November 20-29. From Don: I’m currently enjoying the exotic and totally mind-blowing Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan. Who knew there were this many camels in India? Contrary to my previously held beliefs, they seem quite even-tempered most of the time, and I haven’t witnessed any spitting, at least by the camels. The cameleers on the other hand . . .
The camels have an elegant way of walking, sort of like super-models, but with a softer footfall.
From Alison:The Pushkar Camel Fair is an annual livestock fair that also includes as many horses and cattle as camels. Literally thousands of people and animals annually descend on the town from all over the Thar Desert. They come to buy, sell and trade their livestock. It’s also their annual chance to go shopping. And it’s also a time of special religious significance in the holy town of Pushkar. Those who come range from villagers with a few cattle or camels to sell, to the elite of the elite selling Marwari horses for gazillions. We were told that a really good camel goes for about $50,000. I’d imagine it’s the same for the horses. These horses are desert bred and many are clearly brought in for sale by extremely wealthy stud farms. Then there are the white horses, some pure albino, that are highly prized as wedding horses. Even the (relatively) poor of India have big fancy weddings, and part of the carnival is for the groom to ride in on a white horse.
The Pushkar Camel Fair attracts about 30,000 camels, cattle and horses and their owners, and about 300,000 people. Tourists come from all over, at least as many from India as from other countries. Also many Indians come for the auspicious full moon to bathe in the sacred lake in the town, and the camel fair is deliberately held at the time of this full moon. So it’s really a huge carnival – a livestock trading fair, games, entertainment, performances and competitions, and a huge and important religious ritual all rolled into one. My words about our time there can’t even begin to do it justice.
There is very little touristy about this event even though there are many tourists, and some events created especially for them – for example a “bride” competition where western girls dress up in the full Rajasthani traditional bridal outfit of saris and accessories, with the exception perhaps of the nose-ring. Both the enormous livestock fair, and the days of religious rituals would be taking place anyway, have been taking place anyway, for hundreds of years in much the same way. It was this sense of authenticity and history that so moved and excited us all as we lived our days in Pushkar – day after day of things to explore, to experience, to see. And just when we thought we’d seen it all there’d be something else to catch our attention. I’ll be happy if I can convey, in the next three posts, even a tiny bit of the excitement and richness of our experience of the Pushkar Camel Fair.
An entire tent village of thousands springs up in a matter of days in a huge dusty field next to a stadium, next to the town of Pushkar. The tent village, known as the Mela, comprises everything from canvas shelters as stables for the really valuable horses, and many entire shops and restaurants, to family tents and small draped awnings over the camel cart – any way to make a shelter for eight or nine days. There’s a “Main Street” along the edge of the Mela, behind the stadium, and all along this main street are the tent restaurants and shops, as well as anyone and everyone with something to sell, with their wares spread out on the ground. They’re selling jewellery, and pitchforks, and tinware, and extremely colourful horse and camel tack, and shoes, and kitchenware, and saris, and farming tools, and just about anything you can imagine. And the people from the desert buy and sell their livestock, and go shopping, and attend the religious rituals at the sacred lake and in the four hundred temples. In amongst all this are the tourists, both Indian and western.
Heading into town
Life on the Mela
It looks like a little camel buying is going on here, or at least some serious inspection.
The Mela – “Main Street”
Shopping for farm tools
These women are carrying bowls of camel dung. It’s spread out to dry and then used as fuel for cooking fires
Horse and camel tack shop
Tent restaurant
Shoe shop
These young women are selling materials to make bracelets
We went on a short camel safari. We sat comfortably in a covered cart pulled by a camel and rode out into the desert for a couple of hours. We’d made the arrangement with the man who owned the camel taxi. But when the time came to go for our ride we were horrified to find we were to be left in the hands of a boy! Not to worry. No doubt he’d been around camels all his life, and he handled it like a pro. Sweet kid. Professional cameleer. At age eleven.
I actually rode along on the back of the camel for a while, then joined the others lounging in the back.
A short note for my endurance rider/horse podiatrist niece – there is endurance riding in India. Who knew? No doubt you’ve heard of Marwari horses from Rajasthan – bred for endurance, and can travel long distances with little water. We were told they cannot yet be exported from India though the Internet would seem to indicate otherwise. I watched the desert riders racing around on their horses. I was completely awed. It’s never seemed so obvious to me that horse and rider are one, each so in tune with, and connected with the other that it’s as if they are one being. Gorgeous to watch.
Yes, this next photo is a picture of two grown men holding hands. They’ve probably known each other since they were babies. It is one of the things I love about India. There is a great deal of easy physical affection between men – hugging, hand holding, walking arm in arm – without the slightest hint of their being gay. They just naturally show affection for their friends and no-one thinks anything of it. The women do the same, though since that is more acceptable in the west it doesn’t draw my attention as much. One man I spoke to about it said he thought it was not a good thing, that the men hold hands as if they are still a child holding the hand of their mother. I’m not sure I agree with this. I think the culture allows the expression of physical affection, and it is a natural thing between human beings. Too bad it is so stifled in other cultures. I jokingly suggested that Don and Robbie hold hands and they were both horrified! No way! And I must admit I would have found it a little unnerving. But in India it is the commonly accepted way. On the other hand expressions of physical affection in public between the sexes is just about banned. Certainly very much frowned upon.
