Greetings, loyal readers. Your intrepid adventurers have now safely arrived in Jodphur, having stopped over at Pushkar en route. Let me fill you in on the details…

10th Jan, 2016

We were really sad to leave Royal Heritage, but we set off at the decidedly decadent start time of 1000 for the longish drive to Pushkar to the west. We arrived without incident at the hotel, which used to be called the Pratap Palace, but is now called the Gateway Inn Taj at about lunch and I ventured a swim while Val took to the gym. The water was, well, refreshing, but warmer than the pool in Agra (which rated with North Sea standards) and I was at least getting some exercise (minding my hernia, of course). The hotel is in the middle of no where, but was very functional and so quiet that Val and I found ourselves whispering. Having shown you what our accommodation has been like so far, I suppose you are desperate to know what this one was like, so here you go.

Monu picked us up again at 3.00pm and we set off for town. Pushkar is famous as the place where Lord Brahma, the Creator, dropped his lotus flower (pushpa) from his hand (kar) to earth to kill a dragon. At the three spots where the petals fell, water magically appeared in the midst of the desert and at the largest of these he convened a meeting of the entire Hindu pantheon (some 900,000). It is very sacred as the only shrine in India to Brahma.

So Val and I duly set off to have a look with the words of Monu in our ears – do not listen to anyone who offers to help you or asks for donations! He himself could not take us as he is a driver and is therefore not allowed to guide and we did not want to start a demarcation dispute. We found ourselves at the temple and were told to take off our shoes and leave my camera bag behind. And Deepak offered to show us the ropes, no charge, as he was a (fairly old) Brahmin student. He was actually quite useful as there was quite a lot to deal with – flowers, petals, the right way to bow, which bell to ring, the right way around the temple, etc, etc. Once you have done that, it is back to retrieve your shoes and camera (small fee) and then we were off with Deepak to the lake.

It was then off with shoes again, we each got handed a tray with (I think) a coconut, more petals, salt and rice and we walked down to the lake, which was when we were descended on by two Brahmin priests, who took us, individually through a mantra for peace, long life, etc, etc. That was all ok, we then got our puja (?) or daubing on our forehead and then we chucked the petals in the lake and had a thread tied round our wrist. It was then the demands for a donation were rather forcefully made – no problem, but the equivalent of £50 each was, to put it mildly, a bit steep. We negotiated a considerably lower, but quite a generous amount and then left, feeling slightly mugged. The Monty Python Travel Agent sketch of ‘giving half your holiday money to a licensed Brahmin’ sprung to mind.

The lake is beautiful and has some 500 temples around it. The street scene is busy as ever with nice shops and quite a lot of westerners who look they have been here seeking enlightenment for some time. Some of them could well have been seeking cannabis, which is legal here and we carefully avoided a bhang lassi which can be decidedly mind-altering!

Pushkar is also famous in November for a massive Camel Festival. I liked the comment I read recently by someone wondering if it was like Glastonbury Festival where you have a headline camel on the main stage! There are indeed prizes for the best camel, goat, horse, cow, fruit and vegetables as well as races and a lot of buying and selling of some 25,000 camels. Imagine the West of England country show – but with camels…

A few photos…

Off to Jodhpur tomorrow.