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When a friend invited me
and a few other common
friends to spend a
long weekend in early
October at a tent resort
in Pushkar, which is owned by his
travel company, I was in a dilemma.
To join them I would have to cancel
my well-planned visit to an off-beat
resort in Kumaon. I am enchanted by
the majestic mountains, lush greenery,
gurgling streams, and early morning
mist of the hills - I had been really
looking forward to the vacation in the
hills. Also, having lived in Rajasthan
during my college days, I thought I had seen all there is to see in the
desert state. Besides, the idea of living
in a room stitched from a piece
of fabric, somehow did not appeal to
me. However, I ended up accepting
the invitation only for the company
of my friends. In retrospect, I do not
regret the decision at all.
The Brahma Temple The journey begins
Despite my protests, we began
our journey in our respective cars
at 5.30 in the morning for Pushkar,
which is about 350 km away from
Delhi near the city of Ajmer. This
was a good decision because we
breezed through the Gurgaon -
Manesar stretch before the hundreds
of thousands of office goers,
had even had their morning tea.
The Delhi-Jaipur stretch of the
NH8 is a mixed bag; the road surface
is good in parts, but peeling off in
others. Overall, the drive is not too
bad. The road is flanked by fields in
those areas where urbanisation has
not encroached on nature. At that
time of the year, the lovely yellow
of the blooming mustard fields was
a beautiful sight. The route is peppered with motels, restaurants, and
dhabas. It made me wonder whether
they all make money. Our first stop
was at the Mid-way hotel at Behror,
which gets more than its fair share of
the highway business, despite the indifferent
quality of its food. Perhaps
this is because it was the first to come
up, decades ago. What it does have
though is a music shop which has an
amazing variety to offer. In all my
visits to Jaipur, and there have been
many, I have found some music here
which has resonated with me. This
time was no exception!
It is an exhilarating feeling when
the Aravalis first make their appearance
on the skyline. A Café Coffee
Day outlet at Shahpura, overlooking
a beautiful hill, was our second
stop. Soon, we took the by-pass to
Ajmer, since we were not going to
Jaipur. The winding road touches
the outskirts of Jaipur, and then
heads straight to Ajmer. The drive
is very scenic and the road quality
is excellent. We reached Ajmer without any drama.
The road stretches on
The road from Ajmer to
Pushkar was another matter;
it was narrow and a single
lane. I was nearly run over,
not once but twice by trucks driven
by lunatics for drivers. I had, meanwhile,
lost track of the other cars in
our caravan and had to ask my way to
Pushkar. Perhaps, by mistake, I took
the longer but more scenic route that
passed through sleepy villages. I did
not mind. Pushkar, as I had imagined, turned out to be a small town. However,
I still managed to get lost and
after a few iterations, found my way
to the Orchard, the resort that we had
set out for.
Pushkar Lake Arriving at the resort
When I arrived, I found the rest of
the group sitting under a tree sipping
a cool welcome drink near the reception
area, which was a beautifully set
up large tent. The children, and there
were many, had begun to play in a
nearby open field. From my vantage
point I could see the dining area called
Gol Ghar. It was a rather large, round
cemented platform on which a tent
had been erected. There were comfortable
tables and chairs set along
the periphery of the platform and the
food was laid out on the tables. The
whole area was surrounded by amla
(gooseberry) trees, which were heavy
with fruit at that time. The kids had a
great time plundering the trees, even
though they did not like the sour taste
of the fruit. After the preliminaries we
tore into the well made food. When we
were done, we moved to our rooms,
sorry tents!
There were 10 of them, spaced
widely apart. I had imagined the tents
to be small enclosures with a makeshift
entrance suitable only for fouryear
olds. Was I in for a surprise? Each
tent, erected on a platform, was quite
spacious (590 sqft, I learnt later) and
had a high sloping pyramid-shaped
ceiling. The tents were air-conditioned
and had all the stuff of material comfort
- two large beds, an old-fashioned
dressing table, lounge chairs, a coffee
table, and even a sewing kit. I was greatly relieved to find that the toilet
was a permanent structure and not
made of fabric, and like the tent, it was
well appointed.
