Our second day in Jaipur started at 8 AM after our breakfast at the hotel. Today the buffet consisted of - bread, cornflakes, aloo paratha, subji, poha and idly with chutney and sambhar. Have to give it to them for making chutney purely with coconut. Our driver took us to a near by Ganesh temple before starting our journey as we wanted to go to a local temple. A small temple this one was, outside devotees were doing abhishegam to the Siva lingam. The Ganesh idol was well decorated, we had a good darshan and came out to start our journey to Pushkar.
Pushkar is some 150 kms from Jaipur. We had to go through the NH48 route, all along this route were marble factories. We took one tea break and kept driving towards Pushkar. Some areas along the route were dry and few were still green and we could feel the signs of summer setting in. As the time passed by we felt the strong heat through the back window of the cab. Had to decrease the ac temperature to stay cool. The humidity level here is less comparative to the coastal city we come from. We felt the dryness quiet harsh, lips were getting dry, as we breathed throat felt dry and skin was also getting prickly. We can see the Aravalli range on either side during the drive.
Pushkar is a small village in the outskirts of Jaipur and hence could see many from the city hanging out here for a weekend break. At Pushkar our cab driver introduced us to a guide. He took was to the Pushkar lake first and asked if we were interested any of the pujas they perform here, he gave us some 3 options which will be done by a pujari and each of different cost. We were interested in it, he then took us to the donation and asked us to offer what we wanted to. Here, there was a list of 5 offerings each with cost starting with more than Rs.1000. We gave Rs.100, person at the donation counter took it and put it inside with any receipt. The Pushkar lake has 52 ghats. The lake is in the form of a lotus and hence the name.
We just moved on next to the Bhramma temple. The guide elaborated on the story of the temple - Lord Bhramma once had to perform a yagam for which he had to sit along with his consort Savithri Devi/Saraswati Devi. Since it was getting delayed for the yagam and Goddess Savithri did not arrive and muhurath cannot be missed, Lord Bhrama married Gayathri Devi and performed the yagam. When Goddess Savithri finally arrived, she became angry and cursed Lord Bhrama that he will not any temples to be worshipped except in Pushkar.
When we went inside the temple it was bit crowded and also temporarily closed for darshan. We had to climb some 20 odd marble steps to reach the temple and waited out the inner sanctum for the priest to open the curtain. In the next 10 minutes we had the darshan of Lord Bhrama along with Goddess Saraswati and Goddess Gayathri. The guide got us prasad and brought us outside the temple through a short cut. There were shops lining up the temple streets selling clothes, footwears, bangles, buttermilk and food items. Our guide left us at our cab and charged Rs.250 for his services.
We were then taken to the near by desert area for adventure activities. Cab driver left us and went to a sound sleep. Here they charge heavily for each activity like camel ride, desert safari, etc. We were convinced for the desert safari for Rs.7000. In a jeep a driver, took 2 of us on a trip. We initially crossed through a forest area where we saw deers. First we stopped at a farm, were roses were cultivated, water from the ground was taken out through solar powered systems. Gooseberry and Mulberries were also grown here off late, bringing in some growth to this village. Jeep drove through uneven mud road. The second stop was at a place were people camp. Stop gap arrangements were made for stay and food cooked and provided there for weekend hang overs. We saw the stay areas and the arrangments made there. From there we went to the camel ride area, camels were taking rest and poo was smelling so bad that we came with a short photo session with the camels. Then he stopped at a mahal setup and informed how its was used for shooting. We were told that movies and tv serials which had desert scenes were shot here in Pushkar. Next we stopped for refreshment - lassi with gulkand or tea can be bought. A man here was playing the Rajasthani traditional instrument. All along, the jeep driver became our photographer learning how to use our canon DSLR. Our next stop was at the traditional Rajasthani costume place - we can chose the dress we like and will be dressed by the team there. Rs.1000 was charged for this but the personnel who dressed us up demanded and took Rs.200 and the photographer there charged another Rs.200. Once it became so demanding, the interest on the whole safari gets lost. Our last stop was at the sand art exhibit. Rs.20 per head was charged here. We could witness some fantastic art work here. Then the driver took us on some exciting deep drive in the desert area and dropped at the starting point. The journey took around 2 hours but was not worth the money we spent.
Our cab driver wanted to take us to Ajmer next, he was not interested in taking to the Savithri Devi Mandir. Since we insisted we dropped us there. For Rs. 180 per head a rope car takes us to the temple at the top of a small hill. The whole journey is around 10 mins, in the middle the car stops for passengers to get a good view. During the rope car travel one could see the Pushkar lake full view, the steps route for devotees to climb to Savithri matha temple and the eagle view of the sites we saw during the jeep safari. The temple was full of monkeys, we have navigate through the last 20 steps to reach the temple and worship the Goddess Saraswati. The wind over hill made the atmosphere cool but the floor was too hot to walk. Using the same ticket we take the onward journey through the rope car to reach below. We had maggie and tea near the parking lot and started towards Ajmer.
At Ajmer our cabbie got us a battery operated tuk tuk to go to the Ajmer sharif mosque. For Rs.50 we were dropped some half a kilometer away from the mosque. The street leading to the mosque was on both sides lined with shops celebrating the Ramzan month. On the event of Rajasthan diwas some Hindu groups were setting up stage for the evening. Once we reached the mosque, shop keepers were calling us to leave our foot wears with them so that we will buy at their shops. We had to force ourselves away and left the foot wear at the mosque allocated place and went in. When we were struggling to navigate inside a shop keeper there asked us to cover our heads and guided us. The mosque inside was adorned in silver. After coming out he also took us to the Deg area by Akbar and Jehangir. Akbar's deg was the biggest, one has to pay Rs.2.5 lakhs to cook food in that and offer to devotees as part of their prayer to Allah. Jehangir's deg costs Rs.1 lakh. He left us at the exit and took leave. We picked out footwears back for Rs.10 each. All the way to the end of the street it was a menace with people imploring for money. On the way back the normal route was blocked for the evening event so we take tuk tuk this time for Rs.70. The way had olden Mughal type doors and the streets still wear the ancient look. We had to literally push ourselves out as the atmosphere looked tense to us with police everywhere for the event and the Ramzan next day.
By 7:30 pm we reached Yash regency. Went for dinner by 8:30, had tomato soup, roti with paneer and ended with gulab jamun. Went for a much needed sleep immediately after that.
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