Pushkar

I head to the station for my train to Pushkar. I get chatting to the only other white person on the platform, Mario from Spain, who’s also travelling alone. He works for the police in the Spanish embassy in Bilbao, so I figured he’d be a good person to spend the day with the exploring the town and hopefully stop me being hassled so much (I later discover this makes not one jot of a difference). 

We meet up after checking into our hotels and wander around the town, which is tiny compared to everywhere else I’ve been so far. However, its no less busy as the streets are jam packed full of people. This is largely due to it being the annual Camel Fair (the worlds largest camel fair in fact). Normally the town’s population is around 30,000, but during the Camel Fair over 500,000 people descend on the city to buy/sell camels and join in the festivities. When I was on the tour with the two girls in Jaipur we used an app to figure out how many camels we were worth. I’m apparently worth 55 camels, so I’d say the odds of me being abducted and sold are quite high over the next two days.

Next we jump on the cable car to Savitri Mata, a temple on the hill on the outskirts of town. The top is riddled with monkeys, who scout the tourists looking for food. They also wade through the rubbish looking for scraps. The waste problem here in India is terrible, it’s literally everywhere. Recycling does not exist, so it’s pretty sad to see such a beautiful location and the cute little monkeys sitting atop mountains of plastic bottles.

Once the sun sets, we make our way back to our respective hotels and agree to meet up again when we coincide in Jodphur. That evening I have a thali dinner in my hotel. It comes with a lentil curry, a butter paneer curry (which is delicious), rice and two types of breads. All for £2.50! What it doesn’t come with, however, is beer. Pushkar is a dry town, as well as being completely vegetarian. How will I cope?!

The next morning I have breakfast at Honey Dew cafe, run by a lovely Indian family. I order the banana and honey pancake, which is delicious, as well as my first proper coffee which excites me greatly. Good coffee has been hard to find. I get chatting to a woman from England and a guy from Denmark (who spends 6 months of the year living in Rajasthan). They meet in this cafe every morning for the good coffee, food, and the people watching. They’re both total hippies, as are the majority of tourists here, given the town is one of the most spiritual places in India. 

That morning I do a walking tour with guide, Manesh. I’m joined by an older couple from Switzerland and an American guy from Atlanta, Georgia. Over the next 4 hours we’re taken on a spiritual tour of Pushkar. I have to admit, I often find learning about these things boring after a while, but he was such a good guide, and the culture here is so fascinating, I listened to every word. 

Feel free to skip this next section if you’re not interested in the history of Pushkar! But I’m writing it down so I don’t forget! Basically there are three main gods in Hinduism - Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. Brahma is known as the god of creation, and Pushkar is said to be the beginning of the universe. The story goes that Brahma dropped a lotus flower, which landed in Pushkar. Water then sprang from the ground, forming the sacred lake. Locals believe bathing in the lake is purifying, hence why there’s so many half naked people washing their dirty pits in there.

The lake is also where they perform many rituals for prosperity, health and happiness. And, of course, there is a very famous scam surrounding this in Pushkar, which luckily I’d read about prior to arriving! Tourists are offered flowers to throw in the lake. If you follow them down to perform the ritual, they then aggressively force you to give them $100. The American guy had already fallen for it earlier that day, go figure! We perform the proper ritual with our guide, who is a Brahma priest. At the end we’re given a bracelet, which is known as the “pushkar passport”. You show this to the scam artists at the lake and they leave you alone!

We visit Brahma temple, which is the only temple of worship in the whole of India for Brahma, which is unusual as the other gods have thousands. This is because his wife put a curse on him after he cheated on her and married his second wife, all because his first wife arrived late to a ritual. I totally get it. Nothing annoys me more than tardiness. 

Similar to other towns I’ve visited so far, there are cows and dogs everywhere here. Manesh tells us that each cow actually belongs to someone. They’re let out first thing in the morning and are free to roam around the town. They find their way back home in the evening. It’s customary for local people to feed both the cows and dogs chapatis. They will always leave two chapatis on the plate after eating, which are specifically for the animals. 

After the tour I head for an Ayurvedic massage. Basically a normal massage, but they also interpret messages from your body. I learn that I need to control my emotions more, to learn to say no, to slow down, to speak about my feelings more and to eat more dates (but only in the winter). Strange because the only message I’m getting from body is “bitch, why haven’t you given me beer in two days”.

That evening I head to the lake for sunset and watch the fire festival ritual they perform on the lake every night. I’m handed a flyer by a young guy who says there’s live music at a hostel in town later and to swing by. I promise him I will. 


I haven’t had lunch, so I’m starving at this point. On the recommendation of Manesh, I head to Sanjay rooftop restaurant and order malai kofta and garlic naan. It’s spicy and delicious.

As a woman of my word, I head to the hostel for some live music. The guy from earlier (who it turns out is a gypsy) is waiting outside and seems happy to see me. I follow him to the courtyard inside and there is neither music nor any other human soul. He assures me that more people are coming. I’m dying for the loo at this point after tanking a litre of water at dinner. I set one foot in the toilet and its rancid, so instead I sit cross-legged and uncomfortable for about 20 minutes will I’m taught how to play the bongos! As soon as I feel like it’s acceptable, I claim I have a 6am pick up and swiftly exit.

I have to say, Pushkar has been my favourite place so far in India. I’d go as far as to say it was actually quite peaceful!