The fourth stop on my trip to India was Pushkar, a sacred Hindu city located on the fringes of Rajasthan’s Thar Desert. Getting here required an overnight train ride from Agra in a shared coach (making sleep elusive, if not impossible), followed by a frigid 45-minute tuk-tuk ride through the mountains at 4 AM. I arrived sleep-deprived, low on brain cells, and overall in pretty dire straights. But there were events to attend, and attend them I did.
I came here for the annual Pushkar Camel Fair, one of India’s biggest festivals, which serendipitously landed on the exact dates I’d be in North India. During the event, thousands of traders gather to buy and sell camels, horses, and other livestock. Records suggest it started in the 18th century when nomadic tribesmen would venture to town from deep in the desert, their collection of camels in tow. The fair also attracts pilgrims who come to bathe in the sacred Pushkar Lake during the full moon, a particularly auspicious time.
There’s now an extensive event schedule (much of it for the tourists’ benefit), which includes camel dance contests/beauty pageants/races, turban-tying contests, and a highly entertaining mustache competition. The entire event is equal parts hilarious and mesmerizing and I’m so glad I made time for it.
In one standout moment during the camel dance contest, a pickpocketer snatched a phone from an audience member and took off running. The announcer informed the crowd what had happened and commanded guests to chase him down. Over 100 festival-goers sprinted after the man, recovered the phone, and subjected him to public shaming—a beautiful display of vigilante justice that truly warmed the heart to witness. Later that afternoon my friend and I fell for the most common scam in the books—a blessing from a “priest” that cost $5 per blessed family member, which we weren’t informed of until the ceremony was complete. By that point, we’d each named off our entire family tree and the tab required more cash than we withdrew for a whole week. A few hours later, I was run into by a horse galloping down the road at full speed. There is never a dull moment in India, and that’s exactly what makes it such a special place.
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