Pushkar Camel Fair

Pushkar Camel Mela

We are on our third day in Pushkar, which is a very small town around a holy lake. It has 52 bathing ghats (wide stone steps for dipping into the holy water) and 400 temples and shrines. It is holy to the Hindus because Brahma created it by dropping flower petals from his hand. The petals turned into a lovely lake in a parched area. We got what are called Pushkar passports--red threads put around our wrists by priests with petals to toss into the lake. World peace and happiness for you all!  If we have the threads, the priests leave us alone. But left alone we are not by the pushy touts and sadhus--wandering holy men in orange, who are gathering here for the major holy day coming up. They are very persistent with their indications that they want donations, including blocking our way and shaking their tins at us.

Pushkar at night with oil lamps for Hindu ceremony 

People are gathering for the Pushkar Camel Fair, which officially started today with a really long introduction  in a stadium similar to one in a county fair ground.  The fair itself is like the Oregon Country Fair, but with 200,000 camel and horse traders and their animals in a setting from 200 years ago. Yesterday we wandered around the area where the livestock are kept, fields of camels and horses staked to the ground. I (FF) loved looking at the Merwar horses, which are the sturdy, lively, beautiful horses of the Rajasthan. Some of them were obviously well kept and fine.  They have endearing ears set high on their heads. The points of the ears curl and are even more curled on the foals. Many of the horses are from the royal families of Rajasthan. And the camels were already decked in colorful halters and saddles and anklets. One could ride a camel for "a very special price."

Last night we had the sort of funny travel experience that one does not plan. We went to a music store that blasted good Indian music. We asked the store guy, Ravi, with a pony tail and a red line on his forehead and a cool as a cucumber look, for music recommendations. He is also a social worker and local music promoter. He played various CDs for us and we had a little pile to buy when a huge downpour began. Our eyes got big, even for Oregon, that was mega rain. And then our eyes got bigger--the streets began to flood.  You cannot imagine all of the gross things that are in the sewers and in the street-- just to give a hint, dogs and cows wander freely. We watched the water rise rapidly to knee level in the narrow lane as merchants pulled displays from the lower levels of their shops away from the rising water. We listened to more CDs, Ravi added a Pushkar album to our stack with a little wink. We were grateful that the electricity stayed on and that we were stuck in the best shop possible. He said that this is the first time in his life that it has rained during camel fair. People climbed up the steps of the shops that rise above the street and waited, but the waters did not go down. Ravi served tea. People got tired of waiting, so crowds came by, men with their pants rolled up and women holding their saris above their knees. They were smiling and laughing (not thinking of cholera and typhoid like I was). People in the shops and people in the streets waved and laughed at each other. Sometimes motorcycles went through, as well as people on bikes and rickshaws and even some guys posing as surfers on a cart. It was a joie-de-vive mood. I think Ravi did good business with the people stranded in his shop. We waited quite some time, but the water only went down an inch or two. The rickshaws were doing good business, so we hailed one and went to our hotel that had better drainage, fortunately. We were not hideous and exploitative, as we paid the driver well.

Today in the stadium we watched camel races (!) and a traditional dance by hundreds of school girls in red, pink, burgundy and orange saris and pounds of jewelry and bling. India does bling better than anywhere.

Walking in the streets is a challenge, given the crowds, but there is a happy vibe, the sun is shining again and people have money to spend because the harvests are in. We stimulated the economy again, as this is a good place for silver jewelry. Items to buy are shoved in our faces every 15 seconds--I do not exaggerate.  I (FF) do not feel very skilled at bargaining and think they are always getting the best of me.

Food. Drugs, eggs, alcohol and meat are forbidden in this city because it is sacred to Brahma. Everything we've eaten has been delicious--we order things we've never heard of, exotic sounding dishes, or food that sounds simple, but because of the utter mastery of using spices, everything is fantastic. Pushkar has many rooftop cafes, so we have views of the temples and ghats as we drink sweet and hot masala tea (black tea with milk/cream, spices and ginger) and remind ourselves that we go on vacation to relax and not just to do stuff. We are so American with this drive to feel like we should be doing something or planning to do something and we have to remind ourselves that it is OK to just be here now.

(MT here). Cliche no doubt, but seeing the standard of living here really puts things into perspective. Walk past a small 10 X 10 foot encampment, makeshift lean-to over a single mattress and tiny low table, small open fire with iron cookpot boiling, family of mother and three young children hanging out....all this located two feet away from heavy traffic on highway off-ramp, kids playing in dirt literally two feet away from truck wheels constantly going by. Hard for me to bargain with much energy to get price of shirt reduced from $3 to $2.50 (that's 135 rupees down to110). Remarkably happy or "up" vibe, though, almost everywhere. Extremely nice people overall, a culture of hospitality. But that's in Rajasthan state. We've been warned repeatedly that in Utter Pradesh state (where Taj Mahal is) it's not safe to go out at night. (We already have moved on from there.)

It smells like masala almost everywhere all the time, nice spicy aroma. Driving style is unbelievably insane, scary until you realize they're going about 25 mph max. Sightseeing sounds easy in the guidebook, "lovely temple only 7 kilometers from Agra," which turns out to be a two hour drive at 7 kilometers per hour including massive traffic jam because there are zero driving rules, at intersections (even major highway crossings) it's everybody pushing ahead from every direction into the intersection, total chaos/gridlock. But still seeming mostly not unhappy while sitting two inches behind diesel truck exhaust for 45 minutes not moving. I see why "acceptance of things as they are" became a big deal here.