Blogs from Pushkar, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 2

I work all day behind closed doors. As a therapist, you open your office door long enough for one client to enter and then 50 minutes later for that client to exit. I do my job without notoriety or exposure, veiled in total confidentiality. Then the weekend rolls around and I spend my time at Shamrock Farms where I might go days without seeing anyone that doesn’t share my last name. I live in city large enough I can go about my business without anyone recognizing me or knowing my story. After growing up in a tiny town where, upon meeting or crossing paths, it’s often the norm to hear “Oh, you’re a Crenshaw,” this sort of anonymity can be refreshing. Anonymity may be par for the course in Kansas City, but what I have discovered ... read more

There was such a bustle of excitement and energy when we brought “our” camel herd into the Pushkar Fair that day. We had to take 70 some camels through a tight little gulley, wind around a small campsite with trees and other camels, cross a minor ravine and then take these very social, curious animals across the entire fairgrounds past thousands of other social, curious camels. Actually, dealing with the camels and their anxiety was the easy part. The humans were the obstacle that day. We were working hard. Six days earlier, dad and I were probably viewed as two Americans with too much time and money on our hands who would never be able to keep up with these wirey, tough old Raika herdsman who had been walking the desert with camels since they were ... read more

Our visits to India have introduced us to some very interesting and like-minded people and their dear to my heart NGO. The organization, Camel Charisma, is part of an effort to preserve the camel population of India by assisting the people who know these camels best, the Raika. Run by Ilse and Hanwant, the camel conservation group puts their energy into creating revenue outlets for the Raika by using authentic camel products. These products include camel hair rugs, camel hair scarves, paper made from camel poo and camel milk soap. All of the sales and proceeds go back into the Raika community so these communities are not forced to sell their herds and look for occupations elsewhere. This year they also began a Raika Journey program where people can come to the Camel Charisma campus and ... read more

We travelled over 8,000 miles back to Shamrock Farms from India armed with new camel blankets, camel knowledge and more camel connections than we had when we left over a month ago. It only seemed fair that we shared all of this camel excitement with the loved ones who would appreciate it most - the Shamrock Farms camel herd! With all of our new camel knowledge swirling in our heads, we had to decide where to start. The logical choice seemed to be Ilse's book Camel Karma. Dad bought his own copy of the book and read it on the trip. With our two books and our new connection with the author, it only seemed fitting that we start a Shamrock Farms Book Club. The camels really embraced this idea. I cannot tell if they really ... read more

The last time we were at Pushkar, we received a message that Uncle Ray had passed away while we were traveling. We were sad to lose a dear member of the family, but philosophical about the cycle of life. To honor his memory we placed flowers in the sacred Pushkar Lake. Four years later and here we are again at this holy place of pilgrimmage when we get a message from home that Uncle Max had passed away. We made the decision to again pay our respects by buying flowers in the Pushkar market and placing them in the scared Pushkar Lake to honor Uncle Max. As we thought about the loved ones that had recently passed through our life, we realized we had also said goodbye to some other dear family members. On our last ... read more