It is an old and very holy city set on the banks of a small lake which is said by Hindus to have formed from a lotus flower dropped by Lord Brahma. Where the flower's three petals fell, three small lakes formed and the largest on these is the Lake of Pushkar.
The lake is surrounded by ghats, which are really steps leading down to the lake. There are 52 of these in all - apparently each maharaja of Rajathan had one built. The town also has 500 temples around it.
The tranquility of Pushkar is a wonderful thing and so too is the religious life that the town hums with. We are right now staying in a guest house which is in an old temple compound and a temple to Shiva is some 15 metres from our door.
The most fascinating thing we did today was actually on the way to Pushkar. Our driver stopped at a tiny roadside temple to pray and invited us to come with him. We all bowed before the image of Hanuman (monkey god) and then sat down in front of the temple's guru, a man with a gold horseshoe painted on his forehead and a searching, observant expression. We were given a handful of Indian temple sweets each - a sort of round, white crunchy thing and we touched them to our foreheads and then chewed on them while our driver consulted the serene-faced holy man although we have no idea what about.
While this happened two young priests and a wonderful storybook old man smiled at us and invited us to take photos and gave us tiny cups of tea. They also offered us ganga, which we politely declined! Our driver bowed before the guru on hands and knees and then we set off with waves and smiles to those gathered, as intrigued by the strange white ladies as we were by them.
This was a fitting preface to a holy town and now, here we are in the most beautiful place I've yet been to in India.
Pushkar is quiet and peaceful - a real small town. It revolves around the holy lake and evidence of devout Hinduism is everywhere; large temples, small shrines, red and orange dressed holy men in the streets.
It's typical here for both tourists and Indians to make a 'Pushkar Puja'. This involves making an offering to the lake with a Brahman priest helping you through the steps (and then taking your money). To make a Pushkar Puja you will require: one bowl containing rose petals, spices and rice; one Brahmin; a ghat on a holy river; some cold hard cash.
In the ritual you sit beside the priest and he makes you repeat a prayer in Hindi. Then he prays for your family. All the while he is telling you to 'take a handful of rose petals, dunk in the water, touch the bowl to your head three times etc etc'. My priest told me he would pray that I found a good husband! The (to me) sneaky part about this whole thing is that after asking about your family the priest asks how much you want to pledge for their long life and health etc. A small amount is not taken kindly!!!! We were at a place with very official looking collection booth covered with information about local charities it supports and I probably gave to much. But I want to think it goes to a good cause. Here, as everywhere we've been so far, you notice how poor people are.
I think I'm finding the small children who follow you, touching their mouths and saying 'chapatti, chapatti' harder rather than easier to accept the longer I'm here. I'm suddenly aware of how privilaged are the circumstances of my birth! And how hopelessly poor the circumstances of others.
There are many beautiful buildings here and lovely shops and we've just been relaxing and enjoying the way life goes by in this place. As wrll as the people there are families of monkeys with the sweetest little babies clinging to their mother's chests, many cows, dogs, priests, brides, pilgrims, shopkeepers, tourists and all the rest.
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