Pushkar and Agra

A game of cricket in action - the Indians surely love their cricket and you see scenes like this every day - no matter where in India you are - on a city street, a narrow alleyway, a fortified ghost city, etc...
Fatehpur Sikri
Fatehpur Sikri
Have you ever seen a horse with pigtails? This was a first for me - only in India.

Taj Mahal, Agra
One of the four entrances to the Taj Mahal
Having dinner with Puja and her family
Puja, one of our many Indian friends

Village woman working in rice field
A demonstration of the display of colors found on the streets in India
Mommy - one of our village friends
One of the hundreds of monkeys on the top of the hill overlooking Pushkar - striking a pose
So, you climb all the way up this hill to visit a temple, and you're expecting something organic and wholesome. What you find is a temple, ornately decorated and you go inside to find the shrine encircled with disco lights and outside, a trash can that looks like it belongs in an amusement park (pictured above) Very strange - in my opinion
At the top of the mountain, overlooking Pushkar. You can see the temple in the background, Pushkar lake and the surrounding city below and the farmlands that lie on the outskirts of the city.
At one of the several ghats surrounding Pushkar lake

The next stop on our route was the holy city of Pushkar - a small, magical, desert-edged town surrounding a lake. The lake is surrounded by 400 temples and the holy lake is said to have appeared when Brahma (Hindu god) dropped a lotus flower. It's an important Hindu pilgrimage centre, with one of the world's few Brahma temples. Pushkar is also a very touristy town - filled with loads of hippies and it's one of those places that you can easily stay longer than planned. We ended up staying for 5 nights - which was much needed after being on the move for the past couple of weeks. You can easily pass by all of your time shopping in Pushkar, as the streets are filled with all sorts of shops selling anything from clothes, spices, jewelry, cd's, hats, purses, etc... I think that I got the shopping out of my system there - or at least that's what I'm hoping. My favorite day in Pushkar was the day that we climbed up a small mountain which overlooks the city and the surrounding area. At the top of the mountain is a temple, loads of monkeys, and a spectacular 360 degree view. We met a nice guy from Bombay the previous night and spent the day with him, walking around the lake visiting the temples, climbing up to see the temple and mingling with the local villagers. Since he is from India - and also used to live in New York City - he was very helpful in teaching us about the local customs and what we were looking at in the temples. In addition, he was able to speak fluent Hindi with the locals which allowed us an opportunity to hang out in the village and drink some chai with the villagers. One woman (who is pictured above), who they called Mommy, was infatuated with Amanda and spent the entire time staring at her, laughing and at one point, laying her head in Amanda's lap. We stayed in a lovely place, which only cost us 150 rupees ($4.00) per night for the two of us. I attended a yoga session one morning which was very interesting - as it was literally held in the bedroom of a very well-known Reiki healing master. Only 3 of us could attend the class at one time because that's all that could fit into his bedroom - and most of the time, one of us had to sit against the wall while the other two performed the stretches. Nothing surprises me anymore in this country. I'm not sure if I've touched upon the social etiquette of bodily functions in India - there is none. Hearing people hack of loogies (a.k.a. spit balls) is an everyday occurrence and EVERYONE does it - women, children, men - haven't seen the cows do it yet but I wouldn't be surprised. The same goes for burping - people will burp at any time, anywhere and if it happens to be right in your face or while they are helping you master a pose in a yoga class - it doesn't even cross their mind. This has taken some getting used to. On the trains, anything goes. The entire night is filled with the sounds of snoring, burping, hocking up loogies, farting and last night on the train, it was a man below us who yelled out in his sleep all night. Anyway, had to throw that in there because it is an integral part of the culture here in India. So, back to the yoga session - it got me thinking about all of that because the teacher literally burped in my face at one point.
