Rajasthan has been a state rich in culture and heritage, there are many festivals and fairs organised frequently on this land of rulers which lures both the national and international tourists and travelers. Pushkar Fair also called Pushkar Camel Fair is one of the grand fairs organised in Rajasthan.The fair is held annualy and lasts for 8-9 days.The fair starts with the hindu calender month of Kartik and ends on the Kartik Purnima. I was super excited for the fair as I had never visited the fair despite being hailing from the Rajasthan. I started off from Udaipur which is my hometown and was all for a budget trip.The most convenient way to reach Pushkar is first reaching Ajmer and then hiring a taxi or boarding a bus from Ajmer to Pushkar. Ajmer is well connected by rail from all the major Indian cities and station, from Udaipur it is 270 km by road and 290 km by rail and there are 3-4 trains, I opted for jaipur special train which costs Rs 140(Non AC sitting) and Rs 590 (AC sitting).It was moderate weather so Rs 140 looked an extremely fair deal.The train was comfortable, less crowded, fast, and punctual because of which I reached Ajmer at sharp 8 Pm, the train took 5 hours from Udaipur, in Ajmer I spent the night at one friends place as you know I wanted to make it a budget trip 😉
In the morning I left for Pushkar, there is frequent bus service from Ajmer bus stand so I reached the Ajmer bus stand and there a shared taxi driver approached me, who quoted me 600Rs for four people as there were three more guys standing near me, four of us discussed and agreed to his proposal but it was a mistake as he directly took us to his commission based tour package shop in Pushkar and insisted us for camel safari, there the prices for the camel safari was more than four times than the common prevailed prices.We denied to book any package at which the taxi driver got angry and started convincing us but we weren’t convinced so kindly beware of such fraud but everything happens for good and I got three lovely companions to roam and enjoy in the vast fair.
As we walked through the market we started experiencing the exciting feel of the Indian Fair,there were plenty of stalls of food, clothes, jewelry, accessories, instruments, weapons, handicrafts etc, the huge rides and swings which is the specialty of the Indian Fair, the Bollywood songs, the mic announcements everything gives you the feel of the traditional Indian fair.Enjoying and clicking the different ‘Mela’ fun we reached the ‘Mela Ground’ which is a huge ground where all the exciting activities takes place like the camel race, horse show, camel show, the famous ‘tug of war’, traditional dance etc. The ‘Mela Ground’ has stairs along its circumference for the audience to sit and watch the fun filled activities, the beautifully decorated camels in colorful gears roaming in the mela ground looks so amazing.
Camel Safari
The camel safari is one must do attraction, we hired a camel bogey from ‘Mela ground’ at Rs 500 for four people, the camel guy took us through the sandy path into the desert, it’s not a full desert with sand dunes that you see in Jaisalmer but it will give you a slight glimpse of the desert, the camel guy showed us the shooting spots where various scenes of the bollywood movie ‘Karan Arjun’ starring Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan and Indian daily soap ‘Diya aur Baati’ scenes was shot, the camel guy stopped the camel at a broad space where there were people dressed in Rajasthani dresses playing Rajasthani Music, there were Rajasthani attires hanging on display which you can try and get a photo clicked. You get to see the Rajasthan which you see in Movies and serials in that ride as there is sand, camel, artists dressed in Rajasthani attires playing the local musical instrument known as Ravanhatha, watch the video in the end. The camel guy also showed us the gardens of mango, blueberry and gooseberry.
Amazing Horses
The beautiful horses which come for sale in the fair are a treat to watch, the horses of Indian breed from all over the country arrive there whose price range from 40 thousand INR to 10 lakhs. There were pure white, black and mixed color horses in the fair.
Food
You will find lot of food stalls when you are out to explore the market, every type of food is served in Pushkar both the local and the international like Mexican,chinese,Italian,continentale etc. Pushkar is famous for the ‘Rabdi Malpua’ which is an Indian sweet, and the ‘gulkand-rabdi lassi’ which is just amazing.There is the whole market dedicated to sweets known as ‘Halwai Ki Gali’ where you get some famous Indian sweets and snacks with unique taste.
Brahma Temple and the ‘Pushkar Ghat’
The Brahma temple is the main attraction of Pushkar as it is the only temple of Brahma in the whole world and there is no other temple of lord Brahma elsewhere.Lord Brahma is said to have created ‘Pushkar’ and the place has great spiritual significance.The brahma temple is situated nearby the beautiful Pushkar ghat where the visitors takes the holy bath.Photography is strictly prohibited in the temple and the ghat and I adhered to the rule 🙂
It was great exploring the marking in the night and attending the grand ‘Aarti’ but we faced problem with the accommodation as we didn’t had the advance hotel booking and all the hotels were booked and those which had empty rooms were demanding very high prices so we returned back to Ajmer thanks to the local buses which remain operational till 10 Pm, we got a descent room in 400 Rs in Ajmer near Railway Station.We had a sound sleep and the next day we again went into the fair to cover the things which we missed.
Pushkar has become a hot destination for the tourists from all over the world as it has both the spiritual and fun elements associated with it. Pushkar fair is the largest cattle fair of the country where thousands of animals including camel, horses,cows etc are being traded.More than 2 lakhs tourists attend the Pushkar Fair and if you haven’t attended the fair you must visit it at least once.
Watch the beautiful glimpses of the Pushkar fair 2017 in the video below:
By-Aditya Sanadhya
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