The Pushkar Camel Fair!

OK - now my photos start to shine!!

It just so happens that the famous Pushkar Camel Fair is this week.   It purposely coincides with the lunar calandar in November and is one of the largest holy pilgrimages in India.  Over 200,000 people make a pilgrimage here to bathe in the ghats (ghats are stairs descending into the water to bathe) of Pushkar lake.  This is where Ghandi's ashes were put afloat.  As a rare occurance, they turn it into a huge Camel and horse trade and a three-week long festival that culminates with the full moon.  

And, so I came here for a week to experience this insanity.

It was a very interesting experience.  Pushkar is a beautiful village built around an oasis that sits in the middle of the desert.

  If it weren't so dirty, it would actually be a magnificently romantic town.  But, it is dirty.  Beyond dirty.  Super-frickin-dirty.  Especially with 200,000 Indian villlagers and gypsies descending upon the town.

Apparently villagers come here to buy and sell their camels.  Serious bargaining occurs during the week.  And proud new owners parade their camels around the grounds.  Sometimes you can even ride them for an hour for 100 rupies ($2.25).  All the children want to take photos and collect money from westerners.  THAT was annoying.  But, I befriended a few gypsies and drank chai with them every day.

My hotel was on the Pushkar lake - just 15 feet above the ghats.  And, every morning was an amazing experience.

  The city started to 'buzz' around 3:30 - 4:00 a.m.  Yes A.M.  First dozens of people came to bathe in the water, then hundreds and by the time the sun rose, there were thousands.  It was absolutely a site to see.  It sounded like Time Square a few hours before midnight on New Years.  Watching the men  and women bathe was very interesting.

The strangest part of my trip (so far) occured here in Pushkar!  I was walking through town around 11pm with 3 friends one night.  People often stare at us and even stop in their tracks to look at us as if we are aliens.  They do this because they have NEVER seen a white person before!  Yes NEVER.  And, on this night it got out of hand.

  A few young boys started following us in awe.  And, that made it "ok" for others to do so as well.  The crowd following us grew and grew until at one point we couldn't walk.  There were about 80 people surrounding us - just looking.  They were young villagers who came to Pushkar from the desert and had never seen white people before.  I felt like Michael Jackson or Princess Diana being surrounded like that.  We had to duck into a chai shop to wait it out and hide from them.  But, that didn't work too well.  People waited outside.  It was a very bizarre, uncomfortable and awkward feeling.  And, yet it was thrilling at the same time.

Pushkar was amazing.  And I took a gazillion photos.  I only put a few up.  Enjoy!