PUSHKAR 21- 25 November 1996
We came to Pushkar by night bus , the first really unsatisfactory journey of the trip because the 2x2 seats were too narrow for comfort. Arriving at 5am we expected our room to be occupied so we were looking for somewhere to eat when we ran into the hotel proprietor who had obviously kept the room open for us. The five tents on the roof were new arrivals and were filled at 75rp/night, a sixth was expected. He has obviously done well on his first fair. We ate breakfast on the roof and for the rest of our meals generally went to the RS Restaurant opposite the Brahma temple where the food was always excellent providing we asked for Indian spicing.
On the 25th we spent the afternoon talking to an American
woman of around 40 who was a professional photographer, free lance with
her agent in London. She worked almost entirely in Asia for 4 months of
the year and then went home to Wyoming.Unfortunately we don't have her
name so we can't look for her photographs but she expects to have one in
the BA magazine this month. Unfortunately we talked so long and
interestingly that she missed l the best of the evening sun on the
sadhus opposite the temple that she had come to photograph (in fact it
was probably a last minute intervention by a German lad wanting advice
on his camera which really caused the delay.
Another young man invited us to come back and stay with him to his village, unfortunately we had to refuse as we were running out of time.
The 23rd and 24th we spent a long time talking to GD
Didmania who was managing a government food store for cattle/camels set
up to regulate the price of feed and by selling when needed to prevent
them going too high - they never were. They were not busy during the day and he was a
willing and spellbinding teller of Hindu stories. He even convinced me
that a on closing day I should join the crowd bathing in the lake to
insure my future. We even went out very early before dawn only to be
amazed at the size of the Hindu crowd, special traffic police were on
duty directing the crowd and we were often in danger of getting crushed,
only to chicken out and fail to disrobe on the ghat at the very last
minute.
On the second visit he summarised his first story in writing at
our request. It was about three gods trying out a good housewife by
asking her for milk from her breast. The morals were many
Never turn away anyone empty handed from your house even though you believe them to be trickers for they may be Gods in disguise.
A good woman has a great deal of power.
A good man or woman is no less than a god
He also told of the initial churning of the universe until it separated into land and sea, just as milk when churned forms butter and buttermilk. He told of churning water into five parts
Holy water
Poison
Tree
Cow
The fifth he could not remember blaming the brandy he had drunk earlier!
He was an agricultural graduate and clearly very knowledgeable about his field. On the second visit we discovered that he had a second farm near the Rajastani Canal. As an agricultural graduate he was given this land to develop appropriate methods of cultivation which the local people could then follow. He explained irrigation techniques used to separate lower plots into small level plots with higher 'hadjes?' irrigation consisted of flooding each patch in turn by breaking and remaking canal seals. Some farmers had valves installed and more recently had used water sprays. The water from Himachal Pradesh was stored in two tanks,one for drinking after considerable settling time, the other for irrigation. Many had died during the construction of the canal as a result of drinking unclarified water after getting lost in the desert and running out of fuel whilst making a return journey after having sold their reserve supply of fuel.
Crops included mustard seed for oil manufacture, wheat and cotton. He worked for the Ajmer Dairy Farmers Cooperative as well as having his own farm local to the village where he lived. He estimated 5% of Indians as honest, the remainder being trickers - not our impression after the first few days in Dehli - we expressed the view that 95% of the British were basically honest. He thought people in general did not recognise that honesty pays in the long run and that those who live by deceit do not sleep easily in their beds.
Pushkar fair itself was very pleasant. Huge colourful, good natured largely Hindu crowds, cows and horses and unbelievable numbers of camels. The numbers diminished from the 23rd as people went home with their new purchases. There was a large number of middle class Indians and westerners, all westerners slung cameras around their necks. As for the official events they initially seemed very low key and were only visible from the small grandstand. Even the nightly cultural program was far then below the standard set by Kullu, though at least, unlike Kullu, they did not interrupt proceedings for a lottery draw. Having said that there was no charge for entering the venue of for seats in the grandstand which with a few colourful Indian exceptions was mainly full of Europeans.
On the 25th the stadium was packed at 10.15 for the
closing intended to start at 11 but did not get going until 12.15. By
that time the crowd had become bored and started to move around
returning to claim their seats some 30mins. Everyone was dressed up for
this occasion, new turbans and jewellery were on display - I hope my
photographs will do them justice.
Events on the ground were more
dramatic, dancing by a large group of girls, probably more than one
hundred.
Horse riding displays involving spearing paper target son the
ground at speed. Instead of seeing how many could get in a Mini the task
was how many could get on a camel - about ten - but the camel soon got
its own back!
Prize giving to owners of winning horses, cows and camels -
all reminiscent of the more orderly Royal Welsh Show, more than one cow
broke away from its minder and charged around the arena. In distinct
contrast to the placid cows one sees on every Indian street.
