Operation desert stoned

A snake-charmer at work. This is a black cobra that is common in Rajastan.










Come to the gypsy part of town.... :-)







This is Parathi and her brother hangin' in our room. She wouldn't give us much brake, but we didn't mind. At least she did all her homework.






Thanx to Gabri' we obtained a pair of wheels again and so we hit the road and collected a good amount of sand between our teeth...( Bullet 350; zumm-zumm )






The temperature during the day goes up to 42 c.
So a tree like this can be much of a help.









We went to a big family-pooja. The food was superb and the band rocked. So people took to some vicious dancing.








A bunch of gypsy kids with some edge..."you ain't run things here boy!!" :-)








This photo was made in the inner yard of a big Brahmin house. They where preparing some food. Must have been lots of food by the size of the flames.








The three musketeers collecting flowers.




Pushkar is famous of it's desert rose production (pushpa-flower in hindi). They make rose oil, rose water, or just export the dried petals to the middle-east for decoration.
In either case they smell magical and if you can sneak up to the roof-top of one of the houses, you can roll around in it.




There are tons of these shops around here that make rich sweets out of milk and sugar to keep people going. They look good, but besides being fried, they also are uber-sweet so they put your blood sugar level on the top shelf in no time.



N/C









We met this local artist painting beautiful pictures of desert life. This one is gonna be a Rajastani woman.









This is the neighbour's naughty little gal.
When you pass her by, she would just randomly pinch your leg or do some other unexpected move. But can u get mad?! I mean look at her...




Colours-colours....










A lonesome doorway...









Watermelon is essential for our daily survival as a weapon against dehydration.
And the little green guys in the big basket are the first alphonso-mangoes that appeared on the scene. They are not quite there yet, but in a month or so they gonna be sweet as honey.... can't wait.


These are the heavy clay water jugs that the life of the desert kind of revolves around. Their tick walls keep the precious liquid cold as ice.
But the cool thing is; if you beat on the mouth part and the sides when empty, they sound awesome :-)



This is an interior of a small courtyard. These shaded places are the centers of daily activity which during the heat of the day consists mainly of laying around on the floor. After few days I got real good at this one.


The city is loaded with elegant palaces painted in blue, the colour of the Brahmin (high cast) households. The architecture is indo-islamic which given it's elegant proportions and decorated surfaces makes you feel like being in some old Sufi tale.


The magical lake that makes Pushkar a holy place. At present it is out of water due to the cleaning of the bed. But life doesn't stop, so they still do pujas by these little water tanks we can see on the bottom edge of the photo.




This is a big pile of cow doo-doo. They use it for tonnes of different things. Many applications, same sh.t.





The feeling of being in the desert hits you real quick, thank to the temperature and humidity that is real hard to bare during the day.
Early afternoon on the square... not a single soul out.


After the craze of the Mela and the realization of the chilly temperature up in the Himalayas, we took a train to Pushkar this holy city in the middle of the Rajastan desert. Here the men wear colorful turbans, and posses beautiful mighty-big mustaches of which I envied and got real jealous of :-)

Kumba Mela 2010

My friend, tonight is a big puja and my guru invited 2000 Sadhus for dinner. So as you can see there is a whole lot of potato to be pealed. But the more Sadhus eat from the dinner, the more positive karma my guru gains . This is the way it goes here on the Kumba Mela... The biggest happening of the world that sometimes looks like the most beautiful and holy gathering and other times more like a big circus maximus. Come, see and take your pick :-)

















Women washing in the holy Ganga that does not only clean souls, but works perfectly for dirty clothes as well.















A lower cast family from U.P. in one of the camps having their lunch. These people are real welcoming and happy to make you part of their camp even if just for an afternoon.













This is Pilote-baba surrounded by his disciples.











So what are we gonna talk about? God, consciousness, divine unity, the non-duality of the human beings or just simply the baba's Nokia phone that was manufactured in Hungary?!












This one is a standing Baba. They take a wow that they will stand for sometimes over a period of ten years. Over which their legs and foot become somewhat of a tree trunk. I hope this way they truly get closer to god, because if not than all this effort is a bit of a pity.












But even if they don't speak the language, they ever so ready to share some good Himalayan charas with you. These babas are giving heat to some serious chillums.











They are always welcoming, and in case they speak English one can have some philosophical conversations with them.














On the afternoon it is always worth paying a visit to the Sadhus camps.











Sadhus lining up for lunch.













An elaborate seed and flower display at the Kr.shna camp.












Holy moments. According to the Hindus, if you take a bath in the Ganga during the Kumba Mela at the right place, it takes away all your bad karma.












A Sadhu is taking a rest at one of the fancier tents.












The quiche exterior of Pilot-Baba's camp.












This is one of the big Babas giving a speech to his followers on a sleepy afternoon.












Bathing is not only for humans, but all the devotees of the animal kingdom.













We wondered into a camp with full of Russian devoties. Here good food was garantied daily, and I've found it real therapeutic to peel potato with all the "new-age babuskas".











He is a young companion of a Sadhu who one day may become a Baba himself.
















Rishikes is real hot during the day. So if you aren't taking a bath, you better find yourself some shady spot and gallons of water.














N/c












All ofsprings of the Hindu religion are represented on the Mela at some form. These youngsters we befriended in the Kr.sna camp.












Durring the three and a half monts of the festival, about18 to 25 million people come to take a cleansing bath in the holy Ganga river. The main participants of the jamboree are the sadhus like these ones here. They come from all differend kinds of Sadhu orders but lots of them are just single unit wandering sadhus that live in some caves in the Himalaya.











Welcome to the 2010 Kumba Mela, the biggest religious gathering of the planet.

Up north in Risikesh...

We ventured up to the foothills of the Himalaya, although only up to 2500 meters high. This picture was made in a small village up high where we came to the conclusion that Himalaya is still a bit cold to visit. So for now we did some lung exercise and headed down to Haridwar to the Kumba Mela 2010.













Sir I have the best quality silver goods in town. As they say around here: "Cheap and best." (now how can u argue such claim)













Gadget-land in Risikesh.













You look funny with your camera...










A palace of a Raj from back in the days.











Bathing in the holy Ganga is surely a special experience that cleans the body and soul. After all has been washed off, nothing is better than a little jamming with friends.













First crunch the tirst of your holy companion and than refresh thy own self. A good Hindu :-)












Some followers of Shiva the destroyer hangin' out by the side of the road. Which is gonna prevail for the passage of time, the holy trident or the "S.b.i. internet banking"?!












This is us, hanging out with some friends after consuming a double portion of rice and curry with a liter of curd and honey.













A lovely offering of a handful of lotus flowers.

















A dried out river bed quickly gets inhabited by dalits, families from the lowest cast of India.












A classic barber shop in Risikesh. This one is quite established. The more basic ones consist of a chair, a par of scissors, and a bucket of water on the side of the road.












There are some huge ashrams all over Risikesh. Some modest ones and some quite over the top with 13 floors. This one is a statue of a deity on the bottom floor.













This here is laughing yoga in practice. Contrary my previous assumptions it is not only laughing, but also involves some asanas.
Well we surely had a laugh or two.











So we took the train in Chennai and dashed trough the whole country just to find ourselves in Risikesh. This holy town at the foothills of the Himalaya claims to be the yoga capitol of India.