Puskar

Part two of Puskar, read previous entry first.
So after settling in all we could do was gawk in the best sunset I’ve seen here. Our hotel had a roof top-with the most adorable patch of grass on it- and comfy chairs and lots of pink floyd so we grabbed a menu and decided to chill there for the night. With ten of us ordering, dinner took about 2 _ hours to complete but it was incredible. With all of us a harboring a bit of homesickness of maybe just a break from Indian everything, we got awesome stuff like lasagna, cheese sandwiches, baked potatoes, elbow macaroni with mushroom vegetable sauce, pizza and burgers. It was kind of fun that our food was slow to come up because we all ate everything that was ordered and I was reminded of the fact that -I MISS CHEESE! As amazing as paneer is, it really isn’t a fair substitute. Carolyn brought velveeta from home to share with her host family and we hunted down a shop that actually sells shell pasta. I didn’t think I really liked macaroni and cheese- granted velveeta- that much but my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Pathetic.
The next morning we headed down to Puskar’s small but mighty lake. There are different ghats for pilgrims to bathe in while some carry specific importance: Varah Ghat were Vishnu appeared to Brahma, Brahma Ghat were he actually bathed and Ghadi Ghat where Ghandi’s ashes were thrown. The lake actually holds 52 of these kinds of ghats and I actually did a ritual with a priest for my mom, dad and I at one of them. All of it was in Hindi, but it involved flowers, a coconut, colored powder, rice and my forehead was smudged and I got a red and yellow cord on my right wrist. It was done for general happiness and well being and I thought the puja was really cool.
We spent the rest of the day less spiritually- shopping!! Pushkar has attracted an insane amount of foreign hippies and you will find tons of internet cafes, foreign exchanges, Western or Israeli (those out of the army come here to spend their pensions) food- I had a falafel for lunch!! It was almost kind of silly walking around and seeing so many hippies. I felt like I was at another environmental fair, fair trade or social justice convention. There were mostly backpackers in dreads with the most insane amount of pseudo Indian clothing. Flowy skirts, scarves, anklets…kind of like walking versions of ten thousand villages. There were also these kind of MC Hammer balloon pants-which I got a pair of because they were quite comfy- that everywhere was wearing. They’re really puffy and then at the same time look like a giant diaper. So, I don’t know, Pushkar kinda weirded me out. It was my first time that I was like, this doesn’t seem like real India but so many backpackers chose to come here first that we met and stayed longer than they planned. We also saw tons of white people on motor bikes and kids around, meaning they set up shop and never left. Pushkar was a nice break but I couldn’t imagine living there and thinking that was real India. But who am I to say that I know real India I guess. There are a TON of drugs available here too, that are even put in lassis and chai. That is surely not found in all of India and may Indians are kind of embarrassed of Pushkar and don’t see its draw anymore aside from the religious reasons. Anyways, so I’m glad we went and had fun meeting other travelers but I was excited to come back "home" and wear jeans and not feel so clean cut…
Later that evening, Valentine’s Day, Carolyn, Magy and I split off and went to someone’s guest house who was hosting a gypsy dance concert. I think it was actually some white people which was pretty sweet and they had a buffet for dinner of- rice that looked Mexican, potatoes, vegetable casserole and French fries. Again, my maybe hoity toighty view of Pushkar laughed at the buffet they were offering. I just couldn’t get over non-Indian everything was yet wondered if this is what they thought India was. ANYWAYS after getting our plates of food we headed into this gorgeous courtyard and watched some really cool dance performances.
And thus the story ends. We met a really cool backpacker from England names Tim back at the hotel who might be joining some of the group that is heading out to Jaisalmer this upcoming weekend. He was the editor of some Jet Ski magazine in English which I thought was pretty random. Then I got sick and have been riding that wave until now. The bus ride wasn’t too fun back to Jaipur but after crawling into bed, seeing a doctor and getting antibiotics I’m feeling a lot better than I did on Sunday. I just have to be ready for our wedding TOMORROW!!!! For which I will be because that would be stupid to not feel well for an Indian wedding. There are so many weddings going on since these are the auspicious weeks for getting married as some god who sleeps for the rest of the year is awake for this time in February. Stay posted for pictures and a speedy report! I swear.