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Tea Index: 12 Rupees (about 14p)
Days away from UK: 57
Days without rain : 57
Weather: 27 C sunny with no breeze
Time in transit in India: 50 hours 35 minutes
Cat’s book count: 24 (nearly 1 every 2 days)
Pushkar is our final stop in Rajasthan before we return to Delhi and leave India. It’s a unique city as every Hindu is expected to make a pilgrimage here at least once in their lifetime. Here Gandhi was cremated in a lake created by Brahma by simply dropping a lotus flower to Earth. Every building here is painted in a pale blue to reflect the colour associated with the Hindu God.
Every night here is like New Year’s Eve as you’ll find loud music, fireworks and all kinds of celebrations. If it isn’t a wedding, they’ll find something to celebrate. The streets fill with people holding lights, banging drums and dancing with such an energy that you can easily that you’ve been watching what’s going on for an hour or so. The celebrations are unusual though as there’s always some kind of pipe organ playing that’s reminded me of queueing for the Vampire Ride at Chessington or a baseball game in America. And then in the day time it goes very quiet; the music stops and the mass of motorbikes disappear. It’s as though everyone’s getting over their hangover and you’re in Ibiza rather than India.
The holiness of Pushkar has drawbacks which I didn’t think of. There is strictly no alcohol, egg or meat (however hallucinogenic lassis are fine). The carnivore in me has struggled as I have the choice of vegetable curries (not my favourite) or poor imitations of pastas, pizzas or other western dishes. I’ve found myself choosing potatoes and chowmein, but fantasising about the time when I can order beef or a big slab of meat again. We’ve been told we can get anything we want if we walk 2 miles away from the city, but the lazy part of my personality has decided that taking on the veg is a preferable option.
Despite the constant celebrations and lack of meat, Pushkar has a nice charm and feel to it. The main strip brings back memories of Thamel in Kathmandu where the buzz of an old bazaar is unavoidable and the Buddhist prayer flags have joined us in our hotel. It’s also set in an incredibly picturesque location that we weren’t expecting. In any other country the surrounding mountains would be a key reason for going, but in India it’s not unusual. We’ve found it very relaxing here and have managed to slow down and get away from the hussle and bussle of the rest of India – probably a good thing before we fly away. Or camel ride into the desert felt like we were riding through The Good, The Bad and The Ugly country as it’s sandy with shrubs with mountains everywhere – not the landscape I was expecting to see in India.
Cat has also managed to bump into another healer. It’s getting slightly creepy how they all instantly know everything about her from feeling her hands and feet. Either they’ve got a knack, or they try explaining the same symptoms to everyone and finally found someone who actually has them. So far the street healers are doing a better job than most the doctors in the NHS. As it’s so easy to get hold of prescription medicine, I can’t endorse India enough as a place to sort out any problem you have.
It was here that I wondered if someone had been listening to me. Unexpectedly, whilst walking down the main strip yesterday, we found ourselves surrounded by over 100 people dressed in beige tracksuits with “green” written on the back, armed with brushes and bin bags. The cleanup crew I’d been calling on had arrived. I doubt there was a cleaner place in India after this army of street sweepers was done. There was no piles of plastic, cow shit, dirt or anything else synonymous with the Indian city centre. I could have kissed them all.
One Way Ticket 
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