Dateline: March 23rd, 2017, Pushkar, India
Come all Ye and Om!
Come all Ye and Om!
March 21st. Pushkar, Rajastan
The route
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| There's also a lot of sacred cow shit around too |
Its 12:30. Kayla and I sit here, in a bamboo curtained open pavilion looking out over the sacred lake of Pushkar, supping ginger lemon tea with honey, and me, catching up on a 6 weeks old economist.
We have just been blessed by a local blessing dude, and have sacrificed some of my long since terminated income to the blessed patron saint of stupid tourists
I didn't even know that there was a sacred lake here until we walked to it from our hotel, or rather, guest house, this morning. Such are the Serendipity of travel.
The main attraction to night travel in India are all the unlit Tuks, farm tractors, cheap buses and ambling cattle you are guaranteed to find on them.
Several times we were driving at 80 klicks only to see something looming out of the dark just ahead. I did need to point out a cow about 50 metres in front of us once. Our driver did however, avoid the vehicles without my help
After arriving, there's one hell of a racket outside in the street. Its the equinox today, so its Spring tribute to various gods. Of course.
Apparently, the Gods come down from the mountains tonight and visit themselves upon the locals.
We observe from our windows and balcony.
There's a few custom built Tuks with loudspeakers, blaring out at a hell of a Db count, a diesel powered mobile electric generator and a singer of supposedly sacred songs (proclaiming the omnipotence of Ganesh, Shiva etc, apparently)
There's also a walking band, a few guys on horses, some dude being attacked by a lion look alike, parasol handlers, more bands. More worshipers etc
The generator powers about 10 chandelier type of lights, no LED's here. Five or six on each side of the road. These are held by various volunteers to "light the way" for the "most beautiful God". These are all connected together, so several handlers need to make sure all the wiring doesn't get tangled, or driven over. Plus, the crooner, being pushed by a bunch of dancers, also needs power for the amplifier. It's quite an undertaking.
It goes on for nearly 3 hours, or at least, we can hear it for about that long
Next morning, we have to step over a German guy doing his sunrise Yoga wearing only torn shorts and no underwear (sorry ladies, no pix of this), and one or two other yoga practitioners as we exit our room. There's a few others upstairs on mattresses, still asleep. My roots or what?
The kitchen area again, is on the top floor,
and the cook, when we can find him, is excellent. Here, we are paying
about $C25 / night for 2 rooms. Nothing too special if you are into 4 star places, but I prefer it to
our last abode. Pushkar also helps in this regard.
Its hot, even at 7:45. Surprise.
I started chatting with one of the cooks, it appears that we are right at the end of tourists season. It's easy to tell why. We've been in India 2 weeks, and the average daily temperature has risen about 10 degrees, another 8 - 10 to go over the next 2 weeks or so, and daily temperatures will remain well above 40, day and night, until the rain's in July. In two weeks time apparently, there are no more tourists until August
That's probably why it's easy to find accommodation everywhere. As noted, some of it incredibly spectacular, mostly, much better than functional.
Pushkar is a place to hang out, have iced coffees, read, catch up with Economists, check out the market, (no, not the TSE market), sunset drinks (no, no GnT's here folks - looks pretty dry in fact)
Kayla departs on 23rd for her flight to Kathmandu to meet her friend Amy on the 25th.
We have a "wholefoods vegetarian" lunch at an "excellent" rated cafe on the main drag. It's full of Tofu loving aesthetes. All whole grains, nutritious, hand pick and personally counselled and hand washed greens and meaningful beetroot and delicately grated carrots etc etc in such a meaningful sunrise dressing. All bollocks of course.
Faux food it is. But really new wave trendy folks. Plus, really dreadful
Having lived, can you believe, extremely contented on veg food for these 3 weeks, this Euro Western wasteland of words over substance suddenly informs me why I hate western style "vegetarian" food. It's meaningless, and worse, tasteless. Here, in India, veg means super tasty. I really don't need a steak if I have lentils, chic peas and kidney beans around.
Yes, I'm amazed too
Next day, we're off. Udaipur, mainly because Kayla / Arvind recommended it. No more forts there. So far, everything on his list has been pretty much amazing.
I'm surprised at myself as I steal cutlery from the hotel to allow us to eat our papaya on the train tomorrow. This and hording toilet paper. Yes! We're hippies again
I guess we'll run out of fun stuff when it gets too hot......
