Pushkar For The Day

Misty Morning, Pushkar Lake

Morning walk

We woke this morning after a surprising good sleep, considering the noise that was going on outside when we went to sleep, so we decided to spend the day in Pushkar rather than move on to Jaipur. We went out in search of breakfast but, because India doesn't seem to do mornings, there was hardly anybody around. We decided to go for a walk instead and enjoy Pushkar at its quietest. Wandering the streets at 8:00am is definitely the nicest time of day. The streets are quiet and the shop keepers are still too drowsy to bother harassing you. After a big loop past some, what we think were, fancy hotels we found the lake. It was stunning with the morning fog still sitting on the water at the far side.

Bathing Ghat, Pushkar

Back at our guest house we decided it had been way to long since we last had our laundry done "properly" so we handed our dirty laundry over to our guesthouse and ordered some breakfast. Masala dosas all 'round. And we were glad we did...best masala dosa of the trip so far.

With full bellies and after a little lay down we once again hit the streets. This time it was a little more beepy and a little more "hello ma'am, come into my shop" but not the worst we have encountered by a long way. Chris wanted to take a holy man's photo but he asked for money. When Chris gave him a few rupees he threw the coins back at us and indicated that he wanted at least ten rupees as we were "rich." We took our coins and he didn't get a darn thing. The people in less touristy places are much happier about having their photos taken. I think next time an Indian asks for a photo with one of us, or snaps one as they walk past, I'll ask for some money and see what happens.

Bathing Ghat, Pushkar

Once we had made it to the far end of the market we rewarded ourselves with two fresh juices. A kiwi and ginger and a pomegranate, lemon and pineapple. A delicious way to get some much needed vitamins. We left the juice shop feeling quite refreshed and headed down to the lake. On the way we spotted Om Shiva which looked like a good lunch spot so we kept it in mind as we continued.

Once we found the lake we sat for a couple of minutes before a man tried giving us a flower to put in to the lake. Expecting that he wanted money we tried to say no but, surprisingly, he happily put them in our hands and walked away without asking for a rupee. We thought that made a nice change from the normal money hungry India we have been exposed to. But it also lulled us into a false sense of security.

Releasing a flower into the holy lake, before the drama

With flowers in hand we started walking around the lake and stopped to let out flower go. We continued further around the bathing ghats and were stopped by Gopal, a boy who wanted to give us flower petals. Encouraged by the nice holy man we encountered earlier we took them and kept walking. Then we were accosted.

The two men started by telling us to take our shoes off. Fair enough we thought...it was a holy lake after all. Despite our protests they also wanted to take us down to the lake so we could drop the flower petals that Gopal had given us in. We would soon discover that friendly Gopal was just part of an elaborate scam. One man took each of us and sat us down so Chris and I were a couple of metres apart...to make our escape more difficult I think. They took to explaining that they were holy men, unlike many impostors in Pushkar and wanted to bless us. Despite being warned by the Lonely Planet that this was usually a scam it was difficult to say no and before we knew it we both had flowers, kum kum powder, rice and a coconut in our hands and a red dot on our foreheads. The priests spoke mantras that we had to repeat and then, of course, they wanted a donation. They explained that Indian people give Indian money and Western people give Western money. They were after 10 or 20 bucks so they could help feed the holy men of Pushkar. I think we've been in India too long, or just long enough, because while Chris and I couldn't hear each other we both gave the holy men a similar spiel about how they should really request this donation prior to dabbing stuff on our unwilling foreheads.

When I told the man I did not want to donate he became agitated, which made me agitated. I found myself venting six weeks worth of frustrations telling him "this is what's wrong with India...blah blah blah." He was displeased to say the least. When Chris had done praying (I wasn't allowed to interrupt while the prayer was happening) we quickly confirmed that we had both been given the same spiel and that we did not want to donate. They then tried to ask for a donation to pay for the flowers etc that had been a part of the ritual. Again, like the man this morning, they were not happy with Chris' offer of less than what they anticipated receiving...fifty rupees each they wanted! I think they soon realised that we were more trouble than we were worth so, after having our blessing revoked and being cursed in Hindi, we went on our way. It's the not telling you that it'll cost you money prior to the happening that continues to annoy us. In hindsight we really should have just thrown the darn flower petals on the ground but our proper upbringing makes us not want to offend, something many people here lack. I guess that's what made us easy targets. Or so they thought.

Although not being hungry quite yet we went back to Om Shiva to sit in the quiet garden and cool down. We enjoyed a vegetarian pizza from a woodfire oven then battled the market again to return to our guesthouse.

We spent most of the afternoon trying to plan out the next portion of our trip and have pretty much decided to get the heck out of India and move on to Nepal sooner rather than later.

Birds over Pushkar Lake at sunset

Sunset rolled around and we went back through the bustling bazaar to grab some sunset shots of the lake. Everybody else in a Pushkar seemed to have the same idea. This worked in our favour though as the touts were so busy harassing the other tourists that we got left alone for the most part. Chris took some photos while I watched a Western girl sell bracelets and blow bubbles before we tackled the bazaar again on the way home. We're getting very good at ignoring people and saying 'no' to small children when they ask to be bought chocolate. We did however purchase some chocolate for ourselves while the beggar boy stood and watched. Gosh we're hard asses.

Sunset over Pushkar Lake

After our friend at the shop downstairs from our guesthouse, Danesh, couldn't provide us with Internet recharges for our phones we gave up and hit our guesthouse up for another delicious dinner. We couldn't resist the malai kofta, naan or veg biriyani from last night but branched out and got a nine veg korma to go with it. We stuffed ourselves silly to the point that Chris lay groaning all over the bed.

Sunset from Hotel Aroma