Hoodwinked & Bamboozled in Pushkar for starters

Pushkar is a small, magical, desert-edged town. Under a mother-of-pearl sky, pale onion domes and 400 milky-colored temples curl around a holy lake said to have appeared when Brahma dropped a lotus flower. It's an important Hindu pilgrimmage center, with one of the world's few Brahma temples. And it is perhaps best known for the Pushkar Camel Fair held during the full moon in November each year. (accordng to Lonely Planet India Guide)

Why did I choose Pushkar in which to start the Tantric Heart of India Tour? Pushkar is small amd managable. It is easy to navigate. I wanted people to get acclimated to India and Indian people in a small town before possibly getting overwhelmed in bigger cites teaming with people. It made perfect sense to me. What a lovely place to begin.

The highlights of our visit to Pushkar include wonderful shopping in the central market. We bought things like jewelry, clothes, essential oils, and instruments. We rode on camels. We learned about Brahma, the first of the Hindu trinity, creator of it all. (Evidently he wanted to perform a ritual at the lake. When his wife, Savitri was late, he quickly married another - Gayatri - on a whim. Savitri cursed him vowing that he would only be worshipped in this little town, nowhere else on earth.)

We climbed Savitri's mountain at dawn up to her temple and performed our Rishi Isometrics overlooking the entire valley. Observing us was a huge family of monkeys. They watched us the way we usually watch them. It was great fun.

Later that same morning, we visited Brahma's famous temple and picked up a "guide" along the way. Of course, Amit, our main guide for the whole trip had warned us not to separate, to be wary of "would be priests" offering to pray for us and make pujas on the lake. I thought I knew what to expect, but was I ever fooled. The man at the emple encouraged us to take flower petals from the temple and walk down to the lake to put them in as an offering to our families. I saw nothing wrong with this. I figured it would be a nice little gesture.

As soon as we got to the ghats (the holy steps leading down to the lake), some man grabbed me and started saying, "Say Om." "Say namo." "Say bagavate." I said, "Look here, I know this chant and I just want my people to put their flower petals into the water. Out of my way!" But it was too late. Everyone of us had been diverted into the hands of some would be priest. We were divided and conquered so easily. These priests demanded money and plenty of it to bless our families. When I tried to stop the show and gather everyone together, I was asked to leave the ghats and blocked from re-entering.

Randall and Marie ended up donating $20 to the cause. A few people got away with a few rupees. Helen gave her "priest" $100!

I made the "guide" we met at the temple apologize to everyone of the Butterflies for leading us astray. He feigned innocense, but I knew better.

When we got back onto the bus, Amit was worrried about where we had been for so long. We told him what had happened and then we all started laughing. We knew we would remember the experience forever and really it was a great place to start. We were initiated into the unknown and had to surrender.

For the rest of the trip I would remind everyone that in India all we can do is surrender. Many cultures have invaded India over the centuries, but they have never taken over to become the dominant culture. India always expands and makes the invader Indian rather than the other way around. And so it was with us as we began our whirlwind journey in the jewel of Pushkar.