Camel Fair

One slightly stale update that I wasn't able to finish before leaving Pushkar, my 2nd stop in Rajasthan, since I really wanted the photos to go with it. I've since finished my 2 busy, fun weeks exploring that state, and am now in a city north of there called Chandigarh. I'll try to send out more details on that too in a bit (they're almost done, but I need to sleep before my early morning bus across Punjab to Amritsar, the Sikh holy city).

I'm now in my 3rd day here in Pushkar, Rajasthan, and I finally found an event schedule! Though the fair has been going on for a week or so, it turns out this is the first day when there are specific tourist events. I caught a bit of a cricket match of locals vs. visitors (turned out to be Aussie tourists vs. turbaned Rajasthanis). This time, I wasn't strapped to a bed, unable to change channels, so I wandered off to enjoy the general spectacle of the fair instead.





This mostly includes lots and lots of crazy looking camels, and extremely vibrantly dressed locals (all looking for a few rupees to pose for photos).



















Unfortunately, I'm headed out tomorrow, so I'll miss some of the more exciting events, including:

• Camel Dancing Competition
  
• Turban Tying Competition (for visitors) - Rajasthani turbans are completely different from those anywhere else, and look like they're about to fall off under the best of circumstances.
• Moustache Competition
• Milking Competition
• Indian Bride Competition (for visitors - uh oh!)
• Matka Phod Competition (breaking water pots in series and pyramid)

I guess I'll just have to come back next year, or hunt down the documentary that a French film crew is making (photo to the right).

I did have a successful day today, even finding someone to repair my Tevas. I've been trying almost daily to find a cobbler since I first arrived in Delhi and noticed two straps had ripped loose, but all I've been able to get is bad directions to non-existent shops. I've also searched in vain for anything even vaguely similar to a Teva (basic arch support being my only requirement). This seemed likely, since almost all locals and tourists wear sandals, even when dressed up, but apparently everyone's fine with completely flat shoes. I've gotten helpful advice from several fellow travellers, assuring me that high quality Teva knock-offs are easy to find (along with near-perfect copies of everything else REI sells), but only in Kathmandu, Nepal.

This had become even more critical to solve here, since, well, it's kinda warm (most towns 90-95 during the day). That's a good thing, but since Pushkar, in particular, is a major pilgrimage site, you must be dressed conservatively at all times. Even in the rest of India, exposing your knees seems to be a major taboo (almost more than in the middle east), regardless of gender. In movies, the hero may occasionally lack a shirt, but you'll never see a knee. In general, you're supposed to wear long sleeves too, though that rule seems to be overlooked for tourists. So, you can see why I'm much happier being able to wear sandals again, instead of hiking boots with wool socks!

Also due to being a holy city, food and drink rules are quite strict here. No meat can be served in any restaurant, and alcohol is completely prohibited. Pot, on the other hand, seems to be actively encouraged. Almost every restaurant proudly lists "Special Lassi" or sometimes even "Strong Special Lassi". That means they're laced with hashish, which amounts to concentrated marijuana. Many of the desserts also list this as an option, with Special Barfi being the local equivalent of hash brownies. Pricy tourist shops (especially gem ones) usually offer it for free, figuring you're more likely to buy when stoned. I'll stick with the ubiquitous free chai, and hope it's just chai! Personally, I find it hard enough to make it down the street completely sober, dodging all the chaos. I found myself bouncing off the cows when I just had a fever - I can't imagine how someone stoned could survive.

One of several good things about being in a town on the tourist circuit is that there are lots of good bookstores. One of the most extensive here has a secret basement, whose entrance is behind a moveable bookshelf. It appears to double as a place to smoke their main source of revenue (I watched much haggling over these transactions, but I only saw one other person buy a book).

I was also glad I brought my flashlight, as the power here rarely stays on for more than an hour or two at a time. The bookstore owner was quick to bring down a gas lantern, but that didn't really provide enough light to read the musty titles in the basement. He said it always goes out during prayer time, leaving me with this image of a devout Hindu holding two wires together to keep the lights on.

Finally, a few folks have asked to get these updates in email, rather than remember to check the blog, or rely on someone forwarding it (you know who you are). For folks who read things in Outlook, or any web mail client, it should look very close to the website. For those who use a text client, it looks really horrible, even when I'm not including any photos. Anyway, to get the email version, two steps are required. These may seem a little odd, as I'm still using a really old mailing list software called Majordomo:

1. Send email to majordomo@sub-atomic.com, with "subscribe travellog " in the body of your message (without the quotes or brackets). Majordomo completely ignores the subject line, so make sure it goes in the body.
2. Reply to the confirmation email it sends you, removing any extra characters your email client inserts when you reply to a message.
3. If all else fails, send me mail asking to be added. If I remember the admin password, I'll add you, but try the above first. :-)

Also, as previously mentioned, if you're into the blog thing, you can get the RSS feed here:

http://kblarson.blogspot.com/atom.xml

A friend took care of syndicating it on LiveJournal, so you can add the username kblarson to your friends list there, if you prefer.

Karl