We stay at the Green Park Hotel, a short walk from the centre of town.  Wow! What a view with the rose and marigold fields and the temple topped Ratnagiri Hill as a backdrop to the hotel. But the main reason we had come to Pushkar wasn’t to relax around the resort pool but to witness the annual Camel Fair, when thousands of brightly decorated camels, bedecked with colourful cloth fill the narrow streets.

The camel owners gather for one week, camped in the nearby desert, to trade their expertly groomed ‘ships of the desert’. The camel coats are clipped into intricate patterns, dyed with henna and accessorised with brightly coloured necklaces and nose piercings to look absolutely fabulous. We wandered through the enormous campsite admiring the camels, colourful tents, flamboyant gypsy girls, and proudly prancing horses, as we passed by huddled groups of men noisily trading their livestock in auctions.

Crouched on the ground around inconspicuous woven baskets, were the snake charmers – their charges woken from slumber when the basket lid was briskly removed to allow the hooded Cobra to rise, swaying to the vibrations of the flute-like instrument. Everywhere we went were giggling children, always eager to practice their ‘hello’s and have their photo taken.

A highlight of our visit was a camel safari into the nearby desert. As we headed out along the sandy lanes, my camel boy assured me that nothing would harm me in the desert as we gently meandered through some of the most picturesque desert in all of India.  Groups of children would magically appear from the simple huts lining the path, waving and cheering as we passed.  Making our way through farms and villages I began to imagine what it would have been like, a thousand years ago, to traverse the desert in search of new lands.

As the sun began to set we tucked into a delicious Indian camp meal and settled in for an evening of campfire stories and entertainment. We chose to sleep out under the billions of stars above rather than retire to the tents. We woke to fresh air and the smell of a traditional Indian Breakfast before returning to town via a different route.

Pushkar, particularly during the Camel Fair, is a major destination for pilgrims and Saddhus, although many of these saffron robed holy-men are no more than beggars.

This is where we encountered the bizarre spectacle of the five-legged cow, deformed by an extra leg growing eerily from its back. The cow seemed quite content being paraded around in multicoloured layers of ‘sacred’ cloth and red and gold tinsel on its head. For 20 rupees one can shake the hoof, for 50 rupees, take a photo! Wandering further down the road we were surprised to see more of these 5 legged Holy cows. In a country reputed to have 300 million cows, I suppose, a few are destined to be born with an extra appendage or two.

As we walked further through the narrow lanes and paths, passing more beggars, these ones dressed as blue-skinned Hindu gods, Bollywood music blared from loudspeakers enticing us towards the Fairground with its Ferris Wheels, Sideshow Alley and ‘fairy floss’.’

In the centre of town is the very sacred Pushkar Lake, believed to be as old as the creation of life itself. We were told by our local guide, also a Brahmin priest, that the waters have special healing powers as he performed for us a ‘puja’ – a sacred ceremony – designed to bestow a long, healthy and fruitful life on our families. Afterwards, feeling a sense of peace and energised with the beauty and spirituality of the place, our foreheads were daubed with a spot of vermillion and our wrists wrapped with a ‘Pushkar Passport’ a band of red thread.

As we wandered the town, the afternoon sky was filled with hot air balloons floating across the camel ground, the town and lake. What an amazing way to see the fair. Next visit perhaps I’ll be the one looking down from above.

The sunsets here are fantastic. Down by the lake, which was thronged with traditionally dressed pilgrims performing their ancient ceremonial bathing rituals, backpackers and tourists made their way to the famous ‘Sunset Café’ to watch the spectacle, listen to the tribal beating of drums performed each afternoon and sip spicy masala chai (tea).

We found street stalls teeming with Indian delicacies, delicious pakoras, tantalising samosas and sweets dripping in syrup.  Nearby roof-top restaurants offered an ‘all you can eat’ dinner buffet for as little as 60 rupees or about $1.30 Australian, you can’t get much better than that!

One day was barely enough time to sift through the friendly shops in the markets, jammed with some of the best jewellery, fabric and traditional handicrafts in India. Also on sale a myriad of religious paraphernalia for the thousands of Hindu pilgrims thronging the streets, along with items as diverse as traditional ceremonial spears and shields.

Pushkar is a rare gem of a destination that will challenge all of your senses. The town, its people and camels are a visual feast, quite spectacular indeed! 400km southwest of Delhi, Pushkar is easily reached by bus, train, or private vehicle from the nearby cities of Ajmer or Jaipur. The Pushkar Camel Fair will be held this year from 2nd to 10th November.

For more information on our upcoming Pushkar Fair departure, click here.

We are a unique species, aren’t we? Not humans. Indians, I mean. No other race speaks or spells like we do.  Take greetings for example.  A friendly clerk asking me for my name is apt to start a conversation with, “What is your good name?” As if I hold that sort of information close to my heart and only divulge my evil pseudonym. Bizarre.  I call these ‘Indianisms.’  Which got me thinking about a compilation, a greatest hits of the most  hilarious Indianisms out there. And here they are. The most common ones, and my favourites among them.

