A few weeks ago, Austin, Oscar, and I headed out for a roadtrip to Pushkar, which is south of Delhi in Rajasthan. Pushkar is a holy city in the Hindu faith and is most characterized by it's small but lovely lake and ghats where pilgrims go to bathe in the waters. It's also famous for hosting Asia's largest camel and cattle fair, which was going on while we were there.
I think that Pushkar was a big hit with all of us. Despite being a fairly major tourist destination both for Hindu pilgrims and for Western tourists, it's charming and essentially is a very small town. We rolled in late at night and had to call to hotel for a motorcycle escort who guided us through the wending streets to our little hotel by the shores of the lake. The hotel was bare bones, but clean enough and not too bad given the number of people in town. We had a rooftop restaurant with a nice view over the lake and town, and were within walking distance of everything.
On Saturday, we rolled out of bed, had breakfast and went to see the cattle fair. Let's just say that there were a lot of camels in Pushkar. And, most of them were being led around by the nose by leathery Rajasthani men with fabulous turbans. Austin and Devindar sampled camel's milk ice cream and we did some shopping along the main thoroughfare. Austin and Oscar were over that pretty quickly and soon said they'd meet me and Devindar later at the Pink Floyd Cafe. I of course proceeded to amuse myself shopping for a couple of hours, and by the time we caught up with the boys, they were happy as clams, each with a 'very special' lassi under their belts and feeling no pain. Needless to say, our afternoon proceeded at a langourous pace from that point forward. I was hopped up on antibiotics and figured that adding substance abuse to my list of sins was probably not wise, so I got a spectator's seat for the duration. The skies over Pushkar boast some of the best stars I've seen in India. We ate dinner and played cards, watching the sun bury itself in the hills until we were sitting under a sparkling canopy.
On Sunday, the boys couldn't resist the pull of Pink Floyd and its tasty treats, so after breakfast, we detoured to the cafe for more lassi before we hit the road. The crowds of people coming off of the main ghat were so thick that we had trouble pushing our way through. I'm still not sure where the flood of people came from or went to, but for a few minutes we were awash in humanity - so very India.
Done with Pushkar, we decided to hit Ajmer before leaving the area. I have to say now that it was my idea, and probably a bad one. Ajmer has a famous Sufi shrine that was a pilgrimage destination in the Mughal era. The complex of temples and shrines is supposed to be impressive and worth seeing, but it was not to be. The security ladies there are serious. I apparently had so much contraband in my purse (makeup, an umbrella, etc.) that they would not even consider allowing me in the gates. Unfortunately, they weren' terribly verbal types, so I discovered this when they bear-hugged me and dragged me out. Luckily, a quick flash of good sense came before my self-preservation instincts caused me to start using self-defense moves to extricate myself. For some unknown reason, the only Hindi word that I could remember was "stop," which I settled for screaming at the top of my lungs. Ugly, but effective. The whole thing rattled me pretty badly and I'm no much of an Ajmer fan as a result. But, it was a good reminder the feigning blythe ignorance doesn't always work in these situations.
The rest of our trip home was pretty uneventful, especially after that. All told, Pushkar was a big hit with the boys, and I myself am a fan. In the end, it seems like an oasis, with it's tiny jewel of a lake and star-ladened skies. If you have the opportunity to go, you must. Take a good book, go to the lake and perform a puja for your heart's desire, or stake out a seat in a rooftop cafe - Life could get a heck of a lot worse.
