Day 14: Pushkar
Trip Start
Sep 21, 2006
1
15
228
Trip End
Jun 01, 2007
Pushkar,
India
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Beside the road, the temples fly iridescent rainbow-coloured flags. These aren't invites to gay-friendly establishments (homosexuality is illegal in India) but signify Buddhist shrines. We overtake TATA trucks leaden with enormous marble blocks as they struggle up the hills. As we enter Beawar, I spot my first cricket match, Cakes of cow dung dry on the wall beside the dusty pitch. At a food stop, I share my bread samosa (deep-fried curry sandwich in chick-pea batter) with an old woman who then proceeds to beg for more, waving her stick at the bus window.
At Ajmer, we move to a more basic local bus, held together with nuts and bolts and driven by a nut wearing a head-scarf like a kamikazi. We weave up the pass over Snake Mountain to Pushkar.
01 Pushing the schoolbus
Pushkar is a holy place where Brahma dropped a lotus petal and the site of his only temple in India. It is also the pot-smoking capital. Though alcohol, meat, fish and eggs are banned, apparently 'special' lassis and rice puddings are acceptable. (Beer is also sold surreptitiously in some bars.) There are many shirtless dropouts walking around the bazaar, with filthy beards and the stains of faded henna patterns, trying to mix it with genuine sadhus. The silver and textile stalls obviously export to Camden Market.Still, despite the jugglers and Hari Krishna singalongs, the ghats are still a beautiful place to rest at sunset. Triangular peaks frame the lake, one with a temple at its peak.
We're staying tonight at the Purple Garden, a former prison, with fewer luxuries.
