Pushkar

Found a laundry in my street, and it's well time to de-filth my cycling pants, plus put in about 7 pairs of undies/socks. Jeans were refreshed for the very first time. 

Breakfast was a standard yellow rice with tomato and onion. I was able to ask a British lady, who'd just ordered, about it. 

Went back to my room, got ready. When I popped out Cookie was there, great timing. 

We wandered down to the lake, then out along a sandy road lined with plastic rubbish, dogs and cows, plus some very pretty cultivated fields. 

He's about 6'4, dreadlocks down to the back of his calves,  Harry Potter glasses, Rasta clothes, bare foot with henna tattoos on them. He gets a lot of requests for selfies. He fist pumps,  never shakes hands,  can't see the point, you never know what those hands have touched or if they ever get washed. Many who leave the toilets do not wash them. True in Aust also, I'd rather not think about it. 

He's been to about 50 countries. 

We had lunch.  I never realised that they water down the dahl etc in the Thali, until he pointed that out. 

He showed me the over coat, like a warm poncho, that he's making. The shop owner lets him use the scrap and the sewing machines, so it's a bit like a patchwork quilt. 

It was time to try using the squat toilet. It turned out to be pretty comfortable. I won't be scared in future! You just need to be mindful of flushing it with a big bucket. For my readers benefit, you squat with the hole to the rear. 

An arvo snooze later and the rest was just wandering, shopping, seeing the old buildings. 

I picked up the laundry about 5 past 8. In Shimla laundry was a couple of thousand, Amritsar cost about 750. Today's roulette wheel of washing comes in at 250.

 

Getting to Pushkar

Started early from the hotel, about 8. The main road is still boring but much less traffic. I guzzled a litre to be sure of peeing clear. Near the toll gate, there's a spot against a wall, but looking up halfway through, I spotted a man behind the window at the weighbridge. The window faces my show but luckily the man is avoiding the view.

I took a left at Barr, and got another bottle. A man starts chatting,  then introduced one, then another brother,  a niece etc. He offered a tea, seemed nice so we all went into his courtyard opening to the road. They pulled up a chair, and I was ready to sit, although the legs etc weren't painful at this time. 

There's about 4 brothers, two wives, 5 kids. They offer some breakfast which is a capsicum ayvar type thing,  delicious,  and a Sabz of cauliflower etc, v delicious. 

One girl speaks quite ok English,  finishing a BSc, but I can't find out in what. 

The road that follows is rural.  

Herds of goats are on the road. 

There are many small villages. Kids yell out, I think, hello.

I felt the back tyre was pretty low. There's a massive thorn. I repaired that but after pumping it up, it goes fully down. A motorbike rider with a half drunk pillion, he says, watched and asked questions about visas. Surely I could get them one?

The pillion found the second hole. Patching that seemed to be ok, but I tried to pedal faster.

Further on, the motorbike rider stops me to say my shirt looks very good... can he have it? I'd gotten it from The Hub, wanted to reduce weight,  so pretty happy to give it. He seemed pretty happy. 

A vet on a lovely Royal Enfield gave me a hand. 

He is very strong. He dragged me the last couple of k's into his village. 

We had a seat and a milk chai. 

At last it was only 12 to go. There are commercial flower gardens, some walled fields. I would have stopped to take a picture but it's very late.  I arrived juat after dark. The place looks like the Gold Coast. I'm very disappointed. However the main part of town has many historic buildings so all good. 

There are so many foreigners here. One asked about my bike. He is about 6'3, has dreadlocks tied i in a bun, comes from Manchester. He gets asked for selfies all the time, just like me. His name is Cookie.

He told me about where he's been staying. So now I'm here too. 

Hotel Shanti Palace होटल शांति पैलेस is an old Haveli with many rooms. 

I'm looking at How to Use a Squat Toilet on WikiHow.

