Post 5 - Pushkar: Yoga, Hummus, joints and trance.

Like every other Hindu religious town of India, even Pushkar is all about bathing in open, smoking pot, eating Falafel with Hammas, and taking pictures. Considered one of the oldest towns of India, Pushkar was founded by Lord Brahma, the real estate tycoon of mythological era. Let's call him DLF bhagwan. Little did he know what he thought was an appropriate place for Mahayagna would turn into a cheap-getaway for hippies from all over the world some hundred centuries later. Honestly, DLF ji could have chosen a better location for his Mahayagna say Ambergris Caye, Santorini, Bora Bora or Isle of Man, but he chose humid and sultry Pushkar. Obviously, travelling wasn't his forte. Or, may be, he thought smuggling Afghanistan opium into Pushkar would be much easier than say Bora Bora. Fair enough.

Lord Brahma's view of Pushkar

  
One reason why Pushkar is so popular among broke foreign tourists is the low cost of living. One can rent a dingy hotel room with a lake view for around Rs 5000-a-month. (In dollars, it is so less that it's not even worth converting). The market area is flooded with Lebanese cafes. Eating vegetarian-only Lebanese food in Pushkar makes you brood over the evolution of mankind from hunting. According to an unreliable study, Pushkar consumes more Hummus than Middle East, Turkey, North Africa, Morocco, and Middle East put together. Though, another study shows that the guy who did the 'Hummus study' on Pushkar was stoned on smuggled opium that he bought at exorbitant rates from Pink Floyd Cafe. In fact, the name 'Pushkar' refers to the art of pushing weed into rolling paper joints. Pushkar market is also known for its hand-made leather products and other Rajasthani handicraft. Most shopkeepers in the market think they can speak English. If 'Hello, how are you?" can be considered 99% of the Queen's language, then surely most shopkeepers can dazzle with their facile tongue.
 

Evening jam outside Sunset cafe.

Everyone in Pushkar is a musician. Some of them are bloody good at that. The ghat opposite Sunset cafe (one of the 52 ghats that Pushkar boasts of) is known for its unpretentious evening jams featuring local Rajasthani musicians and anyone with an instrument. However, many of the innumerable road side cafes in the Pushkar market are known for their bad taste in religious trance, which is often sold to hippies as a shortcut to salvation. So, when these hippies aren't consuming Hummus with Pita, and attending Yoga shivir by quacks, they are often seen grooving to 'Govinda Jaaya Jaaya' (in American accent) at Sunset cafe.
 
The best time to travel Pushkar is anytime when Pushkar mela is not on. There's no best time to travel Pushkar if you are an Indian. You will be treated like shit by locals who prefer hosting fair, hot-legged, tall firangs instead.