The Nagara player charms
The fatigue of the journey made
me doze off and I was roused from
my slumber by the thundering sound
of beating drums. The resort management
had organised a nagara (an
Indian drum) demonstration. The
nagara player was quite an expert and
claimed to have played with the Grateful
Dead. He even had CDs to prove it,
which were for sale. He soon got us all of family members, has travelled all
over the world and their passports had
more stamps than mine!
Sunset amid the sand dunes
However, the day was not over yet. We soon found
ourselves sitting on decked-up camel carts,
going to see the sunset from an expanse of sand
dunes. It was a breathtaking site, the ball of
fire getting softer and descending into the
horizon. Meanwhile, a group of villagers had
emerged from nowhere with their musical
instruments. They sang a few songs in their
beautiful lilting voices to the accompaniment of their single-string instruments. As
the sun went down and the sky broke
into a riot of colours, their songs created
magic. Not surprisingly, we were
less boisterous but more content on
the way back.
The sound of peacocks
After a hearty meal of Rajasthani
food we retired for the night, only to
be woken up in the wee hours of the
morning by a racket created by peacocks.
Bleary eyed I stumbled out of my tent to see a number of them running
amid the rose bushes. Though it
was a little early for my liking, it was a
good sight to wake up to. I then learnt
that some among us had already gone
to a temple on a nearby hill. I admired
their energy as I settled down to sip a
well-made cup of tea.
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Attraction at the resort |
Hot
air ballooning near the resort |
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Luxurious tents offer accommodation and
all
modern conveniences |
Live entertainment at the resort |
At Dargah Sharif in Ajmer
Almost an hour later, I set out
through the hilly road to Ajmer, to
visit Dargah Sharif, one of the holiest
shrines in India, venerated by both
Hindus and Muslims. Here lies the
tomb of Khwaja Moin-ud-din Chisti, a Sufi saint, who came to India from
Persia in 1197 AD. The dargah has an
enormous gate with silver doors. The
tomb is made of marble and has a
silver railing around it. The fragrance
of flowers and incense wafts in the
air. I made the customary offering of a
chaddar, which I procured from a shop
outside the shrine. Since I was early, I
managed to spend a few minutes in
silence, soaking in the spiritual energy,
before the crowds arrived. The dargah has huge cauldrons, said to be given by Emperor Akbar, in which food is
cooked at the time of Urs, and offered
freely. I was escorted by a khadim,
a young boy from the community
of people that has been serving the
pilgrims to the dargah for hundreds
of years. They are said to be descendants
of Hazrat Khwaja Faqruddin
Gurdezi, who was a close associate of
Garib Nawaz (benefactor of the poor),
as Khwaja Moin-ud-din Chisti is also
known. The boy explained the history
and significance of the different parts
of the dargah; he also said that some
members of the family had settled
down in foreign lands, but the family continues the tradition.
At Pushkar Lake
By the time we returned to the
Orchard, the sun was blazing and we
thought it wise to spend the day in our
air-conditioned tents. In the evening
we visited the other famous religious
site, this time on the Pushkar lake,
which the Hindu scriptures describe
as Tirtha Raj, or the king of pilgrimage.
Mythology connects the lake with the
creator of the universe, Brahma. The lake had been dry for a few years, but
has filled up because of the good rains
earlier this year and the conservation
efforts of the government. As the sun
set, the water reflected the colours of
the sky and the lights from the inhabited
areas on the hills surrounding it.
We sat on one of the 52 ghats that surround
the lake and a pandit performed
a puja for us, narrating the mythology
surrounding the creation of the lake,
and its religious significance. He also
performed some rites for the peace of
our ancestors. Though not an overtly
religious person, I did sense a certain
holiness about the place. We then climbed the steps to the Bramha temple,
one of the very few temples dedicated
to the creator of the universe, according
to Hindu mythology. There are many
other temples in the vicinity, but we
did not have the opportunity to visit
them.
It had been a very uncommon day;
how often does one visit two of the holiest
places of two major religions of the
world on the same day? Our day ended
with a great meal at Gol Ghar, before
retiring for the night.
The end
The next morning, after lazing outside
our tents with many cups of tea,
and watching the sun rise gently into
the sky, we reluctantly got ready to leave
Pushkar. As we drove out of the town
onto the highway, we carried with us
fond memories of this unique place and
vowed to come back one day to explore
more of its religious heritage and, of
course, to witness the world
famous annual camel fair
held here! |