We paid regular visits to Sweet Alley where they were preparing sweets especially the Pushkar specialities Malpua and Gelabi. Malpua is a pancake mixture thrown into deep hot fat where it fries before being put in a bowl of hot sugar solution. They are served on newspaper which is soon saturated in sugar - an alternative to fish and chips. In fact we ate mainly Gelabi and didn't realise the Malpua was a Pushkar special until on the point of leaving.
We came to Pushkar by night bus , the first really unsatisfactory journey of the trip because the 2x2 seats were too narrow for comfort. Arriving at 5am we expected our room to be occupied so we were looking for somewhere to eat when we ran into the hotel proprietor who had obviously kept the room open for us. The five tents on the roof were new arrivals and were filled at 75rp/night, a sixth was expected. He has obviously done well on his first fair. We ate breakfast on the roof and for the rest of our meals generally went to the RS Restaurant opposite the Brahma temple where the food was always excellent providing we asked for Indian spicing.
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| View of Pushkar Town & Lake from hill |
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| Joan on top Pushkar Hill |
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| Centre of Pushkar during Camel Fair |
Another young man invited us to come back and stay with him to his village, unfortunately we had to refuse as we were running out of time.
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| Offering a Camel trek from his village, given time we would have gone |
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| G D Didmania in charge of Goverment Camel Food Store |
Never turn away anyone empty handed from your house even though you believe them to be trickers for they may be Gods in disguise.
A good woman has a great deal of power.
A good man or woman is no less than a god
He also told of the initial churning of the universe until it separated into land and sea, just as milk when churned forms butter and buttermilk. He told of churning water into five parts
Holy water
Poison
Tree
Cow
The fifth he could not remember blaming the brandy he had drunk earlier!
He was an agricultural graduate and clearly very knowledgeable about his field. On the second visit we discovered that he had a second farm near the Rajastani Canal. As an agricultural graduate he was given this land to develop appropriate methods of cultivation which the local people could then follow. He explained irrigation techniques used to separate lower plots into small level plots with higher 'hadjes?' irrigation consisted of flooding each patch in turn by breaking and remaking canal seals. Some farmers had valves installed and more recently had used water sprays. The water from Himachal Pradesh was stored in two tanks,one for drinking after considerable settling time, the other for irrigation. Many had died during the construction of the canal as a result of drinking unclarified water after getting lost in the desert and running out of fuel whilst making a return journey after having sold their reserve supply of fuel.
Crops included mustard seed for oil manufacture, wheat and cotton. He worked for the Ajmer Dairy Farmers Cooperative as well as having his own farm local to the village where he lived. He estimated 5% of Indians as honest, the remainder being trickers - not our impression after the first few days in Dehli - we expressed the view that 95% of the British were basically honest. He thought people in general did not recognise that honesty pays in the long run and that those who live by deceit do not sleep easily in their beds.
Pushkar fair itself was very pleasant. Huge colourful, good natured largely Hindu crowds, cows and horses and unbelievable numbers of camels. The numbers diminished from the 23rd as people went home with their new purchases. There was a large number of middle class Indians and westerners, all westerners slung cameras around their necks. As for the official events they initially seemed very low key and were only visible from the small grandstand. Even the nightly cultural program was far then below the standard set by Kullu, though at least, unlike Kullu, they did not interrupt proceedings for a lottery draw. Having said that there was no charge for entering the venue of for seats in the grandstand which with a few colourful Indian exceptions was mainly full of Europeans.
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| Typical Scene during Pushkar Camel Fair |
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| Typical Scene during Pushkar Camel Fair |
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| Cooking on Open Fires at Pushkar |
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| Fuel Pushkar Style - Dried Dung |
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| Fresh Green Food - table manners |
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| Inserting the pin in his nose for easy control |
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| Decorating a Camel |
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| Had he been a woman in full dress he would have wanted money |
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| Fruit and Wooden rakes for Sale and a Big Wheel at Pushkar Fair |
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| Hand Made Wooden Tools for Sale at Pushkar |
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| Crowd Entertainer at Pushkar |
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| Closing Ceremony of Pushkar Fair |
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| Closing Ceremony of Pushkar Fair |
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| Closing Ceremony of Pushkar Fair |
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| Closing Ceremony of Pushkar Fair |
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| Closing Ceremony of Pushkar Fair |
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| Dancing Display during Closing Ceremony of Pushkar Fair |
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| Cows for Milking at Pushkar Camel Fair |
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| Prize Winning Horse at Pushkar Camel Fair |
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| Camel Race, Pushkar Fair |
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| Tug of War, Pushkar Camel Fair |
We paid regular visits to Sweet Alley where they were preparing sweets especially the Pushkar specialities Malpua and Gelabi. Malpua is a pancake mixture thrown into deep hot fat where it fries before being put in a bowl of hot sugar solution. They are served on newspaper which is soon saturated in sugar - an alternative to fish and chips. In fact we ate mainly Gelabi and didn't realise the Malpua was a Pushkar special until on the point of leaving.
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