Pushkar

We thought we were including Pushkar in our tour simply because it boasts the only Brahma temple in the world.  Little did we know that this is fair season in Pushkar, although I have to confess I wondered why we were staying in 4-star hotels in every city except Pushkar, where we would be living instead in a tent.  There are so many visitors to the fair at this time that all the hotels are booked.  To handle the overflow, tent camps have been put up at one end of town.  Ours was Mandawa Camp.

The buffet pavillion, with a camel cart in the foreground.

The tents.  The orange glow above the third one is actually a hot air balloon.

If you’ve ever stayed in the tent cabins at Yosemite, it’s a little bit like that – but Indian style (and without the bears).  Our tent was double-walled with two rooms, burlap covered a dirt floor, the windows had shades that could be raised or lowered via ropes inside the tent, and patterned fabric made up the inner walls.

Inside our tent.

 The dinner was set up under various pavilions outdoors and we were entertained by a family of gypsies who danced to the music of a tabla (drum) and a flute-like instrument with two pipes – one of which was a drone pipe while the other played a melody line in an oboe-like tone.  After the dancers, one of the boys got up with two burning torches to show off his fire-eating and fire-breathing skills. 

All that, though, was after the fair, as dinners are generally served quite late in India.

After the fact, I looked at the tourist map of the Pushkar area and, honestly, after navigating those rough waters, my first thought was, “Somebody made a map of Pushkar?  As though you can actually map chaos. . . . ?”  I suppose there is order in it somewhere, but to me, it seemed like a maze without any logic.

Our driver took us from the camp to one end of the fair and we were to call him when we were ready to leave.  We started to wander, and eventually got some sense of which end was up.  The lanes were thronged with men, women and children, hawkers’ carts and entertainers, horses and camels.  Every so often, a car or scooter would cut through the throng, its horn blaring.  Music poured from loud-speakers.  The lights of the midway glittered on one side, including at least three different variations on the Ferris wheel.   Vendor booths lined the streets, most of them with trinkets obviously meant specifically for the fair-goers.  There were at least a dozen booths selling fancy knives and swords.  Intermixed with them were booths with ordinary household goods like pots, pans and dishes.  At the end of one lane was a sort of food court and dotted throughout the entire fair were other food stalls.

View of Pushkar Fair.

We took a ride on a wagon similar to this one.

 We decided to climb on board one of the camel-drawn wagons and see things the easy – and novel – way for a bit.  We were pleasantly surprised when the camel-driver took us all the way out to the camel campgrounds.  Vish got to talking with the driver/owner, so he took us to where his three horses were staked out, told us a bit about his family and what he does in the non-fair season (farming), and asked all about us.  Then he took us back to the fair proper.

In the show area next to the Midway, we could hear music, so wandered over there and watched the dancing.  By then we were both getting tired and hungry.  We called the guide and settled down to have a cup of tea while we waited for him.

The next morning, we were up and ready early.  The sun was rising, along with numerous hot air balloons,  as we ate breakfast in the outdoor pavilion.  Then we piled everything, including ourselves, into the car and headed into Pushkar to see the Brahma Temple.  It was a little unsettling to realize that these were all the same crowded streets and the same booths because the wares were quite different.  Gone were the swords, knives, balloons and other fair toys and souvenirs.  Gone were the camel carts.  The only thing the same was the mob of people and blaring speakers.  As we got close to the temple, the density of the crowd increased dramatically.  However, just as we were about to head up the long, shallow steps to the temple itself, we were stopped by a soldier who said that absolutely no cameras were allowed.  So Vish went on without me while I held on to his shoes (having had a pair of shoes stolen from a temple in Bangalore once, I’m pretty protective of my shoes in these places) – and my camera.

Vish (in blue jeans and tan shirt) coming down the steps from the Brahma Temple, which is almost hidden in its surroundings.

And then it was back to the car and on to Udaipur.

I will add more pictures when I have a faster connection -- this one is taking five minutes for each image!