But you know when some days don't go quite to plan? Well today was one of them. It started off by us being the only ones down to breakfast, in fact we have a sneaky feeling that, other than the staff, we are the only ones here in the hotel. Not having actually seen any other guests.
We did see lots more sacred cows, who curl up and go fast asleep in the middle of the road. Everyone just has to drive around them!
Judging by the amount of dogs snoozing in the shade I think they too might be a sacred animal. But what puzzles me is why are there pigs in Pushkar? Pushkar is a sacred town, totally vegetarian and alcohol free, so what are all the pigs for? I have never heard of pig milk...
So, Pushkar, a sacred place,
it's just a pity that the sign didn't continue to say 'and don't treat every westerner as a cash-cow and try to fleece and swindle them to an inch of their life'. I did warn you that it had been one of those days. Pushkar has the only temple dedicated to Lord Brahma and is therefore a prolific religious centre with all the attendant hockey pocky which goes with it.
So if you find yourself in Pushkar one of these days, listen to your driver when he tells you not to accept any flowers ( see picture...just so you are quite clear) from anyone
In fact you can miss the temple out too, it's quite underwhelming and there are plenty of others which you can see with out all the attendant hassle. If you have perchance accepted the flowers ( and then paid a 'donation' to the guys who looks after your shoes and provide the locker for your camera whilst you take the two minutes to walk through the temple) don't then get sucked in to going down and throwing them into the sacred lake. Believe me - just don't, or if you do but don't want the 'blessing' get ready for some serious mind games.
The middle photograph is the blessing plate: roses, rice, red and yellow dye and a bit of coloured string which eventually gets tied around your wrist. They then give you a coconut topped with flowers and the threads to hold whilst they chant and you follow, then chuck holy (aka lake water) water over yourself before going down to the waters edge and flinging the whole lot into the lake, not the plate mind, they need that back.
However, if you do end up with a blessing then when they finish DON'T let them further mess with your mind even more and let them empty your coffers. I don't care that the people of Birmingham are really generous and have provided all this ( cue general sweep of the arm)...I really don't.
What could have been a beautiful moment was totally spoiled by their greed and then to cap it all some bugger nicked our lunch/tipping kitty.
Holy coconuts my a**e!
Just don't come back and say I didn't warn you!
But we were determined that one experience should not spoil our trip ( after all I do have form in this area) and we quickly regained our equilibrium and can now giggle about it whilst swigging our G&Ts. Yes we found some tonic and indulged in alcohol in the safety of our hotel room. That'll show them!
As with any religious site hawkers and traders set up stalls and encourage you to further part with your money. Still it all looked very pretty and we spend an hour or so wandering around the bazaars.
The small clay pots are the origional disposable cup, no washing up required as they are smashed and recycled after use.
And just look at those iron shallow cauldrons,
pity I can't squeeze a couple in my bags as I think they would make great fire pits for the garden ( Alison and Tom take note!!)
We also have serious sari envy these days, the women go around in groups like flocks of brightly coloured exotic birds.
Brightly coloured shoes are very tempting,
bangles, beads and traditional Rajesthan puppets too.
This is the colour found on those blessed plates...
In and out of shops which look tiny from the front and then open up like a Alladin's cave. We found one stacked full of old and new textiles, so we spent a happy half hour routing through the there.
No comments:
Post a Comment