Sojat and the LAHAR INN Chandawal

Got up about 8, went to the temple to say farewell and have breakfast. Some randoms get me to circle the smoky incense plate. Pintu gets me to chant the 108 x ohm rim err-a-hum namaha. I said farewell,  had breakfast in the temple, a couple of sweets from the shop, said bye to Pintu 's mum at their home, got home, packed. 

The twinkly eyed hotel owner (his father built the hotel) informed me Pintu visited and wants me to wait for him and his friend. Pali is giving me one final grandma feeling and will not let me go. I go to their home. A smart looking guy in beard and glasses, strangely familiar,  eventually turns up. It's mercifully short. I decide that today there will be no friends, no temples, under no circumstances!

At Sojat there is an ice cream distribution warehouse, Bherunath Agency ( vadilal icecream Distributor) भेरुनाथ एजेंसी ( वाडीलाल आइसक्रीम डिस्ट्रीब्यूटर). 

They come in a packet, on a wooden stick, like Streets, except it's full of real flavour, genuinely creamy and no freak artificial taste or additives at all. I ate a little tub, then had a Badam Kesar Pista Kulfi ice cream like an icy pole shape, also sensational.

 

After some very clean winding narrow concrete streets, the fort in town is a pleasant surprise, and well worth the detour. 

It sits above town on a hill. A dog, with puppies, was barking at me. 

A man came out of his home and kindly led me up the stairs to the top.

On the way out of town,  I stopped to pick up some water, then 2 bananas.

Google led me through Chandawal चंदावल to the wrong address.  Going back through town I had to say hello to randoms calling out, plus got surrounded momentarily only, thank the lord, by 10 excited kids. The main guy had a rats tail on the crown of his head which I believe has religious significance, channels energy from god.

There is a turban shop in town with amazing tutti frutti colours. Wish I had the space to take one.

As always, our is impossible to see what a place looks like until you arrive. The LAHAR INN गिफ्ट गैलरी लहर इन is in the absolute dirt car park and truck stop but is surprisingly clean inside. Dinner tonight is here because I'm lazy and it's popular, which is always a good sign.

Man this is the greatest meal I think I've had in India. Each one is excellent. The ones on the left and right are outstanding. Too bad I don't know what it was. Lassi was salted. I now know not to fully drain it, so as to avoid the solid layer at the bottom. Maybe you're supposed to stir in this toxic hyper concentrated saline grit?

At night I had many strange dreams of all my clothes being stolen. This means I'm concerned about making enough progress in the morning. Let's see.

Hangin out in Pali

After a better night's sleep, I woke up, then there was a knock on the door. I was going to the temple at 8, but Pintu is here so we'll go a bit earlier.

It started in the kitchen looking place here, where they were rubbing saffron and sandalwood or similar on some stone. This and milk is used to wipe the statues etc down.

The stone work is very elaborate. 

We go to the various shrines,  gonging a bit, chanting,  moving the incense dish in clockwise circles. When you go around a shrine 3 times, do it clock wise, as per the Sikhs. He did explain why, along with 68 million other things, and I have zero memory of the reason. 

For the basic chant "Ohm rim err-a-hum namaha" you count clockwise on the left hand a 9 x 12 on the right = 108. This is done magic in tune number. 

For the 9, use 3 fingers, go up 3 on the index, across 3, down 3 the ring, left 1, up 1. You end on the middle phalanx of the middle (rude) finger  ie in the centre. Like your soul, or centre of the universe or something. 

The eyes have it.

For the 12 on the right, go up 3 on the pinky, made a backward S on the middle 2, then up 3 phalanx on your index finger.

The Ohm chant will take 2 minutes. Hopefully you're staring into the morning glow of statue of an immortal no-longer-to-be-reborn soul, like the one pictured at the left here. The eyes reflect the sunlight.

We went to breakfast at the temple canteen. Pintu did not eat, in his special clothes. These do not have stitches. It's two wraps,  one top, one for the bottom. Looks like a toga.

