The death of a faithful friend

It was a good shirt, reliable, comfortable and polyester, perfect for sweating in and sure, sure it did have a few holes but it was a good friend and faithful to the end. All in all it was a warrior and one of only three shirts i posses... I arrived in Pushkar on the 6th, after a 5 hour bus ride during which I had five people, crammed in our row of three seats. I don't know how it happened but i started with only two neighbors but by the middle there was five and my share of the three seats dwindling rapidly. I got there safely however my only casualty was my right cheek. I wound up at a guest house at the base of a hill on which sat a really neat Hindu temple. I watched sunset that night from the top: Mystic wind side shot

  i got lucky and i had a decent room with a semi decent double wide mattress. my only complaint being that there was a single sized sheet on it. Go figure, but the fan worked and my bathroom had a toilet seat so i was happy. I walked into town, the very small town and at first the thing that hit me was the amount of backpackers and the shops that acompany them. Beyond the main street is where i got this tasty morsel for 40 cents and i found a...

 beautiful lake surrounded completely with Ghats, or temples, each with its own bathing section in the lake. it was a magical place to stop and sit and read a book or take in all that is India. Sunset lake shot:

On the banks of the lake lays one of the only remaining Brahman temples in the world and blessing are done to the faithful through quite a long prayer/ process by the water. It consists of repeating everything the priest says, getting color on your forehead along with rice. You also hold a coconut with flowers and string on top of it and repeat a lot more words that are really hard to say as the priest sprinkles some of the lake water on it all. The whole process ends with a donation which took a little of the "wow" away from the whole thing but they have to eat too, i figure. I had heard about Pushkar from another traveler and had two weeks previous, to my arrival, decided to go and i had booked a ticket. I was not aware until a few days before making landfall that i would be in Pushkar during one of its most famous of dates, Holi. The Holi festival is a sight to behold and its held between February and March depending when the full moon will be. Its a festival of a different sort, there is a break down between castes and on Holi everyone is free to be one, free of the social implications of associating with those outside your caste. On Holi everyone is, just, Indian. Loud music is allowed and part of the street is covered into a Indian trance party. This isn't your everyday India trance party, everyone is armed. Armed with a water bottle full of water and color or a fist full of dry color, these are the colors:

I showed up to Holi not completely understanding what it was going to be like. I got a feel for it right quick i tell ya. Watch this so you can get a feel for what i was walking into. WATCH VIDEO during the video you might notice a clothes line, covered in clothes, it hangs from the middle of the dance floor. My shirt would wind up there, ripped from my body, torn into shreds, and thrown up there by 5 Indians right before they did this to me.

 

We danced and wiped color on each other, bear hugs where given and screams where shouted. We got down like you do only once you are completely covered in sweat, dust and a large amount of powerful color dye, the toxicity of which has never been tested. It was the death of one of my favorite shirts but if i know it as well as i think i do, it would have wanted to go out that way. Down to two, and they also have holes in them.

till next time, be well all you guys and girls out there, i miss you all a ton