पुष्कर Pushkar Day 1

Over the Thanksgivning weekend we took a trip to the Pushkar Camel Fair. The city of Pushkar itself is considered a 'holy city' and a popular tourist destination all year round, but once a year it is also host to the camel fair.

At 4:00am on Thanksgiving morning our alarm went off and R and I both moaned our "who's stupid idea was this" groan and stumbled out of bed to shower and wake our sleeping children, who quite frankly, resemble something very, very, evil that early in the morning.

We showered, dressed and finished packing and groped our way to the embassy gate where 4 huge coaches waited to take us to the train station.

Once at the train station all five senses were accosted by the sites, sounds and especially smells of the bustling station. There was garbage everywhere and the smell of urine seemed to permeate the air still thick with the haze of the nightly burning of garbage and cow dung. How's that for your morning coffee. We loaded the train and settled in for the 8 hour train ride to Rajasthan.

A little about the train; I'm not sure I can adequately express the claustrophobic feelings of being surrounded by extreme filth, sufficeth to say, I used more hand-sanitizing gel and wipes on that train than I've ever used in my entire life.

Despite trying not to drink, there was a point at which I could no longer refrain from using the toilet. I was a little shocked when I looked into the toilet and saw the ground below. All excrement are simply flushed to the train tracks below. Watch out belooow!

I was a little scared to eat the food served on the train *("don't you know I've had diarheas since Easters"), but was pleasantly surprised. The kids didn't eat much however, but we were prepared with a suitcase full of "snacks". Big T likes Indian food the most out of all the kids and can survive quite well on chapatis and dal, thank goodness.

Once we arrived in Rajasthan we rode about another hour by bus to our resort, Pushkar Fort. We stayed in tents that consisted of two rooms, a sleeping area and a bathroom, complete with toilet, wrought iron sink and a fiberglass shower bottom to stand in and rinse off. We even had running water, but only cold, so we had to order buckets of hot water for bathing. Bucket-bathing wasn't as hard or awful as I imagined it would, but still, I ain't givin up my shower anytime soon.

As we arrived there was a group of performers out front dancing and playing the drums. We followed them in a precession to the archway that lead into the hotel grounds. At the archway we were meet with two young ladies frantically trying to put marigold lays (a sacred flower in India) around each and every person as they entered the gateway. There were also two men on either side holding huge baskets of flower pedals which they were throwing by the handfuls into the air to rain down on us as we entered (or pelt you in the eye depending upon where you were standing).

Once we arrived and put away our luggage we ate lunch. The food wasn't the best Indian food I've ever eaten, but despite the occasional grit of sand between your teeth, it was tasty and plentiful.

We had to pay extra for soda and water which was always interesting because it seemed to vary in price depending upon the day and server you asked. At first it was "free", then it was 50 rupees, then 100 rupees and on the last day it was back to 50 rupees, mmmm. . .

After lunch we boarded camel carts and headed for a site-see-ride to the fair and back to the hotel.

While riding on the carts we passed a gypsy camp. When they saw us coming, the children ran out to greet us with hands waving saying, "hallow, hallow". If they had clothes on, they were completely filthy, and many of the littlest wore nothing more than a shirt. Their skin seemed much darker due to the film of dirt that covered their entire bodies and their hair was matted from months of no washing. Although a sad site, that can't help but bring a lump to your throat, I couldn't get over the fact that they seemed completely oblivious to the dire circumstances they obviously lived in each and every day. They appeared to be happy, playful children, in many ways no different than my own.

They liked to follow our carts saying hello, touching us and begging for money or shampoo (I was really disappointed I didn't have any). But as I watched them, sometimes I noticed the begging looked both theatrical and mechanical at times. The smiling, waving, touching and trying to make conversation seemed to be sincere and what they persued the hardest, the begging, at times appeared like more of an after thought.

There were also men who followed us with hundreds of necklaces in tow, possibly the Fathers of the gypsy children. They were very, very persistent and knew from experience how to wear down even the most stubborn.

I bought a few necklaces for the kids and a few necklaces that I didn't need or want because the man selling them followed our cart for what felt like an eternity.

He started his bidding price at 200 rupees per necklace, he had 10. I immediately, used my handy-Hindi and told him I was not interested in his necklaces, which had turned many other vendors away up to this point, but it fell on deaf ears. He then began haggling as if I had fained objection at his exorbitant price. But the funny thing is, he didn't haggle with me, he started haggling with himself, as if his life depended on it, and maybe it did. He kept running and bargaining, 3 for 200rs, 5 for 200rs, 8 for 200rs. All my no's bounced off him as if he was a superhero deflecting bullets. Finally in desperation he said; "OK, OK, 10 pieces for 200 rupees" ($5). I had no use for them, nor did I even like them, but at that point I could not resist. Even Richard, who I would consider to be in the "stubborn" category, instinctively went for his wallet.

Whether it was the little voice screaming inside my head saying, "That's a killer deal" or the sincere, persistence of this man, I don't know, but in either case, I felt good about buying them, regardless of whether I needed them or not. At that point I didn't feel like I was being taken or cheated, as so many times I do. I handed off the money and when I saw the look of relief and smile on his face I couldn't help but smile myself. In hind-site I should have handed him back the necklaces as well, watching him haggle with himself behind our cart for a half mile was worth the 5 bucks.

During the ride we saw more camels than I have ever seen in one place before in my life, and we lived in Egypt! The Pushkar camel fair is truely a fair in every sense of the word. You could nickname it the Rajasthani state fair, complete with faris-wheel, cotton candy, food booths, camel races and vendors selling useless gadgets and trinkets. It reminded me of any other state fair I've ever been to, but with a definite 3rd-world charm.

We returned that evening, ate dinner and watched some performers do traditional dance and fire breathing, oooh! There was also a puppeteer who very much reminded me of the kings assistant in Cinderella who wore the monocle and mustache that swagged his face, sideburn to lip to sideburn. The kids loved the puppet show and so did I, its not every day you have the pleasure of watching a true puppet show.

We went to bed and I slept especially restless. Others say it is the princess and the pea syndrome. But honestly, sleeping on those cots was like sleeping on a slab of marble. I still have the back ache to prove it.

Enjoy the slide show

*Quote from Nacho Libre

To be continued. . .