He changed,  showed me his house. It is 3 levels plus a rooftop. Down the centre there are iron grills at each level in the floor to allow light and air flow. On each level, at the back is a room, about 4x4m, and one at the front. Seems like an ancient design, well adapted to the heat of the area. Winter is about 20 and summer gets to 55 apparently, also in Jodhpur.

There are many temples, just in this small town.

We travelled to the Bagri, a temple on the top of a hill  with views over town and the reservoir. 

I went to the Bangar Museum

बांगड़ संग्रहालय

The Bangar has 

-old coins

-paintings of the Maharajas

-a traditional village scene 

-marble busts from temples, about a thousand years old 

And a very nice guide, pictured here, who showed me around.

After the musuem, I went to the family home for dinner with Pintu's family. His advocate brother, brothers wife and nephew were also there. 

Then we went to see a gazillion temples. They're all very old, beautiful,  blah blah. The saints do heroic stuff like accepting death etc while chanting ohm. One guy offered his own flesh to prevent a god from eating a pigeon. There's a painting of him cutting off his leg and smiling away.

Wandering around town later: Pintu's family owns a shop that sells spices.

At another temple we meet 2 women he knows. One lives in a Haveli with 23 rooms. She lives there with 2 other people. They never use the top floor except to clean it. 

The lake is impossible to see. We rode slowly past a series of people living in tents, not sure why. They have a sad situation. 

To top it off, he tells me to go see one more temple. I've really seen enough, find it, can't see what the difference is with this one. 

I finally walk home with his brother, and get to sleep early, which is a relief. 

The full grandma, to Pali.

India is the land of grandmas.

You will be offered a cup of tea, some food, stay for a while, you can't quite understand, and you never know how long this is all going to take. You should come and visit. Can you wait wait here for half an hour? My friend wants to come and meet you. 

Breakfast is on rooftop of the hotel, with a view to the fort. I think it is a mild curry flat rice with mustard seeds. 

After picking up heavy antique elephant Giddy incense holder from Nanda, I hand off a shifter spanner and pliers to the first local near the closed  motorbike repair shop  asking him to pass it on. They're heavy. 

In town, I tried to find a bank. 3 or 4 listed in Google maps,  I can't find. At one I can find, a young girl is trying to sell me stickers and hovering right next to the bike. I decided not to leave it outside with all my stuff. 

On the same main road, another lady asks for money. No worries, I hand her some. But it's like the pigeon effect, giving one chip means that they all come. I go left at the red here to escape and give up on banks here.

Rolling through the countryside is pretty but a bit boring after a few dozen kms.

In a small village/bunch of stalls by the road,  everyone looks super genuine, head wrap is different, clothing is different, more like time forgot them. Buying a bottle of water is 20 rupees. I've got 10 or 100. The incredibly scrupulous shop keeper only takes 10. I guzzle it. I think I'm the tiniest bit dehydrated. 

I met a guy who offers me accommodation at his home, some home made food he's carrying, a chai if we can go further, and then even some money. I have to decline at least 3 times, lying to say I've booked a hotel,  picking one at random on the map to show him, saying my stomach is still not good (true actually- his moist food in a plastic bag is giving me genuine horror).

 

Finally pulling into Pali, I met a 20 year old fitness instructor, then another young fellow who brings 3 mates. We all end up at a cafe me and the fitness man having a milk chai,  courtesy of the fitness man, sitting around doing videos,  chatting for a good half hour.

Rolling further the young fellow now has an entire group of young girls on his bike who want to meet a foreign tourist. We all shake hands. 

Then two sets more kids on bikes all arrive to shake hands. Then we roll along together.  

Then we stop again and I'm fully surrounded with people,  who are offering tea I think,  but definitely alcohol, which also puts me straight on alert ⚠️.

(He's in the blue shirt on the right, with the combed over slick hair).

