The Pushkar

Had a fabulous weekend in a little desert town in Rajasthan (western india) called Pushkar, which everyone mysteriously refers to as "The Pushkar" - kind of like Ukraine I guess. We got there on an overnight bus from Delhi, after our plans to go to Kathmandu with our friend Dhondup fell through (we couldn't get tickets) and our trip to Jaiselmer also fell through after we bought tickets, went to the train station, trekked about a mile through the crowds to our train, sat down, and then got kicked off by an angry ticket guy who said there were no seats for us. Such is India - nothing happens the way you planned it, but it all manages to work itself out somehow.

We started our morning in Pushkar walking through town in 115 degree weather with our packs, trying to find the guest house my friends stayed in last year. Even though it's crazy hot, the weather's a lot more comfortable than Delhi without the smog and humidity. Pushkar is built around a holy lake (called Pushkar) where it is said that Brahma wanted to do some practice that his wife disapproved of. He took a second wife in protest, and as his punishment, his first wife decreed that this lake would be the only place where people would worship him. It's the only holy place in India dedicated only to him. So common practice in The Pushkar is to do a puja (prayer) to Brahma at the lake. Many people also bathe in the water there. The problem in Pushkar, though, is that there are many Brahmans (priests) who operate as hustlers - this is India, after all. So as we were walking through town, we were approached by men who demanded that before we do anything else (including put our bags down) we do our puja and get a bracelet on our wrists as proof. Arguing proved useless, so we gave in.

Here's how my encounter with the Brahman went:
Brahman: Repeat after me (prayer in sanskrit).. Okay now, take these flowers and this powder in your hands. Tell me the names of your family members. You have boyfriend? Okay, six family plus boyfriend is seven, plus three for Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu... that's thirty dollars. Okay, repeat after me. I offer these prayers to Brahma for my family, for my boyfriend, and I promise to give thirty dollars...

I obviously didn't repeat that last part, and when, after being blessed and offering my flowers to the holy lake, I gave 100 rupees (about $2.50), the priest yelled at me "you promised 30 dollars! you promise, you give!" First time I've ever been hustled by a priest, but I'd heard this about the Pushkar before so I wasn't surprised.

The rest of the Pushkar is lovely, though. People are incredibly nice, and even when they're trying to hustle you they still want to be your friend. We spent two days walking around town at a snail's pace, stopping in every other shop to hang out with shopkeepers (who always offer tea and good conversation if you hang out for a few minutes) and buy shitloads of gifts. There's some good stuff coming from the Pushkar for you all.

We took a camel safari ride for sunrise yesterday morning, which was touristy but fun. Gopal, my camel guide, was silly (Indians tend to be good jokers) and helped me take a picture of us smoking on a camel. We picked up an entourage of young Indian boys walking around town for a few hours, which proved to be entertaining. After they followed us around for hours, they asked us for chapati, then took us to a store and wanted butter. We're familiar with the beggar scams, where they ask you to buy them packaged food then they return it for money... so we brought them to a restaurant and got them hot food instead. The kids were adorable and eventually admitted that they usually convince foreigners to buy them butter, then they use the money to play games.

All in all, pushkar was a great time. I finally feel at home again in India. My India mannerisms have come back in full - the head wobble, the weird accent, the India-english... the more I settle in, the more I remember why I love this place.

I'm back in Delhi now, after an overnight "sleeper" bus, which is sort of like lying in a casket with a window and getting thrown around for 10 hours. I decided to separate from my friends while they're in Jaiselmer, because I don't have that much more time in India and I wanted to make it up to dharamsala. So I'm hanging out in Dhondup's office and he's driving me the 12-hour trip to dharamsala later today. I have to say - it's nice to have friends with money here. That's definitely new for me. I'm used to roughing it and living very cheaply in India, and I prefer it that way - but a hot shower, a hairdryer, and air conditioning in Dhondup's apartment this morning was a nice break.

Even just being in the Tibetan neighborhood in Delhi feels like home. I'm always amazed by how much I enjoy being with Tibetans. I'm really excited to see friends in Dharamsala tonight. More later...