D107 -- They ALL break here

We left this morning for our 3-hour drive to Pushkar. On the way out of Jaipur our driver Bunty was pulled over by a police officer. After being asked for some paperwork he stepped out of the car and went behind a little food stall with the officer. He was back quickly – the officer had apparently pulled him over for running a red light (which several other cars had also done) and accepted a bribe of 100 rupees (about $2) to let Bunty off without a ticket. Things work just a little differently here.

The drive to Pushkar was stunning, not so much for the landscape, but for the juxtaposition of the colorfully dressed people against the monochromatic desert scenery. I saw one man dressed all in bright white, with a neon orange turban, riding his bike. Around every corner was a cinematographer's dream. Beautiful!!!




We made it to Puskar around lunch time. It's a small town on the edge of the Rajasthani desert famous for its holy lake. There are temples surrounding the lake, and many “ghats,” or access areas to the lake, where you can pray and bathe in the waters. Gandhi's ashes were scattered at one of these ghats following his cremation. After we checked into the hotel Bunty recommended (nice!), he dropped us off near the town center. We walked around the narrow streets amidst all the cows and the trash, and the cows eating trash...

There were several persistent children who followed us around asking for money. One young teenager came up to me and asked the standard “Where are you from, what's your name?” and then took my hand and was about to touch something pointy to it. I pulled away from her and said “what are you doing?!?” She said it was henna. Oh – it was kind of like a pastry bag filled with henna. I told her I didn't want my hands decorated with henna, thank you, and felt a little embarrassed about being alarmed. But hey, it looked sharp – and she shouldn't be grabbing people's hands. It was all getting a little too much for me, so we went back to the hotel for a rest.

Later on we went to one of the larger Hindu temples. I was very excited since most architecture we'd seen so far in India had been Islamic, but India is over 80% Hindu. We got there and paid someone to watch our shoes while we went in – there were several little stalls set up for this purpose and they also give you flowers for use in the temple. One of the men at the stalls said he was a student of the temple and that he would show us around for free – he just asked that we make a donation to the temple. We didn't say yes or no, he just kind of came along. We walked up the steps (past some monkeys of course) and into the temple, where there was a main worship area. The student told us to take our flowers to the man in that main area and he added something – maybe candy? - to them. There were also several niches here and there for worshiping various gods, and we were instructed to leave a flower in front of a statue of Ganesha (the one with the elephant head). We really couldn't understand what the student was saying because his English was poor, so we didn't get much out of the temple visit. He told us that the Hindu practice after visiting this temple is to take the flowers to a specific ghat to say prayers for family members and then release them in the holy waters.


So we followed him out of the temple and down the road to the ghat, where our flowers were put on trays with rice and some red and yellow powders. There, another man came and sat with Thomas by the water, and the student sat with me a little ways away. Separately they each led us through the prayers that Hindus say for their families and explained the symbolism of the items on the plate. I find it so interesting to learn about how other people (other than Catholic - since that's what I'm familiar with) pray. Aside from this intellectual curiosity, I found the prayers and practices he was sharing with me very beautiful and moving. That's when the sales pitch started. The student started to ask me how much I was going to donate, saying that some people give $100, some $50, but it depends on how many family members you are praying for. Whoa! I immediately felt duped, and so angry that I had been taking this guy seriously when he was obviously trying to shake me down. I told him I'd give him $5 and of course he seemed shocked. Apparently $5 won't buy a lot of karma for my family members! But I held firm so he finished up with the prayers and had me release my flowers and assorted items into the water. About this time, Thomas tells me, “Are you about done? I think it's time to go.” Turns out he was getting the shake down, too. Initially, his guy told him the money was all for the charities of the temple, but when Thomas wouldn't agree to give more than $3, he told Thomas that he needed money to care for his elderly parents. We left, and about a block later a little boy in the street threw rocks at me.

If you read our blog frequently you'll know we love The Amazing Race, in which teams are sent on a race around the world, often to very "exotic" places. Most people do just fine wherever they're sent, but they ALL break in India. Well, this was MY breaking point. It's one thing to ask for money in the streets, but to use religious practices to manipulate others and make money – that's just wrong. And now I'm being pelted by rocks! I wanted to cry and I wanted to leave those dirty, cow dung-covered streets far, far behind.

-Elva