Claire: Camels and Mustaches and Turbans, Oh My!

November 29, 2012

This weekend I went to the globally famous, Pushkar Camel Fair. Attracting 300,000 people and up to 20,000 camels, cattle, and horses, the fair is a mela of livestock, traders, farmers, and villagers from all over Rajasthan. It happens every November during the Kartik Purnima full moon, and is celebrated for 5 days. Kartik Purnima is the main day of the fair because, according to legend, it is the day Brahma bloomed the Pushkar Lake. Witnessing the spectacle and carnival was a great experience. We of course did a ridiculous amount of shopping, but we also had a great time participating in and observing the culture.

We saw a colorful parade circling Pushkar Lake. The streets were flooded with people. There were a few floats, a marching band, and an endless amount of people following behind. We threw flowers from our rooftop restaurant onto the pilgrims marching below. It was a beautiful scene. We also saw a turban wrapping competition, and a mustache competition in the desert. Both were hilarious! The mustaches were insane. The winner had his twisted into tight dreads, and spiraled into buns on his cheeks. He looked like Princess Lea. If she were an Indian man with a ridiculously long mustache/beard I wouldn’t have known who was who.  The crowd was packed, but we were able to snake our way to the front. There were a handful of cameramen, reporters, and photographers from all over the world at the events. It was amazing. I’m glad I had the opportunity to witness such a spectacle.

 

Written by clairebreyen Posted in Photos, Travel Tagged with intern abroad, intern in India, internship abroad, World Endeavors, World Endeavors review