India Part 6: Pushka
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
11
90
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
Loading Map
Pushkar,
Rajasthan,
India
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Welcome to our India blog part 6: Pushka. Pushka has only one main attraction. Its temple. More on that later. We were told by a local man that it also had another attraction: drugs. What no one told us though was what is common there: aggressive con merchants.
We got to Pushka in the afternoon. Our Hotel was lovely. Right on the ghats with a view over the villages pastel-coloured houses. Ghats are steps down to a lake or river where locals come to drink, do their washing, say their prayers, worship God and piss.
We headed right out for a walk and were instantly accosted by a local man shoving fuschia pink petals into our hand and telling us to head down to the river where a local priest will do a blessing for us and we can visit Pushka's main attraction: The Brahma Temple which is very sacred indeed. The Brahma Temple is just one of a few dedicated to Brahma who, according to myth, was cursed by his wife Savitri when behind his wife's back he invited another woman, a tribal girl of all things!!! To take his wife's place at an important ritual! The shame of it!
We had done our homework so took the petals, thanked the man and walked away looking forward to our experience at the temple. Walking down through the village, we passed an alleyway with steps leading down to the Ghat where we had to shower our petals into and be blessed. As we slowly ambled down these steps, we passed an American man saying to another local man "....I dunno..I was told not to take any petals from anyone..." this pricked up my ears and when he was alone I went up to him.
My mosquito bitten bum!
Apparently, in his Lonely Planet book, there is a warning that there are lots of con men around who will give you petals and try to con you into thinking that you will be blessed and then they expect a hefty handout for their troubles! This American guy, Steve, was on holiday with his Thai mother, Sammy. We three were discussing what to do when a local man barged through us saying "enough talking, just walk to ghat, walk on, walk on" trying to lead us by the elbow. I shifted my elbow out of his grasp sharply and said very calmly, "we are just talking and talking is free. We are making friends, this is free also, we're not hurting anyone!" He was very upset that we were talking about the Lonely Planet extract. Wonder why?!Steve, Sammy, David and I decided not to go down to the Ghat with these flaming petals in our hand so we walked back up the steps to head straight for the bona fide Brahma Temple instead. The rude and pushy local man came up to me and said "your petals. Give me now if you not go". "Fine" I said and handed them back to him and then as all 4 of us were walking back to the main street of the village, this man said to me, gesticulating wildly, "you are finished! Finished! You no shower, no water, no hotel, nothing, NOTHING! You waste my time! You finished!!" he was furious and I just turned to him, shrugged and said "fine! NO problem!" and when I walked off he repeated his venom at me while Steve, Sammy and David just stared in disgust. I wasn't intimidated by him at all.
Our Hotel overlooking the Ghats
He was obviously just a thorough pig, trying to con us and when we wouldn't do what he wanted, he resorted to threats and intimidation. Well I was not going to satisfy his fowl desires. "Whatever!" I said and walked off. Heart pumping away, paranoid that he might stick a sickle into my spine as I walked off or something! Also though, I was seething and the temptation to push him down those effing steps myself and shower his wilting flower petals over his broken legs at the bottom was overwhelming. You've heard nothing yet. It gets better. (David: In hindsight - like so many times in these situations, we wished we'd said: 'and you my friend are finished in Europe... Europe is closed to you; no more European tourists will come this way again.)So, with this small gang of Hustlers trying to extract money out of us, all 4 of us walked through the village towards the Brahma Temple, chatting and getting to know each other. Steve and his mother lived in Florida. Sammy is absolutely adorable and suggested her and I try out sari's together! We got to the Brahma Temple and for security reasons i.e. not wanting to leave our handbags with some Indian bloke who might help himself to the contents, David and I waited outside with Steve and Sammy's bags while they went inside and then vice versa. The Brahma Temple was absolutely beautiful and we were walked round with a guide who explained its history, beauty etc. There were also a few little baboons that we got to feed by hand. When we got outside, our guide walked all 4 of us to the nearby Ghat where we would be given a PROPER blessing by a proper priest, especially as David and I "had just got married" he said.
Post traumatic hysteria perhaps?!
Inside, we had to remove our shoes again and then we were given several small items in a metal dish that are significant for the prayers later. Petals, spices, rice, water and a coconut!? Then all 4 of us sat on the steps leading down to the Holy Ghats. We each had an individual priest and we had to repeat all their words in Hindu which basically involved "Holy Ghat, I worship you.....I worship my life...I worship my family..." etc etc it was quite spiritual actually and I was really enjoying doing something good and deep. I was getting slightly irritated with him at times though as obviously some of the Hindu words were quite difficult to get my tongue around. Rather then helping me calmly, he just wanted to rush on and if I said any of the Hindu words wrong, so be it, onto the next line! I could have been saying Boogie Woogie, My Nipples Are Hairy for all he flaming cared. Then it just got better.....
