India: Buying my 'Pushkar passport'

Second and third floors of the open courtyard at my hotel.

Half of my room at the hotel.

My hotel in Pushkar was a gorgeous converted haveli with an open courtyard in the middle and a rooftop restaurant. Although the setup was very nice, the amenity level was similar to most of the other places (typical Indian bathroom, etc.).

I headed into town (after a nice 10-year-old boy corrected me when I almost went the wrong way) and quickly fell prey to the guidebook scams.

The other half of my room at the hotel. This was by far the
most spacious room I stayed in.

First, a little background. Pushkar is a tiny town that has turned touristy for two reasons: pilgrims and hippies. The pilgrims come because it is situated around Pushkar Lake, a sacred lake where many pilgrims bathe and pray. The pilgrims came because bhang (marijuana usually laced into food) was readily available here for religious purposes. The town still has rules signs posted for tourists, asking them to be respectful. The rules include: no alcohol, no meat or eggs and no PDA or kissing. So, yes, I had a vegetarian few days.

In this small town, there are few or no street signs. So I began by wandering around and getting my bearings. I walked through the bazaar-filled streets and along the lake ghats. I had one guy suggest I should visit the lake itself as my first stop. I declined and continued on my path. Then, I had another guy suggest I stop at the ghats, so I headed that way only to have him follow.

Brahama ghat, as seen from across the lake.

Now, one of my concerns was that I would disturb the pilgrims or do something that would offend them. Other than removing my shoes and not photographing bathing pilgrims, I didn't really know what I should or shouldn't do. Because of this, I let the guy lead me to the ghats and through a ritual puja (prayer). Then, he tied a red string from the "puja platter." on my wrist and requested that I donate 500 Rs. "for my family." In a more-broken form of English, he basically said if I didn't pay I was risking wasting the prayers I just said for my family and isn't my family worth that much? Yes, I could have been watching a televangelist on TV.

My "Pushkar passport," as the guidebook called it.

The guidebook had warned me about this; I just wasn't entirely sure how to get around it. So I gave in. In my defense, while 500 Rs. is quite a bit there, it equates to about $13 US. It's hard to argue that I needed that $13 more than the people in this small Indian town. So I was marked with my red string (which declared both "tourist willing to be scammed" and "I already paid my 500 Rs.; find someone else" all at once. It was actually a blessing in that many other people over the next couple of days approached me for the same purpose, but then stopped when they saw my string.)

The guy's name was Rohit, and he next wanted to show me all the other temples. I was rather suspicious this would lead to more fees, so I declined over and over. (He ran into me at least once a day during my stay. It's a small town and he hung out on the main drag. Each time, I had to decline his offers.) I did, however, agree to drink some street chai with him. I could never tell if he was mostly friendly and curious or mostly a scam artist. I'm guessing it was a combination.

The ghats along the lake include the Brahmin ghat (where my puja was), which is where Brahma bathed. There is also the Gandhi ghat, where some of his ashes were sprinkled.

This was a perfect town for shopping, and I wandered up and down the bazaars a lot.

Sign: rules for tourists.