Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hannah and Liv's Travel Update
Left early again for a 5 and a half hour drive to Pushkar, as every road we took on our way was blocked and we had to keep backtracking and rerouting over the desert practically! After the journey we arrived and walked through lots of bazaars to get to our hotel. They were incredible to pass, selling every craft you can think of, and some with beautiful jewellery. We noticed a lot more travellers, obviously a popular place to stay for a while, and everyone was really friendly, probably due to the 'special' lassis which were available everywhere! We were advised by our tour leader to take part in a ceremony down at one of the ghats surrounding the enormous lake in the centre of the town, to obtain a 'pushkar pass'- a small string friendship bracelet, which would ensure no one would pester us to take part again while we were there. The ceremony was exciting, and promised to bring luck, happiness and good wishes to our families and loved ones. We started by removing our shoes and sitting in a line by the lake, each with a silver tray of goodies. First he splashed holy water into our hands which we were told to rub on our heads, eyellids, ears and heart. The brahma priest conducting the ceremony then blessed us and we recited after him in both Hindi and English. We tossed rose petals into the lake, and then the contents of the tray as we made a wish- red powder for good blood, rice for good boones, yellow powder for good family relatoinships, and sugar for sweetness in our life. We prayed to Brahma: 'I give you rice, you give me strong bones, I give you yellow powder, you guide over my family...'etc, Pushkar is such a holy place because it contains the only temple dedicated to the god Brahma not only in India but the whole world. We then held coconuts into our hearts as the priest asked our ages, and told us we would have 82 more good years so we lived to 100. As long as we have good karma in our lives we would receive more. We then had red dots with rice printed on our foreheads, and we threw more rose petals behind our heads to signify throwing away and leaving behind our bad karma. He asked if we were married, before tying red string around our wrists accordingly. It was very spiritual!!
After this we briefly walked through all the windy streets, eyeing up gifts from all the bazaars, we passed juice bars with bright fresh fruit, and sweet sellers where we ate some delicious pancakes covered in sugar syrup and served in a bowl made of leaves! We finished the evening with a delicious buffet meal at our hotel, a balcony looking out over the picturesque lake lit up in the darkness. Before sleeping we set the alarm for 5.30am!!
- comments