Pushkar - holy schmoly!

Now I've moved on to Pushkar, four hours' drive from Jodhpur. Like everywhere in Rajasthan, Pushkar is surrounded by swathes of pleasant hills, desert and general nothingness. It is a small town that's famous for having a holy lake. It also has one of the few surviving Brahma temples in the world - an extremely rare type of Hindu temple. (If we were playing Temple Top Trumps, a Brahma temple would be worth about 5,000 points!) Apparently this makes it Interesting.

I've seen shedloads of temples this week folks, let me tell you. There are temples everywhere in India. India has temples coming out of its eyeballs. Several religions co-exist in Indian society (Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism etc.), all requiring their own fancily-decorated places of worship wherever their followers reside.

And they are wonderful to look at and to take photos of, but I think there's a limit to how much religion you can gorge yourself on. Even though I love a buffet, be it of deities or of bite-sized sausage rolls, I have reached my limit now for sure.

To go in a temple you have to remove your shoes at the gate. It is also polite to make a small donation as you do so. It can be an uncomfortable experience - you feel like a blatant tourist taking photos while people are praying. Temple-keepers seem quite receptive to tourists though, due to the influx of money they bring.

Pushkar is like a holiness overload. Religion is a business here. As you walk down the street, guys follow you trying to push flowers into your hand. You're meant to take the flowers and drop them in the lake to send good karma to your loved ones. But when you're at the lake another priest takes the flower, says the prayer for you and tries to force you to make a donation.

I realise these guys have to make a living and pay for the upkeep of the temples, but their approach pisses me off - religion shouldn't be about the money. It's like the rich nobles in medieval times who thought they could buy their way into heaven by paying the church money - it just won't wash with the big man, fellas!

Oh and you're not allowed to eat meat in this town, or to drink alcohol. Borrring! Luckily I'm leaving Pushkar today - hooray!

Pushkar is far from all bad though, you just have to have your wits about you when you're on the street. We saw an excellent tabla (Indian drum) performance at a local music school last night, and there are some stunning views down by the lake. I think I'll have some happy memories of this place.

Next up: Jaipur!