Besides the climb up the mountain, my other favorite experience was our last night in Pushkar. During a stroll around town, we ended up in an area where most of the villagers live, also the site of the yearly Pushkar camel festival. A little girl, named Puja, befriended us and asked us to come to her house and meet her mom. Reluctantly, at first, and after some serious urging by Puja, we decided to go ahead and meet her mother. She took us to her home, which consisted of a one foot brick wall, about 8 x 8 feet in dimensions and covered with a tent made out of blankets. It was open on both ends and inside there were two beds, made of metal with no mattresses and very few blankets to house her family of 5 (mom, dad and 3 kids). Her father quickly came to meet us and brought out a huge bag filled with envelopes and pictures that other travelers had sent them. It became apparent that Puja brought many travelers home to meet her parents and that they had touched the hearts of most of the travelers they met. They must have had hundreds of pictures and letters that people had sent them. They asked us to read a letter that they just received from someone in the United States and it was a letter from a man to let them know that he had sent $100 over Western Union to the principal of the school so that their children could attend school for the year. We then heard the heartbreaking story that belonged to this family. They had lived in a small house, across the street, for 17 years (or more) and the landlord was a nice man and didn't make them pay rent. The father owned a camel and was in the business of taking people on camel treks. Then, the landlord sold the house to someone else and that man decided to kick them out because they couldn't afford to pay the rent. They literally kicked them out onto the streets - all of his belongings and his entire family. His youngest son got very sick and had to go to the hospital - so in turn, he had to sell his camel to pay for the hospital bill. Now they are living in a tent made of blankets and when it rains, they just get wet. And right now it is winter here in Rajasthan and very cold at night. They have hardly any blankets and no mattresses to sleep on. They invited us to have dinner with them and to come and learn how to cook some Indian food. We accepted their invitation and came back a few hours later. We helped them to prepare dhal and chappati and talked with them at length about their lives and their situation. It was hard to watch as the father sat there shivering from the cold and in bare feet - he was literally skin and bones. They served us first and we sat and ate with the children, while the parents waited for us to finish and then they ate. We brought fruit with us to share and they were very thankful. We sat surrounded by the small fire of the stove and after dinner, the kids all piled up around the fire and fell asleep. It was absolutely heart-wrenching to see such a thing. We ended up giving them money so that they could at least buy 2 really good quality, thick blankets and it is in my hopes that they used the money to get what they need. It was uplifting to see how much they cared for their children and how much energy they put into making sure that they were getting a good education. Puja spoke fantastic English, along with some bits and pieces of other languages. At one point, the mother who was wearing two red bracelets - took them off and gave one to me and one to Amanda. Imagine this - here is a family who has nothing and literally lives day to day - some days not even being able to eat - and they invited us for dinner and then insisted on giving us the bracelets off of her arm. People never stop amazing me, that's for sure. I couldn't hold back the tears as we walked away from their tent, and I was deeply touched and moved by the experience.
After leaving Pushkar, we headed for Agra - home the the infamous Taj Mahal. We stayed in a place that had a spectacular rooftop with a view of the Taj. It was just as spectacular as expected, as you can see from the pictures. We had some funny times while at the Taj Mahal. Another popular thing here in India is to, apparently, have your picture taken with a western woman. People will just randomly come up to you and ask you if they can have just one picture with you. It's a bit odd and at times, you don't know what to say. We had this experience while visiting the Taj Mahal - two men were insistent upon having their picture taken with us and after repeatedly refusing, I finally said ok. We took one picture but it wasn't enough - they followed us all around outside and then asked again - I finally said yes again, only if they promised to stop following us. After they got their picture - the crowd starting lining up to get their picture. It was out of hand and finally, i resorted to walking around with my entire head and face covered with my scarf. Our second day in Agra, we took a bus to a place called Fatehpur Sikri - a magnificent fortified ghost city. It was the short-lived capital of the Mughal empire between 1571 and 1585, during the reign of Emperor Akbar. The palace and buildings are well-preserved and it was well worth the visit, as you can see from the pictures - although it doesn't really do it justice.