Category: india

Took a bus from Ajmer to Pushkar This was supposed to be the holiest place
in India. What I saw there was absolutely incredible contrary to all
expectations. The place looked as cosmopoliton as Berlin or Paris, with
internet surfing stations and banners of all kinds of international hotels
(some with swimming pools) and camel rides and what not. The whole place was
so unbelievably commericalied.

Almost everybody was out
to get some money, but as a lone guy with a backpack I managed to merge into
the ambience without attracting too much of attention. Another thing was the
way foreigners walk around dressed exactly like Indians, very much merged
into the atmosphere and I felt that they had made it their home.

[Actually I started this post with just one photo… but its started to
become a narrative – and I just cant stop myself now! I wish I had
maintained a diary then, now I can only vaguely recollect some things. ]

During conversation with some pujaari there [Im not a hindi expert but
manage to get my point across] he told me a story about the Pushkar lake –
something to do with some lotus flower being dropped there from which the
lake had sprung up. He said that was the only place in the world which had a
temple for Brahma. I vaguely remembered some Amar Chitra Katha story about
some competetion between Vishnu and Brahma on finding opposite ends of an
infinite pillar of light. Both went in opposite directions, but Vishnu
admitted he could not find the end, Brahma lied saying he did. Thats when
another God came and declared that because of that nobody would ever worship
Brahma.

Anyway the pujaari told me to do some ritual in the name of my late father
to give him salvation. Though I am not religious I just said ok fine. So he
recited some mantras for a few minutes and broke a coconut etc, and at the
end of it, he said “ab aap kisi brahman ko kuch dakshin dena hai”. Then I
said “hmm… kis brahman ko? kaha se doondu mein us brahman ko”. And I’ll
never forget his reply… he said wagging his hand pointing to himself “is
brahman ko do! is brahman ko do!” and I paid him Rs 50 after some
bargaining, hiding my laughter. But he had been a very nice person, it had
been great talking to him.

I walked around the perimeter of the huge Pushkar lake.

At the other end in more secluded places… I
saw some saadhus deep in a trance, and to my great surprise they seemed to
be on smoking some drugs from a pot. Drugs were quite a common scene there…

…but seeing all those sadhus like this was news to
me. Walking around the perimeter I passed temples temples and more
temples… around a 1000 temples somebody said.

Here is the one and only temple for Brahma (the text in Hindi reads: Shri Jagath Pithaa Brahma Mandir Pushkar)

Next day I also visited the Muslim dargah near Ajmer along with another
friend – Rahul. Even this place was no exception wrt commericalization. Here people
were more demanding… asking for money whether we wanted to or not. Upon
entry of the dargah, a lot of people were squatting on the floor within the
premises, and invited us to join them for some ritual or fortune telling or
what I dont know. We were warned earlier itself that this would be the case,
and if we were ever to conced and sit down, we would lose all money from our
pockets, so we very diplomatically refused and walked on. We however had
also been advised to buy flowers to place inside. Finally we reached the
center of the dargah, where some great person was buried. [3 years later, I did a google search and found the name: Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti] The visitors are to walk around the very beautifully decorated tomb (very similar to what is there
inside the Taj Mahal). One person (priest?) had a bell shaped vessel, and
every visitor would bow before him, and he would place it for a few moments
on on top of the visitor’s head. It was quite crowded inside and everyone was pushing each other. Finally my turn came, and when he placed it on my head – I could feel some
strange vibrations. He had not striked it or anything, he had simply placed it gently over my head. I had no explanation for it. Thoughts of all the commercialization and crowd etc faded away into a moment of silence which seemed to last forever – and I felt this was what it all came down to. I placed the flowers and joined my friend outside – who didnt have anything to say about his experience so I kept silent too.

Ajmer was quite a crowded city. Long ago in Germany some Germans had asked,
very earnestly… “do you have a lot of cows and elephants walking around in
the middle of the streets in India?” and I had laughed at this typical
attitude of foreigners. On the streets of Agra, Ajmer I laughed at myself
for having laughed… for those words were turning out to be actually true!

But this was a journey where for the first time I felt I had really experienced India in a deeper way.

———–
Camera: Olympus D-460, autofocus
Note: Some pictures might be edited for contrast.
[Btw having been born and brought up in Bangalore and never travelled much except for family trips to places within 400 kms in the south, this was my first lone venture into the northern part of India]

In Ajmer I got dropped off on the outskirts of the city at 4 AM, the private overnight bus I had taken kindly informed many of its somewhat disgruntled passengers that it wasnt going to go all the way to the city center and pushed off, leaving the highway in darkness except for the dull light from the teashop. I took solace in the fact that there was this group of fellow passengers who were sharing my plight. I turned around and looked, what passengers? Most of them had disappeaered! I saw a large rickshaw with some arms and legs sticking out… and was angry with myself that I was distracted. After about half an hour, another one turned up. Competition for getting in was really fierce… with more people having emerged from the shadows. I was not used to this kind of thing – I had lost touch with footboarding BTS buses in my college days itself. As I tried to get a foot in, I was too late, the big auto was jam packed with some 10 people at the back, and two more in front. And when I thought no more can fit inside, he gave me 3 inches of space next to his seat! Luxury!

I got on and hold on for dear life as it rocekted and bumped through what had been quiet sleepy neighbourhoods until its arrival, dropping off passengers one by one. I gave him the landmark and he dropped me somewhere and said this is what I know, you’ll have to go on from here, and he pushed off. I looked around, the street was completely empty, and I roamed around aimlessly, trying to get my bearings though I had no map, though even Im the kind of guy who, as my friends often remind me, would find it hard to find my way around Bangalore in broad daylight. Finally I came across a milkman cycling through a path, and he gave me directions following some circuitous route which I more or less forgot as soon as he disappeared around the corner.

Either he had misdirected me, or I made enough number of mistakes in following the directions that corrected my route, but I ended up on one of the streets indicated by the address.
Then I had to grope around in the darkness using some small device as torch (i didnt have a cell but cant remember what) to look at the house numbers… and I must say miraculously somehow ended up at Nirbhay’s house around 5:30 AM. I just couldnt believe I had made it, but anyway street number, house number, name everything matched according to my address.

I found the gate locked, and nobody responded to the intermittent tapping I made with the bolt. Considering it was still the wee hours of the morning, I didnt feel like clanging and shouting loud enough to wake up the whole neighbourhood. Anyway one of the neighbours did venture outside, and I introduced myself to him. He warmly received me as if I was his own guest, woke up his wife inspite of my protests, who gave me some very welcome snacks and tea. We spoke for sometime and I even had a short nap, and finally met Nirbhay later.

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