Experiences

I’ve had so many things that I wanted to write about over the last few weeks/months, but 2 things have kept me from bloging; first, an absolute lack of time & second, a lack of the right words.

I’m hoping today I will have the right words…

Over the weekend I was in Pushkar. THAT is something everybody must do once in their life. There is nothing much in Pushkar per se except the lake, a few temples, lots of people & even more shops (slightly Anjuna flea market). The experience comes from the people and the energy of the fair. I think Rajasthani people asre probably the most hospitable of all Indians. “Atithi devo bhav” (Guest equal god) takes on a whole new meaning when an old nomadic lady with obviously not very much invites 2 healthy affluent young urbanites to her house for a meal. This invitation would have probably stretched her family’s rations to the limit but she still invited us.

The sheer number of people at the Pushkar fair is overwhelming. The energy in that place is a cumulative of individual energies and you can feel the energy (noise level as well) all the way up on the top of the hill with the Savitri mandir. There is a background roar of hundreds of thousands of people going about their religious rites, sale & purchase of camels/horses/cattle & entertainments at the fair.

The one other thing I will always remember from this trip… the strength of a genuine smile. A lot of the people that we saw/met are simple nomads that came to the fair from various parts of Rajasthan. They own virtually nothing. Still they showed generosity & kindness like nowhere else and if nothing else they smiled at you because they wanted to & meant it.