Part Six - Pushkar

We specifically want to include Pushkar in our trip because by happy chance it’s the annual Pushkar Mela (or Camel Fair). It’s reputed to be the largest camel fair in the world and sounds like a must-see.

The Fair has been going for about 150 years and started out as a place for Rajasthanis to come together to trade livestock, mainly camels.

Over the years whilst the livestock element has maintained its importance, the fair has developed to include entertainment, competitions and a funfair.

Festivities last for five days and the liveliest days are the first few. We can’t make it until the end, as we’re at the wedding but we decide to go anyway and it’s absolutely brilliant!

Our hotel is Kothi Pushkar, it is right in the thick of things in the city centre and as the Fair is on, no cars are allowed into the old city; what this means for us it that we have to leave our taxi and hop onto the back of two mopeds - along with our three back-packs and a large box containing all our wedding clothes that we’ve decided to post back home.

We ride pillion for the last couple of miles! Crash helmets, what are they?! Thankfully we arrive alive skillfuly guided through the thronging streets by our expert chauffeurs!

Nick continues on to the local FedEx office, weaving in and out of pedestrians, cows and other scooters whilst balancing the large box precariously on his left leg.

The hotel opens off the main market thoroughfare. Our room is really traditional looking and although close to the street - it’s surprisingly quiet.

The courtyard is a green and serene place where we sit to have a coffee and watch an artist and a potter who are at work in their studios.

Pushkar has over 500 temples and is one of the oldest cities in India. 

It’s particularly famous for its sacred lake which is surrounded by numerous ghats and temples. The city is also home to the Brahma Temple, the only temple in India dedicated to the Hindu creator god.

As well as visitors to the camel fair, many pilgrims visit Pushkar throughout the year. While we’re visiting, an extra 500,000 pilgrims are expected to descend on the city in celebration of the full moon of the Kartika month - which is usually November. Boy is it busy!

We are advised to engage a guide to take us to the Fair and to the Lake and although we tend to prefer to be independent, we take this advice and we’re glad we did.

The Fair is big and covers a large area, it’s dusty and hot and we feel that had we tackled this one by ourselves we would have found it a bit overwhelming.

Our guide, Nandu, meets us at our hotel and in order to view the livestock we take an ornate camel-drawn carriage and head out into the desert which edges the city.

As the fair is drawing to an end the livestock trading is all over bar the shouting however there are still a good number of camels about.

Apparently the number of camels at the fair has dropped from around 20,000 to about 5,000 in recent years. This is largely due to mechanisation taking over the jobs the camels were used for on farms.

There are plenty of horses to see though, many of whom are magnificent, especially the stallions who are not for sale but are brought to the Fair by the respective studs to demonstrate their quality.

Whilst looking at the animals we are approached by a man carrying a basket, before we realise what’s happening, he whips the lid off and out pop two cobras! We’re encouraged to approach and have our photos taken… a bit unnerving especially when one of the cobras takes a dislike to Nandu and hisses and goes to strike at him - we move swiftly on!

Next encounter is with two chaps who run some kind of online TV channel, they are reporting from the Fair and want some sound bites from us - fame at last!

After visiting the livestock area, we head to what is essentially a piece of waste ground that hosts demonstrations and competitions… a bit like an English village fete only not! We’re a bit disappointed to have missed the Best Moustache competition.

… but Janette finds herself entered into the Ladies’ Musical Chairs at which she puts up a woeful show. She completely lets Team Webber down and is out the first time the music stops, the Indian ladies are brutally competitive!

We watch a game of something like British Bulldog which we don’t understand. Even after ten minutes or so of watching, we’re none the wiser of the rules.

We also watch a young girl tightrope walking while balancing pots on her head - really impressive.

It’s then on to the fairground where Janette makes the mistake of going on one of the big wheels (there are four!).

The carriages don’t face forwards like the ones at home, instead they face sideways and can accommodate four people, two on each side. There is a roof but no safety bars to hold us in. 

Janette hates heights and the only way she gets through this ordeal is to have her eyes closed at all times which the two children we share a carriage with think is hilarious!

Next stop the hoopla where someone tries to pickpocket Nick but gets caught in the act which leads to a bit of upset!

We really enjoy the fair, we’d heard it would be very touristy but it wasn’t. Really we felt that it was a great insight into a different and very interesting side of Indian life.

After lunch we find ourselves in an Aladdin’s Den of textiles. This place is a co-operative which sells the work of women from desert tribes and pays them a fair share of the profit.

It is a hard-sell in that they sit us down and proceed to unpack many different items to display to us. We do feel a bit railroaded but it is done with such friendliness and good humour and the handiwork is of such a high standard that we allow ourselves to be talked into buying a really lovely and very sparkly wall hanging which, when we are back in cold and grey Blighty, will remind us of the vivid colours and glitz that so epitomise India.

We then get onto a bit of a roll and visit a few jewellers, Nick gets a silver bangle and Janette tries on the biggest pair of earrings she’s ever seen!

Enough frivolity, we now visit Pushkar Lake and the temples and ghats that surround it. What a place this is!

There are many pilgrims bathing in the lake, the waters of which Hindus  believe will cleanse the mind, body, and soul, washing away impurities and sins accumulated over lifetimes. We’re quite surprised in this relatively conservative country, to see lots of women bathing topless, presumably this has some spiritual significance.

Nandu fetches us both a plate containing flower petals, rice, sugar, a red powder, a red and orange thread and a whole coconut. We remove our shoes and approach one of the fifty two ghats which surround the lake, we are going to make Puja.

A priest comes over and says prayers that we repeat after him, he then wets the red powder and makes a dot on our foreheads; we then approach the lake in turn, are given a marigold flower to hold and say more prayers for our families; throw everything bar the marigold, the coconut, the red thread and the plate itself into the lake; we throw the marigold over our shoulder and give the priest the coconut to burn.

The priest then ties the threads around our wrists and takes us to the office to make a donation to charity where handily they accept cash in any currency, as well as all types of cards!

We remain barefoot and walk all the way around the lake visiting the various ghats and temples as the sun sets, it’s really atmospheric.

The big highlight is the Fire Ceremony, it’s spectacular. There are three priests each holding huge candelabra-type things while chanting takes place. How their arms are strong enough to hold these things up for as long as they do is a feat in itself.

Next the priests splash the crowd with holy water from the lake…

and finally a man moves amongst the people with a fire bowl, they pass their hands over the flame and waft the smoke towards them which Hindus believe purifies them.

We wander wearily back to the hotel through the buzzing market, too exhausted even to eat dinner but what an amazing day!

Next day we leave for Bikaner……