Pushkar.

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After Jaipur, we jumped on a train and traveled to Ajmer for our bus connection to Pushkar, a quaint little pilgrimage town on the shores of a holy lake surrounded by ghats. the journey went pretty smoothly(as smooth as Indian journeys can go) and in no time at all we were in Ajmer station... An hour or so later and we're at the bus stand waiting for our chariot for the last leg. We got onto the bus and we're immediately assisted by an Indian man behind us who help us with our bags and spoke decent English. He gave us a card for his hotel and told us his brother is the manager and he is the owner and he's just on his way home from... I don't remember where but it didnt matter at this point as we'd been traveling all day and were sweaty and tired so we decided to put 'Operation Shithole' into effect and go check out the hotel. We were pleasantly surprised with the hotel which at this point was mostly empty. We chose our room and went to chill out in the rooftop restaurant. After a few hours the owner reappeared with a few more backpack laden guests whom he'd also ensnared on the bus but after an initial ridicule session we all decided that it was a much better way of doing it than bombarding people at the bus stand and chasing then down the street. the next day our numbers, us 'bus folk', had swelled to nine and for the rest of our time in pushkar, we were a gang.

After chilling out in the hotel for a few days we decided to go to the lake and see what it was all about... Before even approaching the lake we were accosted by touts almost trying to drag us down to the water, many others were trying to put flower petals in our hands and lead us off to the waters edge... i did my best to discourage these energetic 'holy men' as politely as an Englishman abroad is able but it was no good. The first tout that spoke to me in the street was hot on my heals waiting for his commission, the guy that put the petals in my hand was behind him along with the kid who showed me where the shoes were stored and three or four others all wanting a slices of this foreigners wallet. I refused to do what they told me so after about twenty minutes of verbal battering in hindi and broken english they finally left me alone. We wandered round the lake itself and found a deserted ghat so we sat, chilled out and took some photo's. I stood at the top of the steps and was just looking at the serenity around me when i felt my hand being grabbed and yet more petals being stuffed in it... I turned to see a 'holy man' stood trying to lead me in a devotion to the gods around the lake. I told him i have no money but he said 'no money is ok' and carried on so i just let him... after about 10 minutes of repeating Hindi words and with a stripy piece of string tied around my wrist while trying to follow the broken English i heard him say 'now i give baba brahma 2000' and i stopped and said "no i cannot afford that". he said 'that ok you give money from your country 10, 20, 30 pounds!' and i reply with "no! i told you i don't have any money!" which extended into quite an argument between me and this total rip off of a holy man in this most holy place. It didn't take long before he and i parted company and i watched him walk down a whole string of other travelers trying it on with them too. The days antics sparked a discussion amongst the gang and we came to the conclusion that it didn't matter what you did in this life or this world as you could just come here and throw money at charlatans and get all your karma wiped clean the average price is between 500 and 2000 rupees to have your sins removed. Bargain!!

Overlooking Pushkar there are two hills both with a temple straddling their tops. Its quite a slog to get up to them but the view from the top is beautiful. The most hassle we got was some local kids following us chanting 'ten rupee, ten rupee'. I think its quite cute sometimes even if a little sickening because the kids aren't starving, they're not homeless, they just do it for fun... Begging money from strangers for fun... Surely theres a law against that... Most of the kids around the hotel constantly chant 'Hello Biscuit?' and these kids are stood on the rooftops of their homes with their parents looking on and smiling... its just so bizzare! On the way up to the big temple we passed a man sat at the bottom of the steps with a young boy dressed in traditional Rajasthan clothing and this man was making this child dance for money while he sat on the wall and took all the coin, occasionally being 'firm' with the child who can't have been any older than seven and he was there all day, right to the end of the dusk. Don't get me wrong, the kid was a good dancer but there just seemed to be something seedy about the whole situation. We walked past and tried not to agitate the man so the child could have a rest as he looked exhausted. The view from the tops of the hills and the temples themselves were well worth the visit and seeing the sunset from high above the town is a wonderful experience.

Apart from the inevitable people trying to make as much money from this stupid English person as possible, Pushkar was a brilliant place and has safely acquired its seat right up in our top five favourite places in India. With a third of our time gone here we come to the conclusion that it is time to move on to the next place and after much discussion amongst the gang, we all decided to go together. Next stop Bundhi!!!

Shanti shanti all the way 😊

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