Intensity

Story by Maggie, Photos by Dave
Pushkar
Monday, November 7


An apology to start:
It is not good form to appear critical of the places we visit. My experiences here are filtered through Western eyes and expectations, I know that. I’m a newbie tourist in a very foreign land, and bit by bit, I’m adjusting, but just as I start to think I’m fine, a new level of India-ness confronts me. This is what I came for, however, and I’m determined to meet each new challenge as it comes. I mean no discourtesy to my host country with the following descriptions.

I don’t know how to write about the intensity of this place without an abundance of cliché, but I hope the pictures help. On top of crowds and colour, there are the smells, some of food and spices, some of incense and perfume, some of sewer and cow dung and coal smoke. And then there is the noise of so many vehicles.

The main street here is a pedestrian thoroughfare filled with people, often barefoot, but weaving through the throng are the ubiquitous motorbikes, honking almost incessantly. They don’t go slow; it seems like a game for them to plow through as fast as possible, though I understand they would never get anywhere if they held back. They are expert, really, safe as long as pedestrians do what’s expected: stay on the left, in line with everyone else, and don’t make any erratic moves. The drivers get confused when you walk on the right, and the honking intensifies. Pedestrians, meanwhile, pay no attention when a bike misses them by inches. You get used to it. Within a few days of being here, I don’t even flinch most of the time.

The hardest thing to get used to is the filth, not just in the streets but in our hotel. The Delhi place was pretty new, all marble and gleaming, but the cleaning was just acceptable, and I could tell that in a few years the places they forget to wipe now will have never been wiped, and the crud will have built up. Here in Pushkar we are staying at Lonely Planet’s first choice. Superficially, it is beautiful, but the guys who clean don’t know how to clean, or maybe won’t clean due to leftover attitudes from the caste system. The beds are fine, the bathroom not so much. The toilet looks okay,  thankfully, and they wash the floor daily, but the bathroom door is rotting along the bottom, the mirrors are covered in spots, the faucet hasn’t been wiped maybe ever, there are stains running down the half wall that divides the shower area from the rest of the room, and even the drinking glass provided has toothpaste stains from previous guests. The first night, I was upset, because we are paying a small fortune for the room by Indian standards, a rate similar to those in North America. In the morning I very politely requested at the desk that the bathroom be cleaned very well. It didn’t happen. I’ll drop a line in TripAdvisor and in the Lonely Planet forum. People who come should know what to expect.

Since that first night here, I’ve been able to relax about the state of things. I pretend I’m camping indoors, and that helps me accept that things are grubby. I use a lot of hand sanitizer.

Dave:
Some pics of inside the 7th Heaven Inn, our room (part), bathroom, and outside the front door of the guest house. Please click on the pic to enlarge.

Ambience: A+

Looking up

Looking down. Pic by Maggie

One of two skinny cats wanting our milk-powder packets

Seating area just outside our room – essentially, our own private hang-out space

Bathroom door with rotting bottom, dirty mirror reflecting stained shower wall

Garbage collection area (otherwise known as cow pasture) adjacent to front entrance (note Seventh Heaven sign)