Days 231-234 -- Ajmer/Pushkar

So I took the two hour bus journey from Jaipur to Ajmer and was greeted by mom's cousin, Uncle Prabhu at the bus station. Luckily I went with the air-con bus because today was another scorcher. More importantly, I'm glad I had my ipod b/c they were blasting the Indian tunes, even louder than the Thai night buses. Jumped in the car and headed to the house for what would prove to be an interesting 4 days. So as most of you know, I dont speak any Sindhi/Hindhi, but I thought I could understand a fair bit....not really. I guess the basic talk at home with my parents, 'what do you want to eat,' 'where are you going,' 'when will you be back' don't really help when you are trying to navigate with family you havent seen in 20+ years...haha! Let's just say I found out pretty quickly that there is still a TON I need to learn about my culture, but you have to start somewhere and here I am!

Settled into my room in the house (no air-con :( ) and had some lunch with the family. Joint family house, typical to most Indian homes, where there were three families under one roof and one of the children along with his wife and kids were also part of the household. Much different that the traditional Western household we are used to in the States. So enough about that, Ajmer is where my mom went to school, Sophia College and I had a quick chance to check it out. My uncle was cool enough to take me around over the 4 days I was here...and he really should be a tour guide! He knew all the history, dates of construction, best places to get pictures, etc so it was really cool to have him around. I probably learned more about my culture in these 4 days than I have in my whole life...a little exaggeration but it was information overload. We saw Dargah (sp?) a extremely historical Muslim site which was chaos. Tons of pilgrims pushing and shoving in all directions trying to get their chance to pray and give offerings. Old women (age 65+) were pushing me left, right, down to the floor just to get in front of me...something you really have to see. Saw Ann Sagar (sp?) which is a series of marble structures set on the lake at sunset which was marvelous. All the locals were gathered around in the evenings having a picnic, family reunions, etc. Really cool to see how the local people interacted and having a local host definitely highlighted it since I didn't stand out as a foreigner as much. Also checked out an amazing Jain temple with detail that must have taken 30 years to complete....I don't think they build sites like this anymore. There was also a fort here, but unfortunately it was going through restoration so couldn't check out too much of the inside :(

One afternoon, I went with Uncle Ishwar (another uncle in the house) to the Global Mgt College where he is the director as they were celebrating their 10 year anniversary. The held a traditional 'havan' prayer ceremony (a little long) but I hadn't attended one in a while and it was my first true religous exercise on this trip which was really cool. Got to meet some of the families friends, most of whom knew my mom from her days in Ajmer during school. Ajmer is a Muslim dominant city, but also has a huge population of Sindhi's (the type of Indian I am). Another aunt in the city ran a guesthouse out of her home where I stayed one night and it was actually listed in my Lonely Planet as the best place to stay in Ajmer...didn't know it was hers until I got here. So there were two main families here and the primary family was pure vegetarian and the other was non-vegetarian. They both went out of their way to make me have a good time and were so hospitable I have no way of ever thanking them enough for what they did. I got the sense that all the locals here are that way since everyone I met knew who my mom was and basically treated me like they're son. Any home I visited I was given chai (tea), water, snacks until you couldn't eat anymore and then still they would insist you eat more.

One afternoon, we went to nearby Pushkar, a sacred village built around a holy lake. Pushkar is a famous destination for travelers since it has a hippy vibe, very religous and its one of those places where you go on vacation from your vacation. Once we entered I could see why it was soo popular. Hundreds (400+) of temples, priests everywhere (though some were just there to make money...) and just extremely laid back. The entire town has three rules, no drugs, no meat and no alcohol, yet the foreigners come and stay forever. I think the charm of the town overrides any other vices on may have. We saw a few temples and at one I saw more Sindhi plaques devoted to lost family members than I know Sindhis in America. Also visited one of the worlds only Brahma temples which was fascinating along with a temple boasting South Indian architecture. The work and detail are something I've never seen before and reminded me of some of the places I saw in the Middle East way back in November.

So the past 4 days for me were pretty enlightening and I got from here what I hoped to get out of my trip to India. I picked up a few words, met some family, learned some culture and feel much more Indian at the end of it all. I saw a lot of cool sites and had my own private tour guide, but since I wrote so much already I'll spare the details....Its kinda like I've described one temple to you guys...do you really want to hear about every single one?!!? So not sure if I mentioned before, but I had originally changed my flight back to the US to return on the 17th since this heat is unbearable. After this, plans have changed again and I'm staying one more week to get a chance to visit with more family in Mumbai next week. I'll be home June 23rd now and that date is not changing! If it wasn't for the heat and my savings account getting pretty close to zero I think I'd stay in India for a long time since its such a big place and there is sooo much to see.

Next stop....Taj Mahal! Been looking forward to this for a long time!