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Pushkar was a holy town. Whenever I think of holy town in India I think of Varanasi and its craziness yet peaceful nature. In a way Pushkar resembles that but in a much much smaller scale.
I ended up in the Moonlight hotel recommended by Raj in Udaipur and true enough a rare and honest guesthouse owner. Offering rate was 250 rupee a night for the cheapest room which was really good and went up as the room gets better. I took the cheapest of course.
Two guys I met in Pushkar …. Andres and Edward. Andres was from Columbia and Edward was from Germany. These two was the one I hang out the most exchanging stories on the rooftop while smoking cigs.
I ended up reciting the story of Brahma quite a few times to whomever I met. Most of them do not know the story Brahma but ended up in Pushkar based on lonely planet recommendation. It’s a holy city …. Hence travellers goes there without knowing the story.
Pushkar was a nice town …. A small lake in the centre that could be walk around in 20 minutes was the scared lake that Brahma created. Devoted Hindu comes here to take a bath just like in Varanasi but less intense. The single street around the lake was plied with tourist shops selling all kinds of food and handicraft.
I ended up staying three night in Pushkar despite not having much to do here. Everyday was sort of a same routine …. Walk around and head back for some sleep and read comics. The last full day I decided I must see the Brahma temple … it’s was the reason I came anyway.
I was so lazy in Pushkar that at one point I could not have been bothered if I even miss going to that temple. Thinking back maybe it was the force of Shiva at work preventing me from developing deep interest in visiting the temple.
Dumping everything in the hotel including shoes I head out with Edward to the temple …. Line was long but ever moving and still not as crowded as the Kali temple in Kolkata. Not too bad I thought and nearing the start point of the steps a flower vendor called out to us ….
Hello Hello ….. Eh Hello …
Flower for Brahma ….
No thanks ….
No respect Brahma …..
By now I know how to give back a curse when I see fit ….
You no respect Brahma I retorted back ….
Meekly he said no …. I respect Brahma, but he did not try to force sell his flower again.
In we went and round the inner circle following the flow of Hindu tourist. The outside says no camera is allowed but once inside, it was the local Indian tourist that pops out the camera phones and snapped away. I smiled as I know enough about Hindu religion now that respect meaning is not the same as the western culture assume. Respect is doing the devoted worship and keeping their god chant in mind always …. The story had nothing about cameras as 4000 years ago there was no such things.
Me and Edward sat inside the temple for a while in a quiet corner while I relate all the stories I know about Brahma and the Hindu Culture …. He was very surprise but was very grateful for the knowledge that he now had a deeper understanding of Pushkar.
Pushkar was a nice rest but it was time to move on to Jaipur …
This time I took the tourist bus which was 200 rupee but jam packed with people and never on time …. The boy at the travel agency which I asked when is my bus coming after an hour kept saying 15 minute later …. Or with the calming sit down hand sign and mouthing wait wait. While his friends around all watch the internet and some sort of youtube channel which I suspect contain as much nudity they could find I was ignored to wonder if I was even going to get out of Pushkar …. I got angry … gave him my piece of mind about the absurdness of what was going on, only to get the standard reply ….
*GRIN* This is India …
I ended up in the Moonlight hotel recommended by Raj in Udaipur and true enough a rare and honest guesthouse owner. Offering rate was 250 rupee a night for the cheapest room which was really good and went up as the room gets better. I took the cheapest of course.
Two guys I met in Pushkar …. Andres and Edward. Andres was from Columbia and Edward was from Germany. These two was the one I hang out the most exchanging stories on the rooftop while smoking cigs.
I ended up reciting the story of Brahma quite a few times to whomever I met. Most of them do not know the story Brahma but ended up in Pushkar based on lonely planet recommendation. It’s a holy city …. Hence travellers goes there without knowing the story.
Pushkar was a nice town …. A small lake in the centre that could be walk around in 20 minutes was the scared lake that Brahma created. Devoted Hindu comes here to take a bath just like in Varanasi but less intense. The single street around the lake was plied with tourist shops selling all kinds of food and handicraft.
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| Holy City of Pushkar - India |
I was so lazy in Pushkar that at one point I could not have been bothered if I even miss going to that temple. Thinking back maybe it was the force of Shiva at work preventing me from developing deep interest in visiting the temple.
Dumping everything in the hotel including shoes I head out with Edward to the temple …. Line was long but ever moving and still not as crowded as the Kali temple in Kolkata. Not too bad I thought and nearing the start point of the steps a flower vendor called out to us ….
Hello Hello ….. Eh Hello …
Flower for Brahma ….
No thanks ….
No respect Brahma …..
By now I know how to give back a curse when I see fit ….
You no respect Brahma I retorted back ….
Meekly he said no …. I respect Brahma, but he did not try to force sell his flower again.
In we went and round the inner circle following the flow of Hindu tourist. The outside says no camera is allowed but once inside, it was the local Indian tourist that pops out the camera phones and snapped away. I smiled as I know enough about Hindu religion now that respect meaning is not the same as the western culture assume. Respect is doing the devoted worship and keeping their god chant in mind always …. The story had nothing about cameras as 4000 years ago there was no such things.
Me and Edward sat inside the temple for a while in a quiet corner while I relate all the stories I know about Brahma and the Hindu Culture …. He was very surprise but was very grateful for the knowledge that he now had a deeper understanding of Pushkar.
Pushkar was a nice rest but it was time to move on to Jaipur …
This time I took the tourist bus which was 200 rupee but jam packed with people and never on time …. The boy at the travel agency which I asked when is my bus coming after an hour kept saying 15 minute later …. Or with the calming sit down hand sign and mouthing wait wait. While his friends around all watch the internet and some sort of youtube channel which I suspect contain as much nudity they could find I was ignored to wonder if I was even going to get out of Pushkar …. I got angry … gave him my piece of mind about the absurdness of what was going on, only to get the standard reply ….
*GRIN* This is India …
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