Waking up in the middle of the night, I realize the party music has stopped so I pull out my earplugs. A short while later, dogs start barking and howling and their noise continues intermittently.

At 6:15am a large crowd arrives at the hotel to set up for a wedding. They talk to each other as they work away.

We meet up with Jasmine and the three of us head into Pushkar. We pass the a wall of a building which has a long bench where a large number of turbaned old men with long white beards are always sitting. One of them is reading a newspaper. Apparently they are holy men. 

We go to the Funky Monkey Cafe for breakfast.  I have a veggie and cheese omelette with a chai tea (about $2.00 CAD), John and Jasmine had pancakes, coffee and a lassi each (also $2.00). Really good.

It’s great just sitting and watching people and cows. Loud, carnival like music is heard in the distance, and it gets closer and closer. Then a big fancy cart equipped with blaring loudspeakers and a band pass us followed by six ornately dressed men on decorated white horses, a crowd of people and an old US army jeep filled with six brides in red. It is a community wedding. Both the brides and grooms are numbered from 1-6. One of the brides looks especially nervous. The brides are followed by what seems like an endless crowd of women in bright saris and dancing men. They continue to parade through the town.

Brahma Temple and the Holy Lake

We make our way through the busy, marketed streets to the Brahma Temple. Apparently its hit or miss whether non-Hindus are allowed in the temple. After shedding my shoes I am happy not to be turned away at the door when I enter with Jasmine. Before climbing up the steps to the temple we are given two flowers, one to leave inside the temple and the other to toss into the lake after leaving the temple. 

Photography is absolutely prohibited inside. 
John goes in after us with no problem. There is nothing special about the temple visually but a crowd of devotees gathers around the alter to leave various types of offerings. 

One thing to watch for in Pushkar are people pretending to be holy men who want to bless you or give you flower petals which leads to requests for money. By adamantly saying no, we manage to escape them.

Later in the day we talk to Paul who had been set upon by the ‘holy men’ at one of the ghats and been blessed with a paint mark on his forehead, participated in chanting and had a thread tied on his wrist. At the end he was asked to provide money for three meals at a price of over 2,000 rupees per meal. Paul refused but gave 1,000 rupees which he felt was worth the time spent for the whole blessing experience.

Jasmine and I shopped for sparkly bangles, earrings and ankle bracelets for my sari. I am now ready to wear it out.

Avoiding the holy men, we take off our shoes and walk around the ghats of the holy lake. No shoes are allowed within 20 feet of the lake but cows and dogs are so we still have to step around poop and pee. People are bathing in the water pools at the ghats. 

We stop at Jaipur Ghat for refreshments and the view at the Sun Set Cafe. We are besieged by giggling teenage girls wanting selfies with me and some with Jasmine and John.  

Nearby garbage cans are designed to tilt. John believes that it’s so the cows can easily get their heads inside to look for snacks without knocking them over. A cow comes by and proves John’s theory to be correct.

Garima sends us a WhatsApp text to let us know that the wedding party is dancing at the hotel. By the time we get back, the wedding party has moved on so after thoroughly washing my feet, I relax during the hottest part of the afternoon.

Savitri Temple and A Family Dinner

Reconvening at 4:30pm we head out in tuk tuks to the base of a high hill  topped by the Savitri Temple. We are told there are a thousand steps but we don’t count. Previously the top could be accessed by a cable car. But the cable car is not working and by the looks of it won’t be working soon. Three quarters of the way up I poop out and sit on the steps discussing life and it’s complexities with Garima while everyone else heads to the top. I try to not look embarrassed as small children and grandmothers pass me while heading upwards.

A number of local people stop and take pictures of me and chat with us. I find people here so incredibly friendly.

At the top John finds packs of rather aggressive langur monkeys, a small temple and a fantastic view of Pushkar town and lake far below. 

Dinner was a home made affair at a local family’s house. This is one of our best meals yet; vegetarian and so light. I especially enjoyed the Lentil Pakora appetizer with it’s coriander, mint chutney. Yum.

After dinner our hostess shows us her son and her daughter’s wedding albums. Good prep for what’s to come.

Wedding Time

Today we’ve seen so many weddings going on…at least ten. It’s nearing the end of wedding season which is November to March. Indian weddings go on for days. We have seen many grooms on ornately dressed white horses, painted and lavishly dressed elephants, a candelabra procession through the street at night, colourfully dressed bands and the tuneless carnival type music carts are always playing somewhere in the city.

Almost all the hotels are decorated and covered in lights…ours included, for weddings that are occurring on the premises. We have a quick look at the outdoor wedding staging at our hotel before we head to our rooms. As we are leaving, some of the wedding family members come out for pictures with us. We promise to return after we clean ourselves up.

The girls get all dolled up and Garima gets me into my new sari. Garima had spoken to one of the aunties in the wedding party who had invited us to watch. Servers immediately approach us with food and drinks as we enter the party area, a large lawn completely surrounded by drapes with a large stage complete with a fancy lighting system. We accept some small nibbles despite being stuffed from supper. They are so hospitable.

People take turns performing rehearsed dance numbers on stage to popular Indian music. In my experience there are only two volume settings for Indian music, off and maximum. We give our congratulations to the bride and groom. Immediately they call the professional photographer over to get some group pictures.

The bride is young and beautiful. She wears an ice blue gown with sparkling bead work that looks like shimmering icicles. The groom is older and seems very serious.

I’m so glad to have this experience.

Costs