For Those Of You Wondering Why I Haven’t Posted Any Photos From My Trip Thus Far…I won’t have enough Internet access/time until I return to the states. Until then, Follow Me On Twitter or Facebook to see some random images whenever I find a free WiFi signal. Upon Returning To The States I’ll Probably Spend As Many Days As I Do Updating The Blog From India Sharing Photos Of The Trip.
Awoke at 3:30am, out the doors of the Jaypee Siddharth hotel an hour later in order to make our 6:10 train to Ajmer (“We’re leaving / On A Midnight Train To Ajmer (On A Midnight Train To Ajmer”)… It was slow moving as we crawled our way out of the city in complete darkness. The train was…unique. There were two bathrooms at each end of our car, and they consisted of little more than a hole in the floor. The good news was that there were electrical outlets, so I could listen to my iPod for the duration of the trip (6+ hours) without fear of draining the battery. Although now that I think about it, the good news was really that I didn’t have to use the bathroom during the train ride. Oh yeah, and for those of you back home betting on how sick I’m going to get this trip…I’m healthy and fit as could be so far. Thanks for making fun of the prospect of me coming to India, assholes.
Outside of Delhi I saw through the train’s soot-covered windows my first glimpses of how people beyond the city limits live here: ramshackle tents, squalid huts, communal fires, garbage everywhere, with various animals roaming free, children playing in train tracks, rolling golden hills. I listened to what I believed to be the “proper” music for such a setting: Stars Of The Lid (The Ballasted Orchestra), Tarentel (We Move Through Weather), Talk Talk (Laughing Stock), Tower Recordings (The Galaxies Incredibly Sensual Transmission…), 1 Mile North (Glass Wars), Ativin (Interiors), Zoviet France (Music For A Spaghetti Western) and Amber Asylum (Songs Of Sex & Death). I spent time composing the blog entry from Delhi (day 2), free-writing, finishing two books (Bootleg: The Secret History Of The Other Recording Industry, Venus Drive), and staring out that dirty window into the Indian countryside.
Arrived in Ajmer shortly after noon. Busses aren’t allowed near the train station there so I had to take a rickshaw ride a few miles to meet the bus to Pushkar. Sitting in the back of that rickshaw-taxi might have been the closest to death I’ve ever felt in any form of transportation ever, and that’s coming from someone who once had to make an emergency plane landing in a field in Mexico. Ajmer, I learned from my guide, is a “not-all-that-important city,” with a population of about 1.5 million. My guide also informed me that the infrastructure of the city was only was built to handle a population of about 200,000. He said that as recently as two or three years ago all the streets could manage two-lanes of traffic, but now all the streets were one-way. Which reminds me — in India, traffic “lanes” seem to be more like suggestions than rules by which drivers must abide. Almost every taxi, rickshaw or bus I’ve been on has at some point willingly partaken in a game of chicken with another vehicle. The traffic here makes LA seem like a breeze.
Lodging in Pushkar is a place called Thar Camp Desert, which is basically a tent city but a little nicer than your typical camping tent. There’s two twin beds in each tent, there’s a wall between the sleeping area and the “bathroom” (which is hilarious, as there’s a makeshift shower and toilet that empties into a hole that was dug maybe a foot-and-a-half behind the tent), and there’s even a tiny bit of electricity! Of course, my roommate happens to be both a snorer AND sick, so my nights thus far have been a combination of sleeplessness and anxiety. I don’t want whatever he has, and whatever he has is keeping me up all night.
After unpacking and settling in for a few minutes we took a camel kart ride through the fairgrounds in Pushkar where the Fair is happening this weekend. It’s like a state fair on crack, combined with either Mardis Gras or Burning Man. 100,000 people show up to celebrate camels and other livestock, and bathe in Pushkar Lake, which is a holy site. There are rides, a stadium where sporting events take place (and also a bridal auction, and mustache and turban competitions), and thousands of food and merchandise booths. Our camels pretty much skipped the actual fairgrounds and took us around the perimeter, then transported us away into the hills where we watched the sunset from a really pretty knoll. The highlight of the camel kart experience was either when the driver of the kart behind us tied his camel’s reins to the back of our cart and went off to take a piss or shit somewhere, or when our driver did the same but instead handed me the reins and delivered to me a crash-course in camel kart driving. Left, right, stop. That’s all I needed to know. Luckily the path wasn’t too tricky and I wasn’t called upon to command my camel to do anything. Now I can add driving a camel to my life’s resume.
Back at the tent city we were served a traditional (and wholly vegetarian) dinner, then we had to pay someone from the camp to drive into town to buy us alcohol because Pushkar is either dry city, or during the festival it’s dry. I couldn’t quite understand but I wanted to drink and drug myself to sleep so a bottle of red wine was procured. A fancy little 2010 cabernet shiraz from India with a screw-on top. Only the classiest booze for this guy.
Tomorrow is all about the fair. A walking tour in the morning, back to the tents for lunch, and then a few hours to go back and explore on our own. Hopefully the red wine will be enough to help me sleep tonight. It’s been a long day.
Radio Transit [MP3]
