Jaipur and Pushkar

The train arrived at 4 AM in Jaipur with 5 hours of delay, and I was lucky to wake up and get off the train. I took an auto-rickshaw to my hotel, Karni Niwas, but the driver eventually didn’t know where the hotel was. There, the iPhone’s GPS came quite handy, and I told him where to go. Anyways, I got a room for 650 INR which was quite large and clean, and the linen was actually usable.

Next morning, I got up quite late and in the afternoon, I went out to the city. On the first glance, Jaipur is a more modern city than Agra or Varanasi. There are nice shops, WORKING traffic lights, and not so many animals in the streets. But when you go to the old town, the Pink City, it’s the same story as Agra.

Then I went to visit the City Palace, which is where the Maharaja of Jaipur used to live and even now it is inhabited by their descendants. There were museums of Maharaja’s collections and some nice architecture. I got an audio guide as usual, and listened to the history of the place and the Maharajas’. To tell the story short, Maharajas were introduced as art, science and sport lovers, and also wise and kind rulers. Such BS! They say that victors write the history, right? Anyways, there was nothing special about the city palace.

Then I started walking in the old bazaars, and that’s where the fun began! I again started asking people for photos and everyone happily agreed. I walked on and on and found people that I liked their faces, moods, clothes, jobs, etc., and took their photos and chatted with them! Once I wanted to take a photo of a kid, and suddenly all the kids wanted to be in the photo! I had so much fun!

In the evening, I decided to go to Pushkar the next day, as Jaipur didn’t have much to see for another day. It’s just a big city, and I’m not that much interested in cities.

The next day, I got an auto-rickshaw and went to Galta, aka Monkey Temple, due to the prevalence of monkeys there. The monkeys were quite tamed and you could walk very close to them, and give them food, without them showing you their teeth. Afterwards, I visited Hawa Mahal, a building for Maharaja and his many wives to see the everyday life and festivals in the city from its windows, without them being seen. Hawa Mahal is known because of its beautiful facade, though without an entry to it.

In the afternoon, I got the bus to Pushkar. The quality of roads was much better than what I had seen before, and they were not so crowded. This makes traveling by bus a very good option in Rajasthan. Though the driver was driving like crazy at some point!

Anyway, I arrived in Pushkar, went to hotel Milkman, and got a room for 300 INR. Apparently, this hotel is quite popular with the French, as I found so many French here. The hotel was nice, and had a cool ambiance. Then I found out that Pushkar in general has this kind of cool ambiance.

Pushkar is a holy city for Hindus. There is a holy lake and beside it, there are Ghats (steps) for bathing, like Varanasi. Legends say that this lake was created as a result of the clash between Brahma (the creator god) and the evil. The city is also full of temples, and the so-called holy men, either real ones or fake ones.

A popular scam for the tourists here is that these holy men approach you and give you some flower petals. Then they say some mumbo-jumbo and ask you for a ridiculous amount of donation, like 500 INR or so. The best way to avoid them is to not accept the flowers from them, even if they push you that you should do that and if you don’t your Karma gets screwed up! Anyways, meat and alcoholic beverages are also strictly forbidden in the city, which was curiously not the case in Varanasi.

The city is very popular with “hippie” type of tourists, you know, those with dreadlocks, piercings and tattoos kind of people. Pushkar is world famous for its Camel Fair which is held each year in November. Hundreds of thousands of people with even more livestock get together for a big festival, and for trading the animals. Unfortunately, I’m going to miss it!

I went out for a walk in the evening, and took some pictures of the people in the bazaar, which to my disappointment is highly tourist oriented. Over there I met Shri, a young scholar and teacher of history and Sanskrit, in a shop, and as usual the conversation started with the fact that I do look a lot like Indians! Then I told him that I would like to visit some villages around Pushkar.

I had read about an ethnic group called Bhopas, a green-eyed tribe of nomads, who are used to work as entertainers, story tellers, and snake charmers. I told Shri about these people and he said they live close by to Pushkar, and they are commonly called Gypsies. The gypsies in Europe are closely related to these tribes in Rajasthan, and they have similar language and lifestyle. It is believed that the gypsies in Europe migrated there from Rajasthan in India. Anyways, Shri said he has a friend who can show me their villages with his bike. His name was Shiva, after Lord Shiva, one of the most prominent gods in Hinduism. We met Shiva afterwards, chatted for a while, and we planned to go to those villages early next day.

Next day, we headed out of Pushkar to a nearby village where Shiva had a friend. Shiva’s friend and his family were cropping flowers to sell in the market. Flowers have an important role in Hindu religious rituals, and are used extensively in temples. They then invited us for a chai, which we happily accepted.

We then headed on to the Bhopas village. But to my disappointment, we did not see that many houses that belonged to Bhopas. We did find one, and went in. The kids were so beautiful, and a few of them had these strange colored eyes which added an exotic element to their beauty. Shiva talked to their father and asked for permission, which was granted.

I approached the kids, showing the camera, but they were shying away! I especially wanted to photograph a young girl who was so exotically beautiful, but to my bad luck, she was the shyest in the lot! They asked me for money, and I gave them some Rupees, something that is against my principles. I wish I had something else, like pens or sweets, to give them.

Anyways, the one that I wanted to photograph shied away and went with her father to the city. I really wanted to do her portrait, but when she was not willing, I couldn’t do anything. Maybe if I had offered her some money, she would have accepted, but then it would have been for the money. I don’t like that. Alas, I returned to Pushkar, missing that photo!

Next morning, I left Pushkar for Jodhpur.

Update - See some of the photos of this part of my trip here: