Fireworks and Camels- what more could you ask for?

These past few weekends have been quite exciting - with the celebration of Diwali and a trip to the annual Pushkar Camel Mela (fair). Diwali is considered the biggest of the Hindu holidays and is best described as a combination of Christmas and the Fourth of July. Being the festival of lights, the entire country becomes ablaze with light: house lights, candles and most importantly- fireworks. It is difficult to describe, but try to imagine a 360 degree fireworks show taking place all around you and at all levels- street, balcony, sky. All people and ages take part and kids seem to think it is great fun to throw fireworks directly at their friends! It’s pretty scary and overwhelming (like when an M-80 exploded practically under our auto-rickshaw!) but also exciting and incredible to see. After an afternoon of Ultimate Frisbee, we watched the spectacle go down on our friend Joel’s roof top with a great group of folks and eventually made it home in one piece.

The Pushkar Camel festival is an amazing sight to see. Timed to coincide with Kartik Purnima (when Hindu pilgrims come to bathe in Pushkar's sacred waters), thousands of camel, horse and cattle owners (many from nomadic groups) gather in the dessert sands of Pushkar, a normally sleepy town in the state of Rajastan, to buy, sell and trade their animals. Legend holds that Pushkar was created by Brahma when he dropped a lotus flower to the earth and the lake formed. The fair lasts for one week and includes a host of events including camel races, moustache contests, and beauty contests (camel beauty that is)! We were there on the first day of the fair which meant a slightly calmer experience which was great. That said, we were still very much the focus of attention! Kris even developed a small posse at one point- woman with child, musical instrument seller, necklace seller, camel walla…the side effects of being friendly! We met some really great folks on our trip and also met up with some friends from Delhi also in town for the fair. We rode camels, and took a camel cart ride and enjoyed seeing the many different styles of camel haircuts, decorations and accessories - who knew! Then back to Delhi via overnight train - our new home away from home.