Pushkar - A vibrant city from Rangilo Rajasthan - Incredible India!

"Pushkar" - its a small town located about 12 km away from Ajmer - Rajasthan - India. A religious festival is celebrated in the "Karthik"month of Hindu Calendar (generally October or November every year) , about 10 days before the full moon day.  A holy lake is a part of "Pushkar" city and is known to be the only place in the world with a temple of lord Bramha. Entire lake is surrounded by various small and big temples with various Hindu Gods.

In the initial 5-6 days, cattle owners come down to the sand dunes in the outskirts of the city for trading their cattles.  These people spend their days and nights in the tents with their clans. Camels are decorated and sold for money - the very livelihood for which the villagers assemble. Every day sports or cultural activity was taking place in the "Mela Ground". We reached on the 5th day of the festival when the camels had already started departing, though there was a lot of activity in the dunes. By the end of 6th day, most of the camels had already departed back to their homes or with their new masters. Post this a lot of activity takes place around the Pushkar Lake as people from various part of country gather in thousands of numbers to pray, to take a bath in the holy lake and to get the blessings of the lord.

Activity log

Day 1 - Flied to Jaipur - took a cab to Pushkar - breakfast at a Dhaba restaurant - Reached Pushkar - 2-3 kms walk to find out the hotel as the vehicles were not allowed to enter - lunch and introduction session with the group - walk in dunes to catch some magical light - spotted a beautiful sunset - walk back to the hotel - dinner - chitchat - some knowledge parting by the Mentor - CRASH for day 1!

"Was here with "THE FOOTMARKS" one of the most knowledgeable and wonderful group of people, mentors, and to sum up in a word - photo enthusiast. To name people from this clan - Mehul Pithadia - my friend from office, Jassi sir, Maggu sir, Manpreet Ahuja, Kapil Singh, Kishore Kumar, Bharat Dudeja and Harjeet Singh Chaddha."

Day 2 - Early morning walk into the dunes - some magical morning light - clicks of the camels coming in to the dunes - back to the hotel for some rest - afternoon walk into the dunes to see the last clan of camel and witnessed the last camel deal which materialized for 15,000 - evening around the city - back to the hotel and EOD.

"6th Day of the festive, activity in the dunes was almost over, most of all the clans were already on their way back to their homes. It was than time to catch the action in and around city"

Day 3 - Morning in to the mela ground to see "Kushti" scheduled to start at 8 which eventually started as per IST at 12. In the meantime we took a walk in the interior where lots of cows and animals were tied with ropes - took a Tea break to find a group of south indian movie makers from Kerala to shoot some sequel for their movie - Back to hotel for a break - Went up the hill - sawitri temple (some 600 odd steps)- it was a tiring trek - went up in the anticipation of a  super fabulous sunset (which didn't happen coz of the hue) - late evening was a walk back to the town to take candid glimpse of people in the town. 

Day 4 - Photo Klinic - a cirque session by Footmarks mentor on some select photographs - afternoon back into the the market and around mela ground - Pushkar was crowded today - later afternoon lunch - Evening attended the "maha aarti" at the "Ghaat". 

Day 5 - Last day of the trip. Roads were filled with thousands of people - as much as at places only one way movement for people was allowed. From the top of the hotel we took some glimpse of the activity on the ghats - Back to jaipur and back home with some vibrant colorful memories.

"Entered this  town without any knowledge of whats going to come on the way, departed with sweet, colorful and vibrant clicks and memories with some new friends from Delhi - Good Fun!!"

Ganesha - a warm welcome and a warm parting

This is the festival of devotion, belief and faith of people in India. Its generally about those 11 days when lord Ganesha is welcomed by every one - be it their home, housing societies, private colonies or big stage called "pandals". For all the devotees, its the most awaited festival of the year as their beloved "Bappa" is believed to be visiting their lives. 

The City of Celebration - Mumbai, has its own ways of celebrating and enjoying the festivity. Preparations here begins months back from the main festival - its about making of the Ganesha idol, its about the decoration and its about preparation of the stages or mandaps and joining all those small and tiny bits. 

Most critical of all the preparation is the making of Ganesha idol which begins at least a couple of months back and in some rare cases immediately post the current years festival's end. The Ganesha idols are from 1 inch to 35-40 feets huge so one can easily imagine the scale of preparation that undergoes in festival. Near festival day, most of the streets are lit and decorated with Ganesha idols, decoration items, variety of lightings etc. All these is being sold in the shops and on the streets. 

In Dadar - mumbai, we spotted one such lane, filled with Ganesha idols on both side of the lanes, literally thousands of them, these are villagers from Maharashtra who brings / makes their idols from their villages to earn their livelihood. Here is a sad part, the villagers go back to their homes on the first day of the festival with their unsold stuffs. 

One can spot big huge workshops in various parts of Mumbai where small and big Ganesh idols are made.

Welcome Day - Ganesh Chaturthi

Generally the welcome day "Ganesh Chaturthi" (A day in the Hindu Calendar) falls around end of August beginning September. On this day all the people get their Ganesha at the destination with the regular rituals and aarti's (Prayers) installation of the Ganesha idol is done. For all these 11 days, aarti is a daily ritual, and a lot of other social and cultural activities are a part of the actioned packed festival.

Parting Day - Emersion - Anant Chaturdashi

Eleventh day is the day of parting of the lord Ganesha from the devotee. On this day, people take their beloved Ganesha to emerse in to the water with a hope and prayer to Bappa to come back soon next year. Here its a grand celebration of an event, the music of dhol, dancing on the street, crackers bursting - its one crazy energetic madness on the Mumbai streets. There are special arrangements by the local authorities, traffic is redirected, lot of routes are closed for the traffic and there is no stopping for the devotees on the streets. This is a visual delight, one heck of a celebration - just be here next year at Girgaum Choupati in Mumbai, here takes place a grand celebration of thousands of Ganesha emersion into the Arabian Sea.      

For more information - do a google and you will get to know all about the festival.

Please see the below link for few clicks from the festival. These are from the days of preparation, a workshop where Ganesha idols were being made, the pandals and emersion with a hope for a new welcome.

Ganesh Festival 2012