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Nicole's
Travelogues and Budget Travel Tips..
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PUSHKAR, INDIA
I took the bus to Pushkar from Jojawar. When we were leaving the bus station, we heard a YELP and apparently the bus ran over a dog's neck and killed him.
Pushkar is a holy place where Brahma dropped a lotus petal and the site of his only temple in India. Most describe it as a "holy village with a hippie vibe." It is a Hindu pilgrimage town with 400 temples and 52 bathing ghats surrounding the lake. Chanting and music are blasted from loudspeakers at many of the temples, so it becomes of jumble of holy messages while listening by the lake. The main street is a long bazaar and Pushkar is known for its silver jewelry. They also have camel safaris here but I passed. One camel safari in my lifetime is PLENTY!
The holiness of Pushkar is hard to contemplate among all of the characters: scam artists, fake priests, freeloading hippies, touts and tourists.
We ran into 2 sets of kama sutra dogs - the ones that are in crazy positions and get stuck that way. Ew!!!! It is not a pretty sight!! We asked the Purple Garden owner why so many dogs seem to get stuck and he told us the legend. Rama and his wife were going to get 'romantic', so they put there shoes outside of their door to tell people that they were not available. That night, a dog came and stole their shoes. Rama's brother came for a visit and seeing no shoes outside, assumed it was ok to go in. So he did and saw them in the act. They were all mad and Rama put a curse on all dogs. From that day forward, all dogs would have to have sex in public and get stuck so many people would see them and shame them. Ew! Apparently the curse is true because we keep seeing it in every city. Eck!
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Bhang is a derivative of marijuana. They make them into lassi's, omelettes, cookies, etc. If you see "special" on the menu that is about 10 times the price of the other items, you know it's got bhang in it. There are tons of bhang menu items in Pushkar - so it is a great place for potheads to settle in (and they do!).
Pushkar Lake is a holy place and is known as the king of the "Trithas". The bath at Pushkar is thought to be more important than at any other place. The holy dip in this lake on kartika Purnima is thought to be salvation giving.The man who bathes in the Shukla Paksha of Karitha month and has the Darshan of varah will not take rebirth on this earth and enjoy the bliss of heaven. The people who have a holy dip at the lake on karitha Purinama, gain the fruit equal to do the Jap and Tap for one hundred years. There are many yajna spots which cannot be counted even by Vrihshpati, the teacher of the gods.
During most of the year Pushkar is a sleepy little town. Each November, however, over 200,000 people arrive with 50,000 cattle for several days of pilgrimage, horse dealing, camel racing and colorful festivities - known as the Pushkar Camel Fair.
Pushkar's population is 14,789 and has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%. |
Thankfully I was on the other side of the bus and didn't have to deal with that image. Very sad! Back through rural Rajasthan again where Buddhist temples flew red, green, yellow, white, and blue prayer flags. We also passed TATA trucks hauling enormous marble blocks struggling up the hills. Four hours later, we arrived in Ajmer. We ran for a bathroom break in the squat toilets - which were actually quite clean - and transfered to a 'chicken bus.' We, then, passed over Snake Mountain and arrived in Pushkar 45 minutes later.
We arrived about 3:30pm and walked around town to explore. We stayed at the Purple Garden which was a DIVE compared to the resort in Rawla - actually it would have been a dive compared to the other hostels I stayed at in India as well! PG was a former prison, which probably explains the lack of amenities. The weather in Pushkar was wonderful! It was about 75 degrees and overcast. Going to India during monsoon season wasn't that bad! 
It is also the pot-smoking capital. Though alcohol, meat, fish and eggs are banned, apparently ‘special’ lassis and rice puddings are acceptable - and beer is also sold surreptitiously in some bars. There are many shirtless dropouts walking around the bazaar, with filthy beards and the stains of faded henna patterns, trying to mix it with genuine sadhus.
At the west end of the long bazaar is the Brahma temple, its tower painted an orange-red. The marble floors and walls are covered with dedications for births and deaths. Brahma, the creator, is one of the three main hindu gods along with Vishnu, the
preserver,and Shiva, the destroyer. This is apparently the only Brahma temple in the world. The tale goes like this: Brahma went down to the lake in Pushkar one morning for his puja
(morning prayers). His wife attended puja with him every morning, but this
particular morning she was running late. After waiting for her for a while,
Brahma got very angry and married someone else. About an hour later his original wife turned up. When she found Brahma with his new wife, she cursed her husband "you will only ever be worshipped here, in Pushkar" then went off to live a life of solitude in the mountains.
So now Brahma has no temples but the one here, and is not worshipped anywhere in the world but Pushkar.
The ghats are also filled by fake holy men extorting vast sums for prayers.
Others try to foist 'lucky' marigolds on you for a price. Basically, you should stick to yourself when hanging at the ghats. 
Bad monkeys again in Pushkar! There was a temple that was swarming with 100 monkeys and if you walked by they would charge you. They stole cookies out of my travelmate's hand and then got really aggressive when he didn't have anymore! Hahahahha. When I saw the bad ass monkeys, I crossed the street and put my hands in my pockets. There was nothing cute about the gangsta monkeys! The cows were nice sometimes and sometimes they were a bit more aggressive. If one was making noises, you had to give him ALOT of space when you passed. Sometimes they would head butt you without meaning to - they whip their heads around really hard to deal with flies at the EXACT moment you are passing and get you with their horn (I had a bruise on my ribs from such an incident in Pushkar!). But mostly they are just big and rule the streets. 