1. ‘Passing out’
When you complete your studies at an educational institution, you graduate from that institution. You do not “pass out” from that institution. To “pass out” refers to losing consciousness, like after you get too drunk, though I’m not sure how we managed to connect graduating and intoxication. Oh wait … of course, poor grades throughout the year could lead to a sudden elation on hearing you’ve passed all of your exams, which could lead to you actually “passing out,” but this is rare at best.

2. ‘Kindly revert’
One common mistake we make is using the word revert to mean reply or respond. Revert means “to return to a former state. “I can’t help thinking of a sarcastic answer every time this comes up. “Please revert at the earliest.” “Sure, I’ll set my biological clock to regress evolutionarily to my original primitive hydrocarbon state at 1 p.m. today.”

3. ‘Years back’
If it happened in the past, it happened years ago, not “years back.”Given how common this phrase is, I’m guessing the first person who switched “ago” for “back” probably did it years back. See what I mean?And speaking of “back,” asking someone to use the backside entrance sounds so wrong.“So when did you buy this car?”“Oh, years back.”“Cool, can you open the backside? I’d like to get a load in.”

4. ‘Doing the needful’
Try to avoid using the phrase “do the needful.”  It went out of style decades ago, about the time the British left. Using it today indicates you are a dinosaur, a dinosaur with bad grammar. You may use the phrase humorously, to poke fun at such archaic speech, or other dinosaurs. “Will you do the needful?” “Of course, and I’ll send you a telegram to let you know it’s done too.”

5. ‘Discuss about’
“What shall we discuss about today?” “Let’s discuss about politics. We need a fault-ridden topic to mirror our bad grammar.” You don’t “discuss about” something; you just discuss things. The word “discuss” means to “talk about”.  There is no reason to insert the word “about” after “discuss. “That would be like saying “talk about about.”  Which “brings about” me to my next peeve.

6. ‘Order for’
“Hey, let’s order for a pizza.”"Sure, and why not raid a library while we’re about it.”When you order something, you “order” it, you do not “order for” it.Who knows when or why we began placing random prepositions after verbs?Perhaps somewhere in our history someone lost a little faith in the “doing” word and added “for” to make sure their order would reach them. They must have been pretty hungry.

7. ‘Do one thing’
When someone approaches you with a query, and your reply begins with the phrase “do one thing,” you’re doing it wrong. “Do one thing” is a phrase that does not make sense. It is an Indianism. It is only understood in India. It is not proper English. It is irritating. There are better ways to begin a reply. And worst of all, any person who starts a sentence with “do one thing” invariably ends up giving you at least five things to do. “My computer keeps getting hung.” “Do one thing. Clear your history. Delete your cookies. Defrag your hardrive. Run a virus check. Restart your computer… .”

8. ‘Out of station’
“Sorry I can’t talk right now, I’m out of station.” “What a coincidence, Vijay, I’m in a station right now.” Another blast from the past, this one, and also, extremely outdated. What’s wrong with “out of town” or “not in Mumbai” or my favorite “I’m not here”?

9. The big sleep
“I’m going to bed now, sleep is coming.” “OK, say hi to it for me. “While a fan of anthropomorphism, I do have my limits. “Sleep is coming” is taking things a bit too far. Your life isn’t a poem. You don’t have to give body cycles their own personalities.

10. ‘Prepone’
“Let’s prepone the meeting from 11 a.m. to 10 a.m.” Because the opposite of postpone just has to be prepone, right?” Prepone” is probably the most famous Indianism of all time; one that I’m proud of, and that I actually support as a new entry to all English dictionaries. Because it makes sense. Because it fills a gap. Because we need it. We’re Indians, damn it. Students of chaos theory. We don’t have the time to say silly things like “could you please bring the meeting forward. “Prepone it is. There are many more pure grammatical “gems” in what we call Indian English.  Perhaps in time I’ll list some more. And perhaps in the near future, we’ll get better at English. Till then, kindly adjust.

11. Only
“He kicked the ball like that only. “Like there was any doubt about the way he did it. “I’m here only.” As opposed to just being “here”? “Only” is the least lonely and most overused word in Indian English.

12. Myself …
“Myself … [Followed by your name].” If you want to say your name, just say “my name is …”. Unless you’re looking to fail a job interview.

13. Updation
“We’re awaiting updation by our manager.” [via svark] Right. You’re an android. And your manager always winds you up first thing in the morning. Why not simply: “We’re waiting to be updated by our manager?” Still, “updation” does have a nice ring to it. Like “tiffin.” I guess I can let this one pass (see, I do discriminate).

14. Basically and actually
This might be an Americanism, and perhaps a Britishism too, but it’s funny when we overuse “basically” and “actually” to emphasize what we mean. “Basically, we import toothpicks.” “Actually, you know, I’m not sure what we export.” It’s like having your head slammed against a wall.  Try to stop the habit. For the sake of my head.

15. Taking things
“I will call you back later as I am taking my lunch right now. “Taking it where?  To the pool for a swim? [via Shak] Just like “take rest.” [via Shakthi Girish] Really. “Take rest.” Instead of