Pushkar

Pushkar is insane.

I arrived here just as the camel fair and its events were at their best, with camel races, best cattle competitions, wrestling, dances, music, and everything from snake charming to tightrope walking. I even participated in the locals vs foreigners tug of war (they won).

People have come from all over Rajasthan and India to join the festivities. Mostly though, people have come to bathe in the ghats (lakes or pools with stairs leading down to holy water) as a religious pilgrimage. Today is an important Hindu Festival (Kartik Purnima) and there have been ceremonies all over town. This means that the town is full of pilgrims, mostly men in turbans and robes with massive moustaches and beards. Some are real characters, and have colourful and funky accessories or jewelry or dreadlocks. Some priests will lie down and pray in the middle of the street, others will offer you flowers or bracelets (usually for some cash). The women are all dressed in fiery saris that match the desert colours, and travel in groups. As for the foreigners, there's a lot of hippies!

The streets are packed with stalls and there's an amusement park full of people too. The fair itself is not so popular, and mostly consists of camels and their owners, and traders selling camel-associated goods.

This place is so full of people and smells and colours and animals it's a bit exhausting. I'm staying with Dustin at the Pink Floyd Hotel (room: Animals) so we've got a pretty good place to chill.

The city is alive from above as well. Right now I'm on the rooftop terrace of the hotel, and I can hear chanting coming from the lake, and religious speeches that sound like rallying calls to battle coming from all over the place. There are fires sprouting everywhere too, from burning rubbish, incense, or firecrackers. Monkeys jump from building to building. The view is amazing, the mountains and their temples in the distance, and the ghat full of candles in the town. The full moon hovers above.

More pictures coming soon!