I chatted for like 5 minutes but I'm desperate to find a hotel asap plus escape. I selected 1st, blew them away, overtook some motorbikes haha. 

A few narrow main streets later, with barely enough space for a couple of motorbikes to pass, lined with shops.

The only option seems to be the Jodhana Hotel
ओयो जोधाणा होटल 

The outside is concerning. The entrance looks OK though,  and the owner has eyes that strongly invite trust. Checking out 3 rooms, one looks passable, so all great, I will have a roof over my head tonight.

(Picture at the right: rock star parking next to the check in desk.)

Dinner at the Pushkar पुष्कर होटल एंड रेस्टोरेंट , I can't read the menu. A nearby lady kindly reads 2 lines of the menu but the 1st sounds excellent.  Turns out I think they call it Thali: 2 naan, Dahl, hot pea mix, mystery wheat sausage and gravy, plus a salted yoghurt drink, v nice until you hit the residual saline bitter herbal grit at the bottom. 

 

Wandering the shops, hoping not to receive a motorcycle to the hips, people always say hello. One guy, Pintubi, speaks excellent English,  has a serene smiling face, wants to show me the nearby temple.

It is Jain. Shoes must be off, no head covering needed. 

There is much gonging, chanting, incense burning.

Later we go to his home, meet the family, answer the usual questions. Then right after I've said I'm going, his brother and father arrived so had to answer them all again. 

Today is peak grandma in Pali.

Jodhpur sick day

Watched Yogi on Netflix because they didn't have Padmaavat M 2018 ‧ Romance/Action ‧ 2h 44.

This movie is a tear jerker where all the important characters die eventually, at just the wrong time, to melodramatic perfection. 

Went to the fort. It is huge, crowns the top of a hill.  

It overlooks the town. 

It looks amazing from all angles. It's built from the local stone.

Clearly the difficulty of the gates mean this fort must have held well against invaders.

The interior must have been luxurious.

There were a collection of litters to carry Royal family in comfort. Must have been hell for the footmen to carry up into the fort. 

The patterns here on the windows are about 5cm deep. The shutters have thick patterns that provide privacy, but allow the residents to look outside quite easily.

Inside there are many luxurious rooms and apartments gathered around some distributed courtyards. It would be a pleasure to live in such nice surroundings. 

I found a money exchange in the fort. The guy said he'd be there until 5.30. I contacted Nanda to offer to exchange the euros she got given. I said to the money man, I'll be back. I walked to Nanda's, then ran all the way back up  hill again. 

Got there 5.27pm, The guy in the next booth said the money guy waited as long as he could. Fk this place sometimes. Ran up to a Tuktuk but this guy said banks shut at 5pm. So finally back to Nanda's again after doing the Rocky Balboa run right around.

I offer to give her 6,200 odd, whatever the money man had offered, but she Googles it and says it should be 6,400. Anyway, I hand over 6400.

She gives a strong herbal milk chai,  fantastic. She tells me that many women don't meet their husbands before the wedding day. Then suddenly they're in bed with a stranger. "Well, you can imagine." Her mother got married at 13. She'd only just had her period. Eeeek, the pain. Nanda got married at 21? I think 🤔, young anyhow. 

Image left: I like these private courtyards inside the palace. It must have been amazing to live here.

I say her husband must be nice and advanced since she is independent with her shop. She said no, she had to make a deal. He said that she must cook, clean, get the kids homework done, do the pooja (religious rituals to clean bad spirits or something) etc first. Only then is she allowed to go do her NGO.

When a husband dies, he expects his wife to kill herself so that only he would ever have been with her. Typically that would be on a funeral pyre. Not sure of the logistics.

Caste etc still happens, especially in rural areas. 

She knows some amazing dancers in Jaisalmer and would like me to get them out to perform,  for their self esteem and to see outside their own world. 

I skipped dinner. I want a full stomach reset!!

Breakfast is at the home stay before rolling out to Pali.