The main attraction in Ajmer is a Hindu temple. It is so special because it is the only Brahma temple in the world/India (mixed information). However, after seeing the amazing temple in Udaipur, we were disappointed. The loser outside the temple who ran the shoe cabinets (one cannot take shoes or bags into the temple) tried to rip us off, and the temple itself was very dirty and underwhelming. Hindus bring small sweets and flowers as offerings, and all of the little candies were stuck on the ground, and in turn were sticking to our socks. The temple was not very well cared for, nor big, nor very intricate. In all, it was a major bummer and we even ended up recommending against it to another tourist who asked our opinion just outside the gates.
The other big attraction is the Dargah Mosque. It’s an enormous Sufi mosque made entirely out of white marble. A man who volunteered there gave us a tour of the place and explained lots of things about the sect. They offer free meals to those who cannot afford to eat (you don’t have to be Muslim), and it appears as though they allow people to sleep on the grounds as well. Our tour had hardly begun and the monsoon rains came at full force. Most of the mosque is open-roofed, except for various small rooms around the grounds. We scampered into one room, which housed the body of a saint. The room was beautifully decorated in fabrics, lights, candles, incense, and thousands of lovely smelling flowers. We watched for a minute as pilgrims entered and made their offerings. We set back out into the rain to get to another room, and let me tell you, wet marble when you’re barefoot is VERY slippery. Jeff was following the guide, and I was following Jeff, and I guess I was walking a bit too fast. I slipped and smacked onto the ground, and as I was falling, I made a mental note to stick my left arm out so I wouldn’t fall directly onto my tail bone and break it. Instead, I jammed my wrist, elbow, and shoulder and it HURT. And it was so embarrassing! Everyone was watching the stupid white girl fall because she can’t handle the monsoon. And my bottom was soaked! Awful all around. After Jeff and I left the mosque, we went back to Mango Masala to get some yummy food, and my elbow was just getting more and more swollen. I couldn’t really bend it more than 10 degrees, so we improvised a sling out of my scarf. We had to catch a bus that night to Pushkar, and we were getting nervous about me being able to carry all my stuff.
Our hotel owner convinced us to go to the hospital, so they helped us find an appropriate one. They assured us that it was a very big, very nice hospital. We took a rickshaw and it turned out to be more of a very small clinic, with one doctor specializing in gynecology, and the other in joints. The receptionist said the doctor was in surgery but would be available soon, so in the meantime, a technician took two x-rays (100 rupees = $2) and told me that there was no fracture. Yes! The doctor finally emerged from surgery, wheeling the patient on an ancient-looking gurney through the waiting room, his knee wrapped in a dressing. They took him to the room where they took my x-ray (?), then wheeled him out the front door. Rather different than how it’s done in the states. Anyway, the doctor looked at my arm and decided it was a sprain and prescribed me some huge Tylenols, vitamin B complex, calcium, and something I searched on Google later and found was for stomach ulcers (??). They put me in a plaster splint and sling and filled all the medicine there for me. The total cost? About $25. He asked me if I had insurance to cover it… I didn’t want to explain how it wouldn’t even be worth my time to make a claim, so I just said no.
We went back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and Jeff was an amazing muscle man! He carried his 50lb backpack on his back, and mine in his arms! Such a nice boyfriend. We caught a rickshaw to the bus station, where we bought our tickets and got on an incredibly cramped bus. The ride to Pushkar is very short, only 30 minutes or so, but it goes through the mountains and I guess that doesn’t sit so well with some people. An older man in front of us one row hung his head out the window the whole time, and eventually threw up a Thanksgiving dinner’s worth.
Pushkar is known as one of the holiest cities in India. It is believed that Brahma dropped a lotus flower to the earth and it created a lake, around which the city of Pushkar is built. It is very strictly vegetarian, no eggs, no tobacco, no alcohol. Our hotel was very friendly and conveniently located, even though the city is extremely small. After needing Jeff to put my hair in a ponytail for me because of my arm, we grabbed dinner the hotel’s rooftop restaurant and went to bed.
The next morning we got breakfast down in the bazaar and watched tons of monkeys leaping from building to building! Very entertaining. Although we felt like the monkeys for most of the morning as all of the locals were literally gawking at us, turning their heads to stare as they walked past. Very irritating. One wonderful thing about Pushkar, though, is that there are no autorickshaws in the center, so it is almost free from piercingly loud horns. We walked down to the holy lake and were approached by a “priest” as we knew we would be. He said to take off our shoes (because it is holy ground around the lake) and come with him down to the water. Because I needed Jeff to tie my shoes, I decided to stay sitting up on the ghats (stairs leading down to the water). I watched as he performed the prayer with Jeff and blessed him. Another man had come up to me, clearly not even trying to dress like a priest, and asked if I wanted a blessing as well. I said that my husband (it’s better to make Jeff my husband in lots of situations) was taking care of it for me, and that I’d talk to him when he returned from his blessing. Without asking me, the man tied the typical red string around my wrist. I couldn’t hear anything, but I observed Jeff and the “priest” talking and I could tell that it was the mandatory donation part of the prayer. Jeff returned to me, with the priest following behind, and explained the situation: he had given 200 rupees, and the priest then said that he should give 200 more for me and my family (since Jeff said he was doing the prayer for me). We explained that the 200 rupees was for both of us, since we were married and had the same family, the same money. The priest was unrelenting, insisting that it was bad karma, bad karma. Then, the other man who had tied the string on my wrist, said that he needed money, too, and that I had said that my husband would give it to him. Which was nonsense. They said that most people give thousands of rupees. The men were extremely pushy, but we eventually got out of it and quickly retreated to a nearby restaurant for a cold lassi. It’s exhausting getting rid of scammers!! We told the story to the cool, young waiters at our hotel restaurant later, and they said that once an American woman stayed at their hotel she got scammed into giving them $300! She later complained to the hotel staff and wanted to call the police, but it’s not like these guys are breaking the law.
Holy scam lake at Pushkar
We spent the rest of our time in Pushkar roaming the city, and Jeff took an awful tabla (traditional Indian drums) lesson. We took a bus back to Ajmer, where we boarded a rather luxurious train to Jaipur.
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