West India

Rajasthan is a very vivid state with colourful turbans, forts, and deserts. The festival of Pushkar is an amazing place for travellers to visit and is one of the most spectacular festivals in India and the world. People from all over Rajasthan come here to go to the big lake where the holy lake is considered to be a place that will take away all your sins, for a fee, of course. Sadhus are in abundance on the pilgrimage and the priests are born to be brahmin priests. Everyone is welcome to do puja at the temples and no person is excluded but everyone eats vegetarian food. Rice and dahl is a favourite dish and my personal favourite is chappatis and rice which you can eat for less than a dollar. The camel fair attracts camel traders to do serisous business buying and selling camels. Rajasthanis take their camel trading very seriously and some camels can cost up to five hundred dollars each.

You can get to Bikaner by bus if you like. Very few western travellers come here and you can visit the temple that is filled with rats who are supposed to the reincarnations of story tellers. You can make an offereing or prasad to the gods and the rats. If you step on a rat, you have to pay silver to replace it. The rats have been there for hundreds of years. Put your hands in the sacred fire to offer puja and smoke some scented tobacco in a hookah pipe. All the men sit around smoking and sharing the pipes while the women knead the chappattis and cook the food. There is fire walking and holding and eating fire. Dancing on the fire means be careful and watchful which gives strength to your body as well.

Jaiselmer is a desert fortress on the edge of the Rajasthan desert which is a favourite place for travellers. There is nothing to compare with it in India. Most of the people still live in the walled city that is very ancient. For ladies you can get your hand painted with henna. During the wedding men and women both paint their bodies with henna. You can also go on a camel trek into the desert which includes all your food for about a dollar a day. The sandstone carvings adorn the old buildings. The bhang lassi is a popular drink that you can get in a cafe that is run by the government.

Udaipur is an oasis in the middle of the desert and has often been called the venice of the east. You can get a shirt made here for a very cheap price. If you want to get a traditional Punjabi suit of clothes it will cost from twelve to fifteen dollars. The tailor will measure you up and in a couple of hours you go back to pick it up all finished. Get your fortune told with the astrologist who will consult all his ancient books and knowledge.

Rankpur is the site of one of the oldest Jain temples in India. Another religion from Hinduism is Jainism and the temple is more than six hundred years old and took more than sixty years to build. There are about eight million Jains in INdia.

Mumbai is a city of thirteen million people that is growing rapidly day by day. The cheapest place to stay in Bombay is the Salvation Army hostel. It will cost you a dollar or two for a dormitory room with basic facilities. For ladies bring black bras because everything gets so dirty.

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