The next post will be about daily life in the town of Pushkar, the sacred and religious ceremonies, the crowds that poured into the town from all over India and the world, my special connection with sacred monkeys, and an ash covered sadhu!
All words and images by Alison Louise Armstrong unless otherwise noted.
© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2015.
Fascinating…. Love how you captured the ordinary and made it extraordinary. 🙂
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Thank you. It was an amazing time.
I suppose much of it was ordinary to Indian people. That’s just the way they do things. None of it was ordinary for me so I’m glad to hear I’ve captured that sense of it all being completely extraordinary because that’s certainly how it was for me. Every day was a day of wide-eyed wonder.
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PS Thanks for all the likes 🙂
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This is wonderful. I love on-the-ground commentary and the dismantling of stereotypes (you made camels sound and look positively adorable). I wish that more people would hold hands here – so simple, not sexual, yet a subtle demonstration of affection and connection.
I really enjoyed reading this post.
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Thank you so much. It was an amazing time with much to take in. So rich in experiences.
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You are having such an amazing adventure – I’m so happy that you’re sharing it. Beautiful pictures, beautiful commentary.
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Thank you. I’m so happy you’re enjoying it.
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I love your life! I’ve only read this post and already I am living my dream vicariously through you. Never been to India. Never even dreamed of India. But my dream is to see the world. In high school, I made a list of cities I should be able to visit in my lifetime. I started with the cities I read a lot of in magazines and books and seen a lot of in the movies — New York, San Francisco, Rome, Milan, Paris, London, Beijing, etc. I found the list around 10 years ago and was happy to note I’ve checked off many items on it. The second phase would’ve been places that I didn’t read much of in books or see much of in movies, but still places that would not qualify as roads less traveled — Angouleme, the Baltic, northern Europe, the “stan” countries, Patagonia, central Australia, etc. But you get older and you get more complicated. I’ve also worked mostly in luxury, in magazines principally, so I travel first class most of the time, stay in places like The Four Seasons or the Shangri-La. I’ve been spoiled, but I vow to simplify my life, to rid myself of these unworthy standards of convenience, so that I could begin to imagine taking pleasure in a crowded train to Goa or camping in the bushes of Africa. I have no regrets about the choices I’ve made, but while the joys of the world led me to a career in magazines, while the good life to me was well-represented by travel, while the books that opened up my world had a travel element, a far-off feel to them — Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express” or “Death in the Nile,” for instance, or Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” why did I not choose to be a travel writer? That’s why, I think, I love movies like the Sean Penn-directed “Into the Wild” or the James Franco-starrer “127 Hours.” A part of me wants that the danger, the risks, that wanton abandon of life’s little comforts in favor of the possibility of a great adventure.
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I, OTOH would love the experience of travelling first class which I’ve never have except for the occasional hotel room or meal. I’m sure I’ll think I’ve died and gone to heaven if I ever get to fly first class. What I dream of is a combination of the two. In Pushkar, if we’d wanted to spend the enormous amounts of money required, we could have stayed in grand five star tent hotels out in the desert (but walking distance to the Mela). We would have missed out on so much that way. We would have missed out on the rich experience of daily life in the the town of Pushkar which will be described in the next post. My dream is to create enough income to have a balance. Sometimes a little luxury is a wonderful thing. But now instead we are off on a 3 day boat trip from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City, staying each night with local families, and exploring the floating villages of the Mekong Delta. Sometimes I don’t believe my life either! This 3 day trip, including accommodation and most meals, total for 2 of us cost $130.
I suspect it’s all also a “time of life” thing – you have a young child I gather (whose drawings are quite extraordinary by the way, and show a great talent) so it’s not the time to turn yourself into Indiana Jones 🙂
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I just finished reading part of you blog.I am also a wanderlust boomer and just retired at 63.My husband and I are world travelers and have been to many of the same places. I am posting because we were at the camel fair in Pushkar at the same time too bad we did not know each other to meet up. Riding a camel in the desert is now off my bucket list! Happy trails wherever you may be and may the universe take care of you during your travels. FYI…try Bhutan if you have not been. Off to Thailand in January. maybe we will run into each other there.
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Hi Joyce, thanks for visiting. Yes, too bad we didn’t know each other in Pushkar last year! Would have been fun to meet up. We would *love* to go to Bhutan, but are balking at the cost a little thus far. I imagine one day we’ll take the plunge anyway. How can you resist a nation that measures it’s success by a happiness quotient?! We just recently left Thailand – two weeks on the quiet end of the quiet beach on Koh Samui, and some time in Thailand and Chiang Mai. Really recommend a day tour we took to Thonburi, Bangkok – this one (though the company offers many other tours) :http://www.thaicanaltour.com/small_teak_weekend.php. Also really recommend the puppet shows at The Artists House – see my posts on Bangkok.
Happy travels to you too. We’re off to Montreal for a little family time then South America for 6 months.
Blessings
Alison
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Great pictures…I really appreciate with this post, Keep posting such kind of things always. Thanks
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Thanks Tyana, glad you liked it. There’s many more posts on India – just in case you’re interested. Put India in the search bar at the top of the page. Your website looks enticing and very thorough.
Blessings and namaste
Aliosn
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