up on mosquito repellent before spending a week or so on safari in the Corbett national park - a tiger resrve in the foothills of the Himalayas - eek!
All for now, lots of love,
Sarah and Phil x x
p.s. apologies once again for the slim pickings in the photo galleries at the moment - the Indian Internet seems to be powered by the smouldering camel poo of those Pushkar camels and it is an incredibly laborious process trying to upload anything. Maybe we'll have more luck in Delhi...
