Pushkar By Naveen Agnihotri

Pushkar is a tiny little town in Rajasthan. It's one claim to fame is that it has the only temple in the world devoted to the Hindu God of creation, Brahma.

Despite the fact that there is nothing at all to do in the town, and that there is really only one street, and that the nearest big town (Jaipur) is two hours away, and that it gets unbearably hot in the summer (being in the middle of the desert and all), I was blown away by the number of tourists in Pushkar. There were more tourists than natives. Way more. And some of the people who came to Pushkar from far away countries have just settled there: they run their own little stores. Pushkar may not have much of anything its own, but sandal-and-dhoti-clad, water-bottle wielding tourists are ubiquitously expressed. I could think of only one reason for why tourists would go to Pushkar in such numbers: cheap dope.

The temple itself is quite remarkable.

The pujaari (priest) of the temple,

and Brahma's vehicle, the ever reliable tortoise.

So geared is the town to cater to tourists that most of the shop-keepers not only speak English, but have also mastered a fluent western accent. The efforts which they undertake to attract tourists are laudable. On the left is a picture of "Pink Floyd cafe". And on the right is a restaurant whose sign (in English) not only misspells all of the kinds of food they offer, but they even have a correction of their own name.

Admittedly, the Brahma temple is not the only temple in town. There are several others.

And the last photo really isn't even Pushkar -- it's the famous dargaah (muslim place of worship) in Ajmer. It's only half an hour from Pushkar, so I think I'm allowed to put it on this page.