India, India, India... Our time here was short lived (just 6 days) but man was it wild. I think my good bud Wilson put it best when he said "If you go day without seeing or experiencing something totally bizarre then you've had a weird day." Things like five legged cows painted blue and worshipped on the street outside your hostel quickly become the norm. A complete stranger once handed me his screaming baby then disappeared into the night without any further explanation. Without a doubt it is the most exotic place I've ever been to and the whole experience is just so uniquely Indian.
Our time in India coincided nicely with the Pushkar Camel Mela; one of the worlds largest gatherings of livestock. For a week the town of Pushkar goes bat shit insane when devout worshippers descend on the small town to bathe in it's holy Ghaats. This in its self would have been a spectacle but people decided that this would be a great time to sell a bunch of camels, and so the Mela was born. An estimated 11'000 camels, horses and cattle compliment the 400'000 people that meet here every year. Needless to say it's a pretty intense scene.
Tents to house the mass of camel herders spring up on the out skirts of town along with a fair ground complete with a circus and amusement rides. The rides I advise against, the idea that any safety official made any attempt what so ever to thoroughly inspect these death machines is laughable. That being said we did indulge on a particularly rickety looking Ferris wheel. The contraption is operated by a guy slamming his foot down on a gas pedal! They had literally just gutted an automotive engine and hooked the drive belts onto the Ferris wheels drive shaft. The operator even manually shifts the gears. The carriages that you sit in have no barrier between you and the 50 foot plummet but the g-force pins you to the side as affectively as any seat belt.
The festival was a unique insight into the lives of surrounding tribes that flock here for business. Wandering through the tents you get a glimpse into the nomadic lifestyle these herdsman live. Camels streaming in from the surrounding desert having been herded vast distances to reach this final destination . Witnessing this traditional festival afforded a surreal glimpse into a traditional way of life that has been intertwined with the modernity of the 21st century.
