The Pushkar Experience

On the third day of our Rajasthan trip, we found ourselves in the small desert town of Pushkar, where we spent nearly 3 days.  And I must say that nothing had prepared us for what to expect in this visit. For starters, this town is very very small (you can walk from one corner to the other numerous times in a day), its full of temples (every building is either a temple or every house has a temple), has more foreigners than Indians, is brimming with every possible color, is very cheap for everything and all food here is fully vegetarian (non-vegetarian food and alcohol is prohibited here). Though this place is more famous for the Pushkar fair, we decided to visit it before the fair to just get an actual flavor and feel of this town. And I must say, we loved this place.

In Pushkar there is just one main road which is full of shops, eataries and temples. One side of this road are ghats and the Pushkar Lake while on the other side you have the small by-lanes with shops, houses and more temples. The town is so small that you can cover it several times in the day and all on foot. Also, you will notice that there are more tourists than locals and only two kinds of tourists – Indian pilgrims or foreign backpackers. Because of all the international tourists everyone here speaks english and all internal cuisines are available. In fact the food here was so amazing that I’ll write a separate post on it.

While there is nothing per se to see here, there is a world here to experience. So here’s my experience of Pushkar in pictures –

An ancient door of an ancient haveli

Doorknobs in all colors

Jholas anyone?

Pretty Household Stuff

Colorful Ceramic stuff – tiles, coasters, vases etc etc

 

Wooden toys kept on a balcony of a house

The Brahma Temple, Pushkar

The Old Rangji Temple

The new Rangji temple

Introduction to a new instrument called a ravanhatta and its soulful music

Langurs by the ghats

Pushkar Lake and the ghats by night

Our haveli guesthouse

Must See and Do in Pushkar –

1. Walk around aimlessly checking out the local shops and temples. There are loads of beautiful hidden knick-knacks and temples, so feel free to explore.
2. Visit the Brahma temple but do note that they do not allow camera and purses inside the temple.
3. Visit any of the numerous ghats during the day to watch people and activity around and sit by the ghats in the evening to feel the solitude and calm of the Lake.
4. You can also hike up a hill and visit the Savitri temple and a few small temples around it.
5. And lastly, no matter how many times you walk up a lane here you will always find some new things /sights each time.