Pushkar Camel Fair

It was maybe 20 years ago that I read something about the Pushkar Camel Fair.  It wasn't a long article, but it mentioned it was in Rajasthan and that many, many camels were traded and that there were camel races and it was held once a year.  All this I remember from that little article all those years ago.  When I saw that my alumni association was offering a trip to India to go to the Pushkar Camel Fair, I could hardly wait to sign up. 

It just sounded so exotic.  It sounded so unusual.  It sounded just exactly like the kind of thing I most like to see.

And it was.

We rode around on camel carts, gawking and gaping and trying to take it all in, that first afternoon at the fair.  It was everything I thought it would be, from dusty and hot to exotic and amazing and colorful.

In many regards it is not that different from a good old American state fair.  You have animals.  You  have large crowds.  You have vendors selling the latest geegaw.  You have fair food booths.  There are children running wild everywhere.  It's colorful, noisy, smelly, exciting and really, really fun.  You could say that the Pushkar Fair is a sort of second cousin to the Western Washington State Fair, the one I am most familiar with.

Many animals are traded at the Pushkar Fair.  Horses and camels.  Mostly camels.  If it's been a good year and the harvest was good, many people come and bring big herds of camels to sell or trade.  They have a little extra money from the good harvest and off to the fair they go.  And this year, o lucky me, it was an excellent harvest!

What was different was that mostly the fair attendees were men.  I don't mean that there weren't women there, there certainly were, but the men greatly out numbered the women.  The men tended to sit around in groups, drinking tea and talking camels.  (I am guessing they were talking camel, or maybe horses, and whatever else Rajasthani men discuss over a cup of milk tea in the afternoon.)

A few thought it a good idea to catch a nap before darkness fell and all the nighttime festivities started.  (Whatever they were....I wasn't there at night so I don't know.)

There were a surprising number of tourists there, too, and most of us were riding around on the camel carts.  The carts were pretty nice, too.  They had canopies and cushions and some had side walls and most were decorated to make them festive and desirable to hire.  Some of the camels, too, were all decked out in camel finery.  Some had ankle bracelets of many, many bells.  There were brightly colored halters and netting that was thrown over the backs of the camels.  Some had tassels and tinsel and all manner of decorations.  And then there were camels with patterns cut into their fur.  And designs painted on.  Camels in India get to get gussied up!

You could buy camel food, and grain and whatever you might need to take care of your livestock.  

Even the trucks were decorated!

There was this one truck that passed my camel cart by full of beautiful young ladies, all decked out in their most festive saris and shawls.  They, too, were having a great time at the Fair.

This fellow took a break in his cart to read in the late afternoon.

The sun started to set and the sky was amazing.  Fires were being lit all over the grounds as people began to cook their evening meal and make more tea, and to have a nice campfire to sit around and chat and sing and tell stories.  I'm guessing about that, but that's what I would have been doing, had I been able to stay all night long.

The only way my tour guide was able to drag me away from the Fair was the promise that I was going to be able to return the next day.  Stay tuned.  There's more!

I Spied on a Wedding.....

I was lucky enough to be in India during the height of the wedding season.  Well, the height of the Hindu wedding season.  (I really have no idea about Sikh or Muslim weddings and if they have seasons or not.)  In almost every hotel in which we stayed, weddings were being held almost nightly.

One evening, as we returned from a dinner at a local restaurant, we arrived back at our hotel just in time for the groom's party to arrive at the front entrance.  There were people carrying lights on their heads, followed closely by a brass band.  I had never, ever seen such a sight as a group of people walking behind a truck with a generator, with lights on their heads and wires running to the generator.  It was quite surprising, but very festive!

The band was loud and quite good.  The music for the arrival of the bride and groom at (Hindu) Indian weddings seems to require brass instruments and lots of drums.  Being a fan of both, I really enjoyed this.

The following photos are really not up to snuff, in terms of color and focus, but I was, after all, spying on this wedding and taking photos in the dark from far away....please, Dear Reader, forgive the bad photography and just join me here in the dark, behind this potted palm....

This marquee was set up on the lawn of our hotel.  It was quite lovely.

Here we have the bride arriving in a carriage-like contraption, that was being pulled by men in livery!  She was a beautiful girl in a stunning red sari that films purple because of the light and the distance and the fact that I was, indeed, hiding behind a potted palm....

The lovely bride exited from her conveyance and was escorted onto a stage.  The stage had lights like you'd find at a rock and roll concert....big can lights up on scaffolding.  There was a giant TV screen set up, too, and the entire evening was being filmed and projected onto the screen.  Unfortunately, from my vantage point I could not see the front of the screen.  Rats!

Here we have the bride putting an elaborate garland around the neck of the groom.  I was told that the groom does not want to bow down his head for his lady to be able to easily garland him, as that would show that she would be the one calling the shots in the couple.  The bride, of course, is trying to get the groom to bow down his head....

Our young couple here came to a sort of a compromise.  She stood on tip-toe and he inclined his head, slightly.

At every turn there was much fussing with the clothing of both the bride and groom by attendants.

The lady in the turquoise blue sari is the bride's sister, her main attendant.  She fussed and primped and tweaked the bride, for a loooooooooong time, to get the veil and the sari, the garland and jewelry and every bit of the bride's garb just right.

