Day 263 – Pushkar, India

October 27^th, 2019

Happy Diwali!  Today is the official main day of this important Indian festival.  Everyone goes around saying “Happy Diwali” no matter who you are, what your skin color is or what language you speak.  Everyone just seems happy that it is Diwali. 

According to Wikipedia and a 2011 census, about 80% of the population practices Hinduism in India.  14% practice Islam, 2.3% Christian, and 1.7% Sikhism.  Big bomb-like explosives were going off since breakfast as a way to celebrate the festival.  After breakfast we went out to explore the town.  We went to the only Brahma temple in the world.  It was anticlimactic.  I was expecting it to be spectacular since it was the only one in the world,  but it was pretty ordinary as far as the building itself.  I know it has deep spiritual significance for Hindus, but it was definitely the least elaborate temple we have seen so far in India. 

The language here is a bit confusing because there are several languages all throughout India.  I believe there are also different types of currency throughout the country as well.  Where we are in the state of Rajasthan, they use the Indian Rupee and it is a 71 to 1 USD exchange rate. I wanted to do some shopping and Pushkar was a good place for some cheap clothes.  In India it is proper to cover your knees and shoulders when you are out.  I have mostly summer beach clothes in my bag minus my one set of cold weather hiking clothes.  I have also heard Egypt is very conservative so I needed to get some different clothes. 

Pushkar is situated around a Holy lake and there are 52 places around the lake with steps leading down to the water.  You cannot wear your shoes down the steps, hold hands, or expose your torso when you are by the water.  Nor are there any pictures allowed.  I took off my shoes and went down the steps to the water and found it was extremely filthy.  To my surprise there were people bathing in it and women who were completely topless.  I guess if you are bathing in the water, there are not the same rules?  Seems strange to me you can openly have your top off, but you shouldn’t expose a knee. I guess there is just a lot I don’t understand. 

I have really been struggling to understand more of the culture and Hindu religion during my time in India and Nepal.  I think I am more confused than when I started.  I don’t understand how the cows are holy so they don’t kill them, but I constantly see little kids throw rocks at them and hit them being really cruel.  For Diwali, people and kids have been setting off fireworks right at the cows and scaring them.  Although they don’t have to worry about becoming your next beef patty, I don’t think these cows have a very good life at all.  I don’t think they like being in the city with constant horns and traffic stuck, trying to eat trash for food.  Seems very unhealthy and unnatural for a cow. 

There are such better ways to care for the animals and support regenerative agriculture that would be far healthier for not only the cows but humans and the planet.  Regenerative practices such as Holistic Planned Grazing can even regenerate deserts back into grasslands by using animals like cows. 

I have tried to talk with other backpackers, guides, and locals to gain more insight, but I can never understand for one reason or another.  Either their accent is too thick, or they are using words I do not understand or maybe it’s just too complicated for my brain.  I know most Hindus do not eat meat but when we were outside this one temple, they were about to sacrifice a goat.  Also, even in this town where all meat is strictly prohibited, all the markets are selling leather shoes, purses, belts etc.  So, I wonder about that too.  I think part of it is there are a lot of variances within the Hindu religion and a lot of different types of practices.  This is probably what makes it hard for someone who is not familiar with the religion to really understand as each person can believe something a little different.  I feel I have learned far more about Buddhism during my time in Asia and it is much simpler to understand.

Anyway… after our time in town I wasn’t feeling that well and we went back to the hostel to rest so we could be ready for the Diwali festivities in the evening.  When it was time for sunset we took a gondola up to a viewpoint where we had a nice view of the lake and the city. 

We came back to the hostel where they were doing a Puja ceremony which is a prayer ritual. During Diwali they have all these miniature clay bowls with a candle in them that they set everywhere.  One of the guests of the hostel who was there to participate in Puja caught his hair on fire from one of those clay bowls.  He had long curly hair and his head just went up in flames within an instant of his hair touching that candle.  So that was memorable.  After Puja we were blessed by a priest and I got my good luck red dot. 

We then went upstairs to the rooftop for fireworks but they were really intense.  I don’t think the fireworks are safe nor do the people know what they are doing by lighting them.  Instead of shooting up toward the sky, they would shoot them just straight across into buildings and powerlines.  Probably three out of five they lit, something would happen and it would just start shooting sparks and hot embers into the audience.  At one point my hand got really burned by one firing at me so I was done with it by that point. 

After more people started getting hurt and burned, everyone just came back downstairs to the restaurant to wait for the celebratory Diwali dinner.  That was nice, and we hung out with a girl from Bend, Oregon who was there.  We all had headaches from the whole day of intense bomb noises from fireworks so we went to bed. The bomb noises never stopped all night.