Climax of a Frenzy
Just when I thought it couldn't get any wilder than this everything turns loose and upside down.
There had been a constant stream of people comeing to town over the last couple of days but today busloads came in literally every five minutes.
Two places I had zet to see: The Brahma Temple of which there are only two in India and the Saraswati temple up on the hill overlooking Pushkar.
The Brahma temple you were not allowed to take any bags into. But checking them at a "locker" was not really an option. So I left my bag a the hotel altogether. Not my first choice but the best under the circumstances. I lied and told the guard at the gate the bulge in my pants where not a camera but my mobile phone and just continued.
You can't imagine the pushing and shoving at the entrance. Neatly standing in line is just not an Indian thing. And with pilgrims outnumbering police 100:1, go figure.
But that was nothing compared to the zoo at the shrine itself. Everyone was desperately trying to present his offering to Lord Brahma pushing everybody else out of the way. It was so much, there were assistants who took the bags of sugar balls from the pilgrims and poped them in the offering bowl. Not all of it though. First you migh need some for other sectiopns of the temple too, and second the offering bowls would fill up too quickly!
Later I climbed the hill overlooking Pushkar to visit the Saraswati temple. Some hike in the burning afternoon sun. I took plenty of water only to find a kiosk tending to all earthly needs at the top of the hill. There was even basting music and some monkeys eating the left overs of the apes climbing the hill.
I can only imagine what the view must be like with a full lake Pushkar in the valley.
Back in town and taking a last stroll along the bathing ghats a fireworks display went off. I would have expected this to be mentioned in the mela program flyer. But no. This might also be a reason why attendane seemed rather low. there was hardly anybody when the ghats could have been packed if properly announced. But it might also be that Indians are just not very fond of fireworks. Thre were quite a few people very casually walking by not taking any notice of the show.
Oh well.
Tomorrow I heading back to Jaipur once again. And for the lack of available bus space I'm renting a car with driver for the 2,5h ride (which took the bus rather 4h).
I will try to see some more of the city that came just a little too short the other day. From there I'll fly on to Udaipur in a couple of days. The alternative would have been to take a 9h bus or train from here, neither of which are very much to my gusto right now.
On the other hand who knows what effect the burning oil depot at Jaipur has.
Thurday night the fire started at a leak in a pipeline. Soon the entire depot was ablaze. Any security expert that they are, there was nothing else they still could do once a couple of the 12 huge tanks caught fire. "Firefighters abandoned earlier attempts to extinguish the blaze and expect the flames to die out in the coming days."
India oil blaze rages on
There had been a constant stream of people comeing to town over the last couple of days but today busloads came in literally every five minutes.
Two places I had zet to see: The Brahma Temple of which there are only two in India and the Saraswati temple up on the hill overlooking Pushkar.
The Brahma temple you were not allowed to take any bags into. But checking them at a "locker" was not really an option. So I left my bag a the hotel altogether. Not my first choice but the best under the circumstances. I lied and told the guard at the gate the bulge in my pants where not a camera but my mobile phone and just continued.
You can't imagine the pushing and shoving at the entrance. Neatly standing in line is just not an Indian thing. And with pilgrims outnumbering police 100:1, go figure.
But that was nothing compared to the zoo at the shrine itself. Everyone was desperately trying to present his offering to Lord Brahma pushing everybody else out of the way. It was so much, there were assistants who took the bags of sugar balls from the pilgrims and poped them in the offering bowl. Not all of it though. First you migh need some for other sectiopns of the temple too, and second the offering bowls would fill up too quickly!
Later I climbed the hill overlooking Pushkar to visit the Saraswati temple. Some hike in the burning afternoon sun. I took plenty of water only to find a kiosk tending to all earthly needs at the top of the hill. There was even basting music and some monkeys eating the left overs of the apes climbing the hill.
I can only imagine what the view must be like with a full lake Pushkar in the valley.
Back in town and taking a last stroll along the bathing ghats a fireworks display went off. I would have expected this to be mentioned in the mela program flyer. But no. This might also be a reason why attendane seemed rather low. there was hardly anybody when the ghats could have been packed if properly announced. But it might also be that Indians are just not very fond of fireworks. Thre were quite a few people very casually walking by not taking any notice of the show.
Oh well.
Tomorrow I heading back to Jaipur once again. And for the lack of available bus space I'm renting a car with driver for the 2,5h ride (which took the bus rather 4h).
I will try to see some more of the city that came just a little too short the other day. From there I'll fly on to Udaipur in a couple of days. The alternative would have been to take a 9h bus or train from here, neither of which are very much to my gusto right now.
On the other hand who knows what effect the burning oil depot at Jaipur has.
Thurday night the fire started at a leak in a pipeline. Soon the entire depot was ablaze. Any security expert that they are, there was nothing else they still could do once a couple of the 12 huge tanks caught fire. "Firefighters abandoned earlier attempts to extinguish the blaze and expect the flames to die out in the coming days."
India oil blaze rages on
posted by Jan Siebrecht at 17:24:00
4 Comments:
Was fuer ein Feuerwerk in Jaipur !!! Ein Jammer, das ganze schoene Benzin oder Diesel oder ... Jaipur ist auf jeden Fall noch ein en oder zwei Tage wert. Und gut, dass Du die Strecke nach Udaipur fliegst und nicht den ganzen Tag im Bus verplemperst. Obwohl: auch das ist ein Erlebnis fuer sich, very special ...
Einen schoenen Gruss von
Pa dem Vadder
Philipp und ich sind damals nochmal hoch zum Amber Fort in Jaipur gelatscht und haben uns da einen schoenen ruihgen Tage mit Blick ueber die Stadt gemacht. Und der Peha hat mir in der Zwischenzeit die Feinheiten der deutschen Politik erklaert. War auch was wert.
...was für Feinheiten der Politik denn?
Ich meine, dass wir irgendwie mit einem Tuktuk da zu dem fort sind.
Da musste man auch ein bisschen Eintritt bezahlen, war's aber wert.
Irgendwo stand dann ein Schild, dass wenn man sich an diesem Punkt ohne eine gültige Eintrittskarte befindet, man ins Indische Gefängnis kommt. Da haben wir aber ganz schön in unseren speckigen Travelerhosen gewühlt, ich sachs dir, Harry.
Zurück sind wir dann mit dem Überlandbus gefahren, das hat einen einstelligen Rupienpreis gekostet und war echt auch seine Reise wert. Aber in der Tat, 9 Stunden im Bus hocken, da kann einem ganz schön der Hintern weh tunt (zumal wenn sich da ein Inder noch zu einem auf die Bank kuschelt, weil der das so schön findet, neben einem Weißen zu sitzen, der jetzt sein neuer Freund ist...
In diesem Sinne, noch viel Spaß in Pushkar.
Gruß vom
Indienexperte aus Vörstetten
Im Westen nix Neues, aber in Jaipur und dann in Udaipur, da wirds wieder was geben.
Und wo hast du in Pushkar eigentlich uebernachtet?
Warst du auch in Jodpur und in Jaisalmer?
Wir haben gerade die Helga auf den Flieger gesetzt.
Allah, noch schoene Taeg in India
momydad
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