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Pushkar, India
26° 30' N 74° 33' E
Apr 18, 2006 12:18
Distance 857km

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Other entries in Pushkar

Ya gotta have R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Text written in: English

So Max, Noah and I left Mumbai early monday morning and headed to Rajistan for some sightseeing. Our first destination: Pushkar.

After an uneventful plane ride, a sampling of the rajistani dessert gulab jammin (fried cheese soaked in honey), and a semi-eventful, extremely bumpy bus ride, we wound up in Pushkar being hounded by reps from various hotels. As we had planned for this eventuality we tried singing very loudly to avoid the hassle, but eventually we broke-down and followed one young guy to his uncle's place. As soon as we put down our bags, we headed out to see what there is to see. In pushkar (a very holy city), this means the famous Brahma temple and about 50 ritual bathing sites (ghats).

On our walk we noticed with glee that cows freely roamed throughout the city. They walked through the streets without fear. They sat in the middle of busy roads, without being shooed away. They shit right next to some guys shop as we were looking. They swished their tails right in your face. This town was quite picturesque. Once we arrived at the Brahma temple, we were immediately instructed to take off our shoes, and then told that we had to take flowers up to the temple as a sign of 'respect.' Not wanting to offend anyone (especially as this is a religious thing), I took the flowers and went up the steps. Max refused the flowers saying that he didnt feel like being bullied into doing something he didnt feel comfortable doing (at the time I thought he was just being obstinate).

The temple itself was nothing impressive. It seems that most functioning Hindu temples are not impressive. I was, however, very happy to remain at the temple for a while. The space was calm, without hassle, and I watched the real pilgrims in their rituals. Most notable to me were the people who had come to the temple for healing. One entire family had brought a young child who appeared to have some sort of nueromuscular problem. The attitudes of these people were of great reverence and sadness, and this display of faith and hope touched me. Just the look on the face of one woman as she backed out of the temple will always be burned into my memory; she had no other recourse. 

Unfortunately, I was interrupted by a brahman (in plain clothes) who told me to drop a flower in a ghat out of 'respect' for the religion. Seeing as how he wanted to talk with me more, I decided to take my leave. As soon as we walked out of the temple, we were almost shoved into the first ghat down the road.

This ghat was a large slab which had two different sets of wide white stairs leading into the lake. One covered, one open. Immediately a slick looking guy came up to me and asked me where my flower was. i told him I had none ( i lied) and that I simply wished to watch the pilgrims cleanse themselves in the river. I could already see some bobbing up and down right in front of the uncovered stairs in front of me. This "priest" told me that I had to make a wish in the ghat and to counter I told him that I had no wishes. Then he told me that I had to drop a flower in out of 'respect.' Then his cell phone rang, which struck me as odd. yet even as this supposed holy man chattered away that word bore into my conciousness. Respect. And again not wishing to offend I soon followed this man down part of the covered stairs to do the ritual. He rushed me through some ritual, marked my forehead, and then asked me how much money I would give him as a 'donation.' Immediately, the word respect flashed into my head, and I was tempted to just give him some money, but I couldnt do it. So I said:

"I saw a donation box up near the top, I can give there later." To which the slick man answered:

"you can give now to me, 200 or 300, whatever you like." His obstinance only made me resolute in my desire to give later or not at all.

"I dont think so, I would like to think first, and then I can give when I am done." All the while I was still holding a coconut and a string (which the brahman would tie around my hand once I had given him money). The slickster of course had a response for this:

"This is not religious, you give now... whatever you like."

"But we are in a religious place, and you are asking for money..."

"whatever you like sir, then you can sit here for as long as you like" at which point I become infuriated. I tried to remain calm, and managed to squeeze out:

"You want to talk about respect? Its not fair for you to rush me through a religious ceremony I dont understand and then ask me for money without explaining anything to me or giving me time to actually contemplate any religious thing..." I hadnt finished but was interrupted by a cell phone ring and the voice of the brahman:

"no its not fair or fair, just karma"

Coldy I said: "if its a question of karma, I give nothing." The Brahman swooped the coconut of my hand and pointed up the stairs and told me that I had to leave as he rushed up the stairs himself while answering his cell phone.

All of a sudden Max's obstinance didnt seem ridiculous. Why should I be bullied into giving money to a guy who abuses my fear of being religiously insensitive? What respect did he show me? Much respect to max to recognizing the scam. After all, if there are certain terms by which one must visit these sites, then they ought to be clearly stated, and if not I am sorry that such an ancient religion, which still works to give people hope, is abused for the sake of money.