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Published: February 14th 2006
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Sunset in Pushkar
Ade admiring the beautiful sunset in Rajasthan Esta vez primero en Ingles, mas abajo en espanyol.
Och well, as I was saying, I am a bit disappointed. The other day I wrote a very interesting entry in my blog after an incident in Pushkar and I don't know what happened but the entry is not there and I don't know if a can write it with the same emotions.
On the positive side I have reflected on it and I would really appreciate your opinions.
Ok, Let’s go!!!
After a long trip (very long indeed) we finally arrived from Bharatpur to Pushkar, both towns are in the same region: Rajasthan. Rajasthan is the Indian region that attracts the biggest number of tourists.
Having said this, our stay in Bharatpur was lovely; people in the town and the Bird Sanctuary were great and very genuine. The first day in the park we spent around hour and a half talking with a bunch of guides about India and Europe (they could not understand the concept of TV License, I am not alone after all).
I thought, “This is great!!!” People in Rajasthan are soooooo cool. I love it!!!!
Wrong Maria!! God, I am always jumping into conclusions. Arrival into Pushkar and alarms went off. Don’t get me wrong, the town itself is amazing, great place, amazing views, really good. The problem is the people, SOME people, not everybody. The annoying thing is how one person (or several) can taint your perception of one place that could be so nice.
Pushkar is not a place to chill out, in fact you cannot sit on the Ghats and enjoy the sunset without 5 women truing to sell you anklets, two musicians playing out of tune beside your ear and other assorted bunch just asking for money directly.
Honestly I just came to see the sunset and relax.
I suppose that they are very used to tourists, I mean Ade and I had not seen so many tourists together probably since Kao San Road (not the same amount just ratio).
By the way I need to comment on this tourists bunch as well. I mean, come on!!!, Pushkar is (as usual in our route) a very Holy place and there are Ghats that lead to a lake. When on the Ghats everybody must follow some rules, clearly stated in big boards. And what do “some” tourists do? Yes you guessed, break
Nice Tree
On the way to the temple in Pushkar them. I mean, can you not smoke that joint somewhere else? Do you really need to dress showing half you arse? Did you really have to put us through the embarrassment of seeing you “trying” to do Capoeira and by the way, hitting people with your dreadlocks every time that you span your head?
This is what traveling is; learn from places and from people, even if they are from your own country.
Anyway the question that I wanted your comments on is the following:
As the lake in Pushkar is very holy, people branding themselves as Bhramans (Priests/Priests descendants) try to give you at any given opportunity a flower to throw in the lake, they will accompany you and do a Puja (Sacred Hindu ritual), for this privilege you will pay an amount of money (for their back pocket) and you will receive a red string that you wear as a bracelet, the “Pushkar Passport”.
They tried it a few times and we say “no”, mainly because we did not want to do it. On the day before we left Pushkar while talking to an Italian guy who stayed in our Hotel, a young guy came towards us and tried to give us the flowers, we said “No” as usual and here is where the “FUN” started. The abuse that we received from the teenager was shocking, he was ordering us to go back to the Hotel and not leave the room because we did not have the bracelet, after we ask him to leave us alone he actually told us to go to Pakistan (as if that is something very bad). It was a pretty annoying moment and I have to say I was ready to punch him.
Thinking about it I tried to imagine how this would be at home, so here we go:
Imagine you are in Spain or UK, going pass a nice Catholic Cathedral. Suddenly this guy approaches you and gives you an unlit candle, he asks you to follow him into the church (by the way you are NOT a Catholic), you go to see the Virgin or Christ and he asks you to repeat what he is saying (prayer), he then asks you to light the candle and after you have left the Church he asks you for money (around ten pounds).
Is that right? What would you do?
I talked with a couple from London and gave them this example; the guy told me that I could not compare a developed country as UK or Spain with India underdeveloped and poor country.
That made me think and although he may feel better thinking this way (as he paid more that 3 quid for a Puja), his argument tells us that if you are poor you use religion for your own benefit. Is he saying that poor people have less morals and principles just because they haven’t got a TV? I always thought that poor people are nicer towards their religion.
In fact my point is that there are some individuals in the world that will try to cheat their own mothers.
Pues eso, lo que iba diciendo, que el otro dia escribi un blog y no se que ha pasado pero ha desaparecido.
Empezamos de nuevo.
Despues de Bharatpur fiumos a Pushkar, donde te puedes encontrar espanyoles debajo de cada piedra. Aqui es donde vienen los vendedores de los mercadillos a comprar ropa. El pueblo es precioso, pero es un agobio, donde hay turistas hay gente intentandote sacar dinero.
Pushkar tiene un Lago sagrado que emergio de la nada en el lugar donde a Bhrama se le cayo una flor de loto. En fin, aqui te puedes encontrar tambien Ghats (escalones que van desde los edificios hasta el agua), donde la gente se banya en el agua sagrada.
El agua sagrada que sirve a bastante gente como forma de vida, intentando estafar a los turistas y viajeros.
Coge esta flor y sigueme, echa la flor en el lago y hagamos una puja (ritual sagrado hindu). Ahora dame dinero. Perdona solo me has dado 5 Euros, no es suficiente, debes darme mas.
Y asi.
Ade y yo rechazamos cada oportunidad que se nos ofrecio, en parte porque yo no soy Hindu y no creo en Pujas, por otra parte me sentiria haciendo un teatrillo para el beneficio del colega que me trajo al lago.
Algunas personas me han discutido esto, diciendome que ellos irian a misa sin ser cristianos, por curiosidad. A esto yo les he contestado: en Varanasi cada dia fui testigo de Pujas an la casa donde nos hospedabamos y en el Ghat principal donde cada dia a las 6 de la tarde hay una Puja impresionante y nadie te agobia, ni te intenta forzar a hacer lo que ellos quieren que hagas.
Supongo que me pongo asi porque el penultimo dia en Pushkar un joven vino a ofrecernos la flor y cuando dijimos que no se monto la Mari Morena. Nos dijo que nos volvieramos al hotel y que no salieramos de la habitacion, que nos fueramos a Pakistan (se supone que eso es muuuuy malo con musulmanes y esas cosas que algunos y solo algunos hindus odian).
En fin que me alegro de no estar en Pushkar mas y estar relajandome en las playas de Goa. Por cierto si vais a Goa no compreis mucho, los precios son carisimos, por ciertas cosas te intenta cobrar 8 veces el precio.
Hasta luego!!!!
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gus
non-member comment
zen/motorcycle maintenance
Hi Maria, I hope you write a book when your journey ends. I am reminded of 'Zen & the art of Motorcycle Maintenance'when I read your blog. I would say think of Maslov's pyramid of needs as the driver for this behaviour. These guys have to make hay while the sun shines. You can speak from a very secure position in life. If you're suggesting that some people will sell their mother ( their religion ?)then maybe they have to. How many christians attend Sunday worship as a show and then use their perceived righteousness to further their social & career status? You are away from home & are sensitive to abuse. You've heard worse on Lothian Road. Stay safe! Gus x