The bride and groom have had their horoscopes cast and the actual time of the wedding ceremony is determined by the astrologer.  It might be at 2:56 AM.  The bride and groom are actually married when they have completed seven circles around a scared fire, that being the equivalent to our saying, "I do."

I did not see them actually get married as I got cold and I felt silly, hiding there behind the palm.  Besides, they were just sitting on their silver love seat on the stage, accepting well wishes from guests.  That went on for a long time, too.  So I went off to my bed.  The wedding was still going strong at 3 AM.  I'm not sure when it all, finally, finished up.  I was dead asleep.

Several of our tour members ran into the bride's sister in the hallway of the hotel.  It turns out she had gotten married three days earlier than her sister.  Both sisters (and their new husbands) live and work in the US, and the young lady in the turquoise sari lives only about 30 miles from me!  Talk about a small world.

I certainly wish both young couples all joy and happiness. 

More Delhi, Old and New

After our bicycle rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk and the myriad of things for sale there (those are quilts and futon-y mattress-y cushions in the background), we continued on to the Jama Masjid Mosque, which was commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1650 AD.  Shah Jahan is the Mughal Emperor who had the Taj Mahal built for his beloved Mumtaz Mahal.  It is a pretty place and is quite reminiscent of the Taj Mahal.

Because tourists have been visiting this Mosque in inappropriate clothing, all the Western women visitors are required to wear these colorful robes to ensure they are decently attired.  It made me sad to think tourists would visit a Mosque in scanty attire, but I guess it shouldn't.  Still, really!  Would we go to church in short shorts and halter tops?  I hope not.

The architecture of the Jama Masjid is beautiful.

This pretty kitty and I came to a meeting of the minds....I scratched her head and she didn't mind....

We went to the Gandhi Memorial next.  This is a place I really wanted to see as Mahatma Gandhi has long been a hero of mine.  It is a simple place, in keeping with the Babu-ji's philosophy of living simply and teaching by example.  It is located in a beautiful, quiet green park on the banks of the Yamuna River.  I found it to be very moving.

Gandhi was cremated at this place.

The Mahatma's last words are inscribed: "Oh, my God."

I was amazed by the number of school children who were there on an outing.  They were very quiet and respectful and even with so many of them there, they did not disrupt the quiet and contemplative mood of the Memorial.

Our last stop on our very busy first day was at Bangla Sahib, a Sikh Temple.  I learned that people of all walks of life and any religion can eat at a Sikh Gurdwara in the kitchen.  The food is prepared by cooks and volunteers.  Many volunteers are there, some cleaning and sweeping, some minding shoes.  (You do not wear shoes inside the Gurdwara complex, and both men and women must cover their hair.)  While we were there three priests singing and playing drums.  It was a lovely sound and made all there was to see seem more, somehow.

The symbol of a Sikh Temple (Gurdwara) is a very tall pole, wrapped in orange fabric, with a shield shape topping it off.  The shield shape is a form of weapon.  In times passed, the Sikh's were persecuted and so they became fierce to protect themselves.  They wore three weapons hidden in their turbans.  The men never cut their hair or shave their beards, but tie up the hair in turbans and the beards in nets, and they wear a steel bangle on their right wrists.  This is to remind them always to do good.

Sikh gentleman wearing his steel bracelet

Sikhism is an off-shoot of Hinduism.

The pool is beautiful, especially in the very late afternoon with the lights begin to come on, and the water is considered sacred to the Sikhs.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I wish you all, Dear Readers, a most happy and healthy 2013.  May there be peace and tolerance and kindness for us all.

All Around Delhi

First of all, let me say that I absolutely love a country that knows how to make (and serve) a good cup of tea.  Ah.....I drank tea and more tea all over India and had not one bad cup.  To the entire subcontinent let me say, "Thank you."

One of the very first things we did in Delhi was to take a bicycle rickshaw ride to Chandni Chowk, the market in Old Delhi.  It is a labyrinth of alleys and streets, shops and people and smells, honking cars, motor bikes, bicycle rickshaws and crowds and the occasional wandering cow.  It was amazing!  I loved the ride and had a thoroughly wonderful time gawking. 

I must say, the wiring reminded me of China....

There were sari shops displaying their wedding finery.  We were there during the height of the wedding season and almost every night we heard (if we didn't see) weddings going on all around our hotels.  There were lights and loud music, lots of guests coming and going, the groom and his family and entourage would arrive in splendor and it was exciting to see.  Many of the grooms came by white stallion.  Some come in elaborate silver wedding carriages.  Others came in cars, the poor fellows, but at least the cars were all decorated and festive.  Everything to do with the weddings is bright, loud, glittery and fun!

This is my lunch one day, an onion uthapam---a sort of pizza-like dish.  It was delicious.  Many of the restaurants are vegetarian and I had a lot of great vegetarian food while in India.

Nonie at a museum

I hope this will give you a taste of what is to come.  I am still trying to figure out how to move some photos around so I can post them.  Please bear with me....I'm not particularly good at solving computer issues and I'm trying to figure this out as quickly as I can.

Happy New Year!