BootsnAll Travel Network



Pushkar – The Holy City


April 20-21, 2007

After our early getaway from Jodhpur, we made good time to Pushkar which is well-known for its famous camel fair. Each October, the town is inundated with thousands of buyers and sellers of over 50,000 camels causing this quiet town of 15,000 to explode with excitement and activity. It has also become a bit of a tourist attraction and we had mixed feelings about having missed it. In the end, though, like most other places we had been, we were glad to be able to see the quieter side of Pushkar on our own terms without having to deal with throngs of people – especially tourists (as opposed to seasoned “travelers” like us). After we settled into our charming hotel on the outskirts of town, Claude decided he needed to stretch his legs and decided to climb up to Gayatri’s temple which sat atop a nearby cliff overlooking Pushkar. The kids had no interest in hiking in the intense heat so I stayed behind with them and we did lessons until they were climbing the walls. Finally, we decided to take a break and go explore the marketplace. This was one of the first times I had ventured forth into an Indian market with the kids without Claude by my side and the dynamic was very interesting. Without Claude’s intimidating male presence, everyone seemed to feel at ease approaching us and calling out as we passed. Children scampered along behind us and shyly asked for candy while women and teenage girls and boys called “Hi, Mommy!” and “Hi, Boy!” and “Hi, Girl!” as we passed. They seemed to be enthralled by the sight a single Western woman traveling alone with two children. Their gentle smiling faces lit up when we responded and called “Hello!” and “Namaste” back to them and some actually followed us for a while, asking questions in broken English as we wandered through the colourful marketplace admiring the beautiful fabrics, spices and exotic smelling food for sale. The kids were delighted by the many monkeys that scurried along the rooftops and hung around the market hoping for a handout from a sympathetic food vendor.

As we finally made our way back to our hotel, all of our new friends waved and called out to us from their doorways as we passed, making us feel like visiting dignitaries.

As home to the only Brahma temple in the world, Pushkar is considered to be one of the most important pilgrimage sites for people of the Hindu faith. When Claude returned from his hike, we decided to walk down to Pushkar Lake which is considered extremely holy by Hindus, many of whom travel hundreds of miles to be blessed and cleansed in its waters.

As we wandered down toward the lake we were approached by a local Brahma priest and asked if we would like to receive a blessing. We knew it would cost us, but were curious enough about the cultural experience to go ahead anyway. He led us down the steps of one the marble bathing ghats to the water’s edge where another priest took Claude aside to deliver his own blessing. Alexa and Simon watched in silent fascination as the priest said a prayer and asked me to dip my hands in the lake and recite a blessing in Sanskrit (it was eerily like saying wedding vows in a foreign language). I then received a tilak (rice and red coloured powder) on my forehead and a raki (a string bracelet, denoting a blessing). The priest then explained that all of my bad karma had been washed away replaced by good karma (a sort of Hindu baptism). He then gave me the opportunity to provide good karma to our loved ones at home by making a donation (surprise!). Between the two of us, Claude and I bought a few hundred rupees worth of good karma for all of you at home – hope you enjoyed it. As an added bonus, the fact that we were now wearing raki bracelets meant that we had already made a donation and no one from any of the fifty or more temples in Pushkar could harass us for another one – not that they didn’t try.


After enjoying a delicious meal while watching the sun set over Pushkar Lake we retired to our hotel for a good night’s sleep before heading back to Delhi. However, all through the night, I dreamt that I was in the middle of a raucous marketplace with people chattering away in Hindi all around me. I finally woke around 6AM to discover that the noises were coming from outside. I went to the window and peered out, only to discover that our hotel had been surrounded by about twenty vehicles ranging from full-sized buses to camel carts.

The many occupants of the vehicles had disembarked and were in various states of sleeping, stretching and socializing just below our window. I spied a group of men squatting in a circle in the field behind our hotel and exclaimed, “Are they doing what I think they’re doing?”

“Holy crap!” said Claude as he joined me at the window.

“That’s what I thought,” I responded as I closed the drapes. By the time we went up to the roof for breakfast, the field was full of about fifty people doing their business in full view of everyone, including those of us trying in vain to enjoy our breakfast. At least the women were afforded some privacy by their voluminous saris. Our waiter informed us that the sudden influx of people was due to a mass wedding of 73 couples that was taking place in Pushkar that day. Apparently, it’s common to have group weddings in order to allow poor couples and their families to pool their limited resources to pay for the lavish celebrations. We decided to walk through town to see the famous Brahma Temple before heading back to Delhi and were amazed at how crowded the streets were compared to the previous day.

The market was a moving kaleidoscope of colour as brides in brightly coloured saris and grooms dressed in full wedding regalia paraded up and down the streets in celebration with their wedding parties. At the Brahma Temple we had to leave our shoes outside (for a fee) before climbing the long flight of stairs to the main sanctuary where a white-robed woman played a nose flute as people solemnly lined up to pray, leave offerings and receive blessings.

Finally, it was time to leave the Brahma Temple and Pushkar and head back to Delhi where we would catch our flight to Paris the following day. Our tour of Rajasthan was complete.

To see more of our photos from India, visit our web album:

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