Pushkar - pushy priests, sunburn and time to relax
Trip Start
May 27, 2008
1
4
37
Trip End
May 24, 2009
Udaipur,
India
Sunday, June 15, 2008
the journey from Udaipur, you have to grab a taxi (which involves as
per people trying to rip you off, manageable but when your tired you
have to make sure you keep your cool) from the private bus stop to the
public bus stop at the other end of town (you get taken to a small
transport town called amjer, through which you connect to pushkar via a
small bus that creaks it way along small roads through an aptly named
mountain called "snakes range").
So pushkar, what to say about this place? its the home of a "Brahma
temple" and as a result a place of much importance to many indians, who
make the pilgrim journey here every year to offer puja (prayer) and
offers to their family both living and dead. The idea is that you
donate money via the appropriate boxes that are nailed down at the
entrance of the ghats here (entrances to the river where people go to
bathe or just to offer prayers via a flower bud that they place onto
the lake).
There is of course a tourist based tout element here in the form of
priests that offer you a "pushkar passport" or a red band of cotton
that goes round your wrist, they tell you that you must give them 100
rupee, 1 pound fifty no big deal and that it will go to the upkeep of
their family (at this point your thinking there are official boxes here
hmm) and that you must multiply that number by the amount of living
members of your family (hmmmmmmmmmm) and then add onto this the dead
(hmmmmmmmmmm), id been told these guys can get quite fiesty if you dont
take their spiel, but after offering my money for my family ( a set
donation of 300 rupees that went firmly in the box, passport secured
round my wrist....you just show this to any priest that approaches you)
one particular guy would not give up:
"money for chapati and rice yes ok you are rich western guy yes and
this is for holy special reason for the money just give some and i will
offer puja for you and do you want to encur the wrath of COBRA!!!!!
etc", i shut him up and made the rest of the ghat double over by saying
"your a priest right....(many wear the cloth but are often imposters)
yet how can you say god talks to you when you never shut up??" game set
and match, the bloke was speechless and left me on my way.
Pushkar gave me lots of lovely time to walk around the lake, which
included a bridge connecting two ghats where you have to remove your
shoes (as you do with most if not all ghats) and walk across, in the
midday sun it was akin to doing a firedance, it stung! im sure the
locals enjoyed me bouncing from one end to the other anyhow.
Last night involved watching some footy (spain and sweden) and the
final of the 50/50 cricket between india and pakistan - pakistan won,
not good! with the owner and a few other travellers mostly from italia
(cecil and davide and marco sergi and rob) and tonight im on my way to
agra, home of the taj mahal. I have lots of lovely photos from both
pushkar and udaipur and im sure il get them up asap. Hopefully with
some taj ones as well!
lots of love stew xx