He said...........
"so how many people in your famileee?"
"er....5 or 6 close to me"
"ok, good. So most people come here....they donate 10,000, 20,000, 50,0000 rupees, whatever, for every person in their famileeee who special to them. So, how much you give?"
"er....well....200 rupees I think" (readers: 200 rupees is about £2.50. 20,000 rupees is about £250)
"200 rupees?? NO! NO! 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 rupee for each person special to you, so how much you give?"
"I don't have that kind of money! Are you saying people give you 10,000, 20,000 or 50,000 rupees for each person in their family?"
"yes, yes, how much you give?"
"well not that much! I don't have £200 to give to you for each person in my family."
"Come on, come on, how much you give, you must give 20,000, 50,000...how much you give today?"
I knew it was too good to be true.
Smile if you've been taken for a ride!
Here we were in a spiritual place, being blessed by a "priest" (a man wearing white pyjamas) and at the end of the day all he wanted was effing money as per usual. Same Old Story. Welcome to India. You can't blame people for wanting to earn a living or people trying to raise money for a good cause, but there are ways and then there are ways. "I don't have any money actually. My husband has the money. I have none and we do not have 20,000 rupees!"
But he went on "come on..how much you give? Your famileee not special to you? You not want to do good thing?" and he went on and he went on and I crossed my arms and gave him A Look. So, realising he was getting nowhere with me, he brushed his hand down towards the Ghat and brusquely told me to empty the contents of my metal tin, make a wish, done. And he walked off.
I did it reluctantly, there were gaping mouthed fish in the lake that appeared to like eating flowers and rice. I held onto my flaming coconut as instructed, made a wish about David and I, then walked back up the steps to where David, Steve and Sammy were. We had to make our donation, which went to the upkeep of the Ghats, apparently, and were given a receipt. When I wrote out on the receipt 200 rupees I was looked at like I was the Devil Incarnate. I wasn't prepared to give any more than that for the simple act of being pressured and treated like a flaming cash machine in such a spiritual place. It always boils down to one flaming thing in India. I was so fuming. Steve and Sammy gave just 30 rupees and were lucky not to be spat on.
Steve, Sammy and us
Sammy let loose with her gorgeous American/Thai accent to our guide who took us down to the Ghat and told him we were not happy at all and that we were conned and used. That went down well. She was bloody right though. David had a different approach; he insisted that his priest put his hand on his heart and swear to God that David did not have that kind of money and that his small donation would be given in earnest, since tourists are sent by God, upsetting them is to upset God. (David: My priest failed to notice the twisted logic of this, but went along with it earnestly. It's amazing what people will do at the mention of God.) To force us to part with £100, £200 rather than gracefully thanking us for whatever we could donate. I am absolutely NOT going to be told HOW MUCH to donate and then given the evil eye because I can't donate a million pounds. They can sod right off. However, donating some money towards the upkeep of the Ghats was something we were happy to do - but not by their forceful methods whatsoever.
All 4 of us were so seething that we walked back through the village to a restaurant letting off steam along the way. Such a spiritual place and what did it boil down to? Get As Much Money Out Of Westerners As You Can. (David: I think we're seen as walking ATMs, Another Tourist Money Machine... ATMM if you like.)
We went to a lovely outdoor restaurant to relax and chat some more. The food we ordered was absolutely delicious and cheap!! We had one main meal each, some had side dishes like naan bread etc. 2 cokes. 2 bottles of water. 2 Lemon Sodas. The bill came to a total of £4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That made up for the scavenging locals. We were happy and tipped very heavily: a much better way to do things in India.
After we had swapped email addresses and hugged our goodbyes, David and I then went to a leather shop near to our Hotel that sold really lovely handbags I had seen. Being very indifferent and casual about the whole thing, I asked how much one bag was and the owner just looked me up and down and then came out with a ridiculous price, probably because I was a Western ATMM. It was late at night and I had had local Pushka People up to my pits. So we said "ok, bye" and walked out. Forget it. Whistle if you don't want to rip me off mate.
When we got back to our Hotel, we lay in bed watching an ace film, reflecting on our 1 day Pushka trip. We decided Pushka can Push Off. It may be beautiful but the locals are nasty, thieving, con merchants. Some good came out of though. We met two lovely people and had a big meal for £4! Ace.
Our next trip was Udaipur - James Bond country. That's another story. Sigh!
Love, Lois & David xx
