Piety in Pushkar

HIT THE ROAD

Actually, there's more to Pushkar than piety. Further down the road from Jaipur, situated by a quiet lake and full of colour, Pushkar is a marvellous little town.

It is, of course, an important pilgrimage centre and has one of the few temples in the country where Brahma is worshipped.

Not just that. The little town has as its nucleus a lake and its immediate surroundings, which are peppered in the evenings with a very cosmopolitan crowd.

Sneaking in through the strains of Rajasthani folk music might be the boom of a didgeridoo, or even the rapid rhythm of flamenco. All of this in a picturesque setting, with old white-washed houses providing a backdrop and pink twilight painting the sky.

Get your Pushkar passport done (a red ribbon tied around the wrist after a puja by the lake), or amble around the little alleys that are full of shops hawking all kinds of things.

Pushkar hosts an annual fair in November which is a fairly huge event, so book your acco well in advance. You could also nip down to Ajmer, 10 km away, and visit the dargah of Khwaja Moin-ud-din Chisti, the renowned Sufi saint.

Pushkar is 403 km from Delhi down NH8, via Jaipur. Until Jaipur, the road is fantastic but after that there's a lot of trucks and construction activity. Once there, try Pushkar Palace (Ph: 0145-2772001) or RTDC's Hotel Sarovar (Ph: 0145-2772040).

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