The Rajasthan Diaries - Day 4, Pushkar Fair Grounds and the Market

The musician who played music for me yesterday passed me by and gave me a big smile - good luck to you brother. We stopped at our kachori place which was still getting warmed up. I had kullad chai while Vasu and Abhinay had this jeera type drink with soda. Then kachori, the best I have ever eaten. Abhinay pointed us to the lassi shop which had served him bhang wala lassi the year before and had knocked him and his friend out for a whole day. Feeling quite sated we headed out into the market again.

Kullad chai Best kachori man Best kachori man

We walked through the market again and found some exquisite buildings that showed up in day light. We stopped at a shop where this man sold clothes and he had this picture of Neem Karoli Baba. I asked him if he was a bhakt and he said he and his brother were. He however could not yet go to the ashram - I told him I did! Also he told us this story of a young lady who came to his shop drawn by the Baba's force and how she broke down on seeing his picture in the store. Some more shopping in the morning done. And hey, I picked up a couple of those books that are peculiar to Pushkar -some paper that is not made of wood. Very interesting stuff.

Vegetable market - colourful

 

Market waking up

 

Lovely old building 

 

Another one

 

Market

Now on to the mela grounds. 

The idea was to look into the actual mela grounds and see what they were up to and then buy Vasu his axe that he wanted. We walked through the market and went to the mela grounds which were quite empty. Anyway we got a picture of the 'Pushkar Fair' gate and that was it. 

Check out those two smoking a chillam

 

Mela entrance - deserted

We walked into the exhibition which was empty as well and spoke to the Animal Husbandry guy who confirmed that the cattle Fair had been postponed mainly because of the lumpy skin disease which had affected the cattle and they feared it might spread in a fair of this proportion. Apparently the cattle lose their immunity and it reduces their output as well. It not dangerous to consume their milk though he said.

Inside - A and V

Vasu was keen to put a dishti mark on Abhinay since his pants had been attracting a lot of attention (reminded me of a dishti I need to do as well). We found this most charming of girls selling peanuts and while I bought roasted nuts Vasu took some coal and applied a mark. She suggested that we apply the mark behind the ear - something about kaan ke neeche. I wish I had taken a picture of hers - she was so unaffected, so charming, so  herself.

Trade Fair

 

Another Kali maa

We wandered down the road to buy the axe, bought it and then headed back to the Vela Resort. It was close to 11 am by then. We had been out walking for a good four hours since morning. We bid our good bys to Vicky who said he was keen to come to Hyderabad where he had relatives in Begum Bazar. He wanted to go to Srisailam but his time had not yet come he said. He asked us for some feedback and we said we were thrilled by his personal care and warmth and he was happy that we were satisfied. That done we went back, packed up and got into the car. 

Onwards to Jaipur and hopefully get one of the better laal maas restaurants before we caught our flights. Mine was at 530 and Vasu's (he was heading to Delhi) at 730.