Pushkar

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"I wondered where the waste water go to?" Karlhans the German guy I met question, he was one of those not dressed like hippie and would aware of this kind of question. Yes...I didn't see any river nor any channels for drainage, so...it could be anywhere lower than the town of Pushkar, it just immersed into the desert I guessed. Like Ajmer, Pushkar was another pilgrim center, but...for the Hindus, "no pilgrimages is considered complete without a dip in the holy Pushkar lake" its said! And the lake supposed to be a pretty, the pearl of the town. But...to my surprised, there was no water in the lake, a sad looking dried sand bed with shallow water pit, only with couples of concrete build water pools on the side of the ghat, where devotees washed themselves in the stagnant water. What was wrong with the lake? Legend said a lotus slipped out from the fingers of Brahma, where the lotus hit ground and flushed out the sacred lake. Was Brahma wasn't happy with the place here now? too much parties, smokes and drinks? Locals said the water quality in the lake getting worse so they drain out the lake and cleaned up the bed, now construction work was underway to resolidify the lake, just waiting for the next monsoon to fill up the lake again. So...I could only admired the Pushkar Lake from the postcard then. The main sight in town was the Brahma temple, the story said Brahma wanted to committed "yagna", something mean sacrificed, but yagna need to performed together with a woman(I would like to know what kind of sacrificed yagna was though???), and his consort Savitri wasn't there with him, Brahma couldn't wait and he took another woman Gayatri instead ,kind of emergency I guess! And of course when Savitri arrived she was infuriated, she cursed Brahma that he would forgotten by people everywhere on earth but only worshipped here. So Pushkar here had one of not many Brahma temple in India. But for me...the 2 hilltops was more interesting for outing, great sunset(too early for sunrise to me) and view for the desert plain. Not much you could do but templing here as they claimed to had hundreds of temple in Pushkar. This place was full of hippie style travellers too, Hebrew and Korean signs could be seen everywhere, I always heard Spainish, German and French around me too, it was a simple town built around the lake with more than enough souvenirs shop and guesthouses. You could see many professional buyer from western country loaded up their porter's bag, and a handy shipping company just right in the main street had sign written "in the Lonely Planet"! many people stay here for long time, some for spiritual searching, of course one need the help of smoke. And many came to learn Indian dance or music, it made the town four seasons popped. It was supported to be a sacred town where no drinking or smoking, but...hey...you need tourists, so behind the scene you had to turned a blind eyes. It was an easy going place with great value lodging, but the street foods scene was meager. Still...not bad to just hangout here for a few more days just do nothing.

Note
Bus Ajmer to Pushkar Rs10.

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