Welcome to the WiFi-less city of Pushkar. I’m in a little internet shop, surrounded by dusty packages of Himalaya baby powder, a fake brass sculpture of Ganesh, dirty shelves with decaying rags, empty display racks for Duracell batteries and more dodgy-looking wires and crooked electrical outlets than I care to think about.
We have been informed that Pushkar has no electrical power from 10:00 a.m until 1:00 pm, which strikes me as something one could adapt to and not as disconcerting as the random black-outs that we have run into everywhere else. Then again, they probably have the random ones as well.
Pushkar is a small city and quite clean compared to many of the others. We’ve just had our first non-Indian meal at the Out of the Blue rooftop cafe; a platter of Israeli food. It was tasty enough, but we are all enjoying our Indian food more. It is impossible to get a bad Indian meal and I don’t think I can ever get enough chai.
If I could get some WiFi, it would be at this point that I would paste in a lovely photo of the naan bread with dhal makhani, veg biryani, aloo gobhi and assorted and other fabulously flavoured foods…but alas, my laptop remains in my backpack and I am stuck, once again, with only my words.
It is so easy to be a vegetarian in a country where the veg options are listed for pages at a time. And in spite of the chaos and often dirty streets, there are moments, like right now, where a breeze sneaks in off the lake carrying the powerful fragrance of some temple incense and a woman wearing magenta walks by with a bowl of marigolds to take to the temple.
I could sit on the steps of this little shop, and without any exaggeration at all, I could simply click my camera every two seconds and capture a scene worthy of an incredible photograph.
This holy city of only 17,000 inhabitants has 400 temples; temples that are mostly private because they are reserved for one of the 36 sub-castes. There are enough open that we can watch the endless stream of pilgrims who come to worship their particular gods.
India continues to work us over, wearing down any notions of how life should be.
As our driver Datar likes to say, “This is India. Anything is possible.”
You paint a wonderful image with your words thus omitting the need for anything else. I am reading a wonderful book by a Buddhist nun right now and am also trying to experience that our lives, in every moment, are exactly as they should be so then why am I feeling like I should be there with you? Obviously I have more work to do……… Enjoy.
Our lives really are unfolding exactly as they should be, which doesn’t preclude us sometimes wishing for other things too:)
Knowing your eye for composition and colour, I’m not sure you could handle the ridiculous number of photo options…you’re shutter finger might just break down or something. Maybe that’s why you needed to stay home? Looking forward to sharing some images with you. Namaste…
Namaste Annies.
You can imagine how interested I am in your journey as this was a trip I was supposed to be on! By the fact that I have been unable get to your blog until yesterday tells you how full my last few weeks have been. Never the less, I miss being with you on another India Adventure!
The first thing that came to mind was that I too am an Annie, of sorts 🙂 My name is Diana (hello…Anna less an “n”). My middle name is Susan (hello again…Ann less another “n”)…o.k. maybe a stretch, but I do identify with you all, irregardless!
Next came the lovely story of the dogs. I thought these dogs must be the rare Indian Shup-gum-na breed. Four Lucky dogs….Lucky, Lucky, Lucky, and Lucky! KJ 4L PI, you rock!
…and the food! …moan…I know how much we love the food! (Just stay away from the Red Fort (?) beer.) The pictures that are guaranteed to be colourful and tell the story of the contrasts in India. The Chai. The Temples. The long laughs that “Girl Energy” creates, ending in a belly aching sense of release and peace.
I miss you all.
namaste,
Didi (Big Sister)
Dearest Fifth Annie…your name comes up often, and we too, miss having you here. And yes, the food. We’ve just finished stuffing ourselves with yet another amazing lunch and once again are commenting on the depth of flavours. YUM. Looking forward to seeing you in the spring (is that really right?)…Namaste.