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| Just another cow in an Indian street. All chaos and trash of course |
The trip from Jodhpur to Pushkar was quite an event, there's no uber around here so we took to the road, by taxi, as the train was not going anywhere near the place, and the busses were, less than salubrious.
The drive was occasionally appalling, occasionally world class. Apparently, if the army needs fast access to somewhere, there's going to be a good road. Said road could, and did occasionally suddenly turn into something approaching what you would find in a quarry..
The drive was occasionally appalling, occasionally world class. Apparently, if the army needs fast access to somewhere, there's going to be a good road. Said road could, and did occasionally suddenly turn into something approaching what you would find in a quarry..
The main attraction to night travel in India are all the unlit Tuks, farm tractors, cheap buses and ambling cattle you are guaranteed to find on them. |
| The DJ cum Evangelist will see you now |
It was 186 km, and took about 5 hours.
In Pushkar, we are staying at a relatively down market guest house. It got piles of recommendations, but that's just as much the type of guest who recommends as the facilities themselves. If you are happy to pay $5.00 per night, then just having a mattress on the floor could be a full 5 star for you. There are certainly lots of such travelers here. After arriving, there's one hell of a racket outside in the street. Its the equinox today, so its Spring tribute to various gods. Of course.
Apparently, the Gods come down from the mountains tonight and visit themselves upon the locals.
We observe from our windows and balcony.
There's a few custom built Tuks with loudspeakers, blaring out at a hell of a Db count, a diesel powered mobile electric generator and a singer of supposedly sacred songs (proclaiming the omnipotence of Ganesh, Shiva etc, apparently)
 |
| I've no idea, but there was a lot of it |
The generator powers about 10 chandelier type of lights, no LED's here. Five or six on each side of the road. These are held by various volunteers to "light the way" for the "most beautiful God". These are all connected together, so several handlers need to make sure all the wiring doesn't get tangled, or driven over. Plus, the crooner, being pushed by a bunch of dancers, also needs power for the amplifier. It's quite an undertaking.
It goes on for nearly 3 hours, or at least, we can hear it for about that long
Next morning, we have to step over a German guy doing his sunrise Yoga wearing only torn shorts and no underwear (sorry ladies, no pix of this), and one or two other yoga practitioners as we exit our room. There's a few others upstairs on mattresses, still asleep. My roots or what?
The kitchen area again, is on the top floor,
and the cook, when we can find him, is excellent. Here, we are paying
about $C25 / night for 2 rooms. Nothing too special if you are into 4 star places, but I prefer it to
our last abode. Pushkar also helps in this regard.Its hot, even at 7:45. Surprise.
I started chatting with one of the cooks, it appears that we are right at the end of tourists season. It's easy to tell why. We've been in India 2 weeks, and the average daily temperature has risen about 10 degrees, another 8 - 10 to go over the next 2 weeks or so, and daily temperatures will remain well above 40, day and night, until the rain's in July. In two weeks time apparently, there are no more tourists until August
 |
| Yup, just like the cows, its sacred folks |
 |
| Café run by Europeans The only inedible food in the town and outrageously expensive It gets 5 stars on all the reviews Until I reviewed it of course |
Pushkar is a place to hang out, have iced coffees, read, catch up with Economists, check out the market, (no, not the TSE market), sunset drinks (no, no GnT's here folks - looks pretty dry in fact)
Kayla departs on 23rd for her flight to Kathmandu to meet her friend Amy on the 25th.
We have a "wholefoods vegetarian" lunch at an "excellent" rated cafe on the main drag. It's full of Tofu loving aesthetes. All whole grains, nutritious, hand pick and personally counselled and hand washed greens and meaningful beetroot and delicately grated carrots etc etc in such a meaningful sunrise dressing. All bollocks of course.
Faux food it is. But really new wave trendy folks. Plus, really dreadful
 |
| Sundowners - Lassis only folks |
Yes, I'm amazed too
Next day, we're off. Udaipur, mainly because Kayla / Arvind recommended it. No more forts there. So far, everything on his list has been pretty much amazing.
I'm surprised at myself as I steal cutlery from the hotel to allow us to eat our papaya on the train tomorrow. This and hording toilet paper. Yes! We're hippies again
I guess we'll run out of fun stuff when it gets too hot......
From Your Correspondent
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