pushkar, rajasthan - december 26, 2006

weird things happen in india.

truly.

like oddly grand hotels on the edge of Pushkar, where i arrived about 2 hours ago from Jaipur. i did not expect the luxury of the Hotel Master Paradise given the relative shabbiness of the Hotel Residency Inn that i found myself holed up in in Jaipur last night (that would be christmas night, btw).

Pushkar is the site of a lake created by Brahma and literally means "flower hand", meaning that it was created when Brahma dropped from his hand a lotus (one of of three) on the desert floor and up sprang (sprung?) a lake. Pushkar is home to the only temple to Brahma in the world. within the holarchy of the non-dual, transcendent, immanent, transpersonal, universal infinity of Brahman, the Hindu trinity, or Trimurti, of Brahma (creative force), Vishnu (preserving force) and Shiva (destructive force) has captured my attention and a good deal of my spiritual interest in the last two years. i really had no intention of coming to Pushkar. it just kind of happened. and tomorrow morning, a brahmin priest (pandit) will perform a puja for my dead parents. somehow when the subject came up yesterday while driving between Agra and Jaipur, i experienced only a moment's hesitation before saying "yes, i'd like a puja performed for my parents". of course, there will be a cost. it costs a Hindu family to have a pandit perform the puja. and if there's something in it for my driver, Ashok Kr. Gautam (!), who's been wonderful, so be it. he has 3 daughters to marry off. very expensive in this culture.

anyway. here i am in this gorgeous Hindu pilgrimage site, on the eve of a puja for my parents with a brahmin priest, after which, i will enjoy a 2-hour camel ride in this afghanistan-meets-okanagan environment.

stupefying.

and despite the hordes of (mostly indian) tourists and the hour-long queue on christmas eve day, the Taj Mahal is truly breathtaking. it was unfortunate that time prevented us from visiting Agra Fort, but we were able to be at the Taj while the sun set.

magnificent.

(by "we" i mean me and The World's Cutest Guide Ever, Pawan Singh--aka Nick--a 22-year-old dynamo studying spanish at delhi university in order to find a niche acting a s a guide for the spanish and south american market. i learned a great deal about the importance of succeeding at what you want to do. ahem. and, yes. yet another crush.)

with the help of the owner of the Hotel Residency Inn last night when i called home to convey my holiday greetings and then tried to make a hotel booking for december 28-31, i now have a reservation at the Hotel Classic in Aurangabad. this task required two calls to Aurangabad, which prompted the owner to ask why i was going there since not many tourists do. in turn, the older gentleman who had checked me in asked if i was a writer, and smiled, and when i waffled, he said "you're lucky", by which i understood him to mean that i am lucky to be a writer. this is the second time in india (the first being in a shop in Chennai) when i have been identified as a writer by an indian who seems to know something i don't.

i wasn't going to tell this story or mention Chennai, but after arriving in Pushkar, etc.--see above re the puja for the parents--i'm beginning to have a different experience of....something. i'm not sure what that is.

back to our main story.....

when i had to call the Hotel Classic back because (a) the connection was crackling and (b) i had trouble deciphering the accent of the clerk underneath the crackling, the owner came to my rescue, communicated my needs, obtained the tariff information for me and the hotel's bank account information, into which i was to desposit 1000 rupees. the owner even filled out the deposit slip for me, which he oddly had on hand. "the bank will open tomorrow morning at 9am," he told me. although i pondered the possibility that this was some scam to bilk me out of 1000 rupees, it occurred to me that the reputation of the hotel would be worth more than that, especially when in return for the favour, the owner asked for a favourable recommendation to Lonely Planet. once again, i trusted that i wasn't being led astray.

when Ashok arrived at 8am to pick me up for the day's sightseeing in Jaipur (Hawa Mahal or "Palace of Winds", Amber Fort and Jantar Mantar), he nervously asked if it was ok to take care of some business: he needed to deposit some money into his account in order for his wife to pay his cell phone bill or his service would end today. guess where he needed to make the deposit? yep. at the very same bank (ICICI) where i needed to make my deposit for the Hotel Classic, so no special trip was needed for me AND the bank was already open at 8am. in fact, Ashok took care of both pieces of banking business and provided me with the receipt i need once i get to Aurangabad and check into the hotel. he also allowed me to call the hotel on his cell to confirm the details of my arrival and the deposit of the money.

brilliant.

almost at Pushkar, Ashok (whose father is buddhist and mother is hindu), remarked on one of his favourite songs, which he began to talk about by explaining the three words of the title, Satyam Sivam Sundaram. when i remarked that one of my favourite songs at home (in fact, it's on my iPod) bears the same title, he played it for me.

same song. different singer. same song.

i feel right.

but weird things happen in india.