India: Pushkar
Puskhar is an unusual experience. It’s a town holy to all Indians with over 400 temples encircling a lake. All around the lake are 52 ghats or stairs leading into the water where pilgrims bathe. Just coming to the lakeshore is ritual – first you visit the main temple of Jagatpita Brahma (one of only two temples in India dedicated to Brahma, god of creation). There you are given flowers and sprinkled with holy water before you proceed toward the lake, flowers in hand. Shoes come off and you continue barefoot (more on the ghat floor later). You approach the lake and throw the petals afloat and are supposed to at least touch the holy lake water and breathe the holy air. The positives – it’s a ritualistic and very traditional atmosphere with lake shimmering, temples everywhere, and people colorfully dressed. The negatives – the water is green-stagnant, there are dozens of cows, thousands of pigeons, and hundreds of monkeys sharing this experience with you and pooping everywhere. The cement floor of the ghats is more or less covered with Napoleon-cake-like layer of cow/pigeon/cow/pigeon dung with monkey droppings sprinkled on top. Everybody is bathing and singing the puja prayers, while pelicans gracefully float on the deep-green lake surface. Not many foreign tourists here.
