Exploring Pushkar - Day 1 #PushkarDiaries

The Cat, The Bath and The Food 

 Once inside our place of stay, we settled ourselves a little by relaxing our not-at-all tired bodies. A new place means you are looking for new things, and that implies tiredness is at its lowest. The sun was pretty warm anyway. We paid our rent in advance as per their policy (900 Rs/night for 3 people, not bad!!) and started with Dart games, paranthas and tea. Some moments later, I got a chance to meet this beautiful feline who was quite a badass in terms of attitude when we wished to play with her, but transformed to a little meeky squeeky cat  when she found us having food. It felt like she was always hungry. She could sniff food from anywhere and came calling with her meow meow, conveying modestly that she wants a piece of it.

She was a gem, and pricked my thighs with her sharp claws!!
 The chess board at Sukha's is quite huge and fun to play on. On the verge of defeating Ganesh, who knew nothing about the game, Rajat took over from him and within sometime I found myself in trouble. Seconds later, I was given a Check Mate. My misery didn't end there. Again, Rajat challenged me to a game of dart with a condition that the looser will end up bathing with COLD WATER. Wait, what? Thanks to some haphazard throws, I lost this challenge too and as per the condition, I proceeded for a bath with COLD WATER in this season. THIS COLD SEASON! Even the thought of it was making me shiver.

 The attached bathrooms have no roofs which seemed a pretty uncomfortable at first. But the sky gave me enough cover to think about that. I never experienced bathing in the open before, except swimming pools and river dips. The water was dead cold and since there was not enough pressure to in pipes to carry water to the shower, it meant that I had to bath sitting below the tap. Which I did. Believe me, it was the best bath I had till date. Cold, shiver inducing but too exciting. The sun shone its brightest that time which meant full support of its warmth on my body. After a few hiccups and jittery moments, it felt so gooooood that I didnt felt like coming out at all. Such was the experience. I was so happy to have lost that Dart Game Challenge!!

Ganesh stealing Amla from a field earlier in the day  

The Pushkar Lake 

At about 3 PM, we finally stepped out to discover what Pushkar is all about. Walking and talking, surfing the market full of people, cows, dogs, pigs (suar k bachhooo), temple rings, shopkeepers, smell of food and everything. Our destination was of course the famous Pushkar Lake. Its believed to be some sort of religious place, its water offering purity to the people who take a dip in it. I believe people think of themselves as biscuits and the lake as tea, because they only dip themselves to make hell out of the tea, and of course kill the flavor.

Forgot the name of this instrument as well as the young musician
 The lake covers a good area and looking around will make one feel close to that noisy Ganga ghats of Benaras or Haridwar. Beware of the worship men (Pandit), they are the biggest dacoits of the century. Their actions resemble much like Liam Neeson's lines from Taken - I will look for you, I will find you and I will make you worship (money is god) Fortunately, none bothered us. He was lucky, he could have committed suicide because of the questions we might have had put. As the tradition goes, one has to take off shoes in certain areas, for which we were prompted by some men. We questioned them as to why, and as usual, no answer was available with them. Hence, they picked up a fight with us, pushed Ganji, abused (ironically they called it pure or pavitra land at our face) and went away. So much for questioning. Blind religion, blind followers (Proved)

Check out the GUY WHO SEARCHED DEAD BONES FOR STONES and GEMS here

Sun almost gone at the Pushkar lake
    The lake is in poor condition for which i tweeted too, right from there. Its a dumping ground for the ever increasing population dumping remains of the dead, polythene bags, plastic bottles, rotting flowers, Here is a Video of the whole sight, or what should i say, whole plight of the so called Pavitra Sthal (Pure Spot)




 Nirvana Cafe 

 After a good photography and videography session with pigeons, ducks, birds, watching the sun set close to the hills, enjoying a music session with tajasthani instruments, we left the lake for the marketplace. I really loved to eat Daal k Pakode (addictive) and Daal Bhaati Choorma (though quite sugary in nature) Sanna had already told me about this cafe called Nirvana, and we decided to give it a try. The place is on a roof's top giving you a good central view of the lake, hills and whole Pushkar. Its quite trippy because of its neon shades, and the best part is when you open the menu, you find a collage of your favorite Kurt Cobain 

That's what we call Kurt-See (Courtesy)
 We tried everything - Lasagne, Falafel, Pitas and a Soup - and believe me, the food is a delight. The owner is really helpful and himself runs around with order along with his staff. What more, 3 of us had our stomach's stuffed in just Rs 550. I can stay whole day and eat. We purchased a few lanterns which we flew at the cafe and left feeling quire happy with what we ate. Delicious!!

This place is trippy, no doubt about that
 The Christmas Moon

 A bon fire session was already going on while we entered our place of stay. It was a cold dark Christmas night with moon at its fullest. The same kind of moon will be seen again in 2032 on a XMas night. Who knows I will be alive till then, but the moment was quite capturing. Moonlight, bonfire and a bunch of people from different countries. I came across this man Yaron from Isreal, who became my friend later at the end of journey.

 Its really interesting to hear stories across culture. We had people from England, Israel, Germany and of course our country. They discussed a lot about the conditions back there, their travel exploits and their work. One thing I really loved and felt connected to is that they )and their partners) were both free of complexities - they are not tied upto their jobs, dont care what the future looks like and have a desire to travel and learn. Will tell later of Yaron's thoughts so it will make it more clear as to WHAT I MEAN.

Over with Day 1, another post for Day 2 coming soon. See ya!!

Here's a pic to end this one though, and my favorite moment of the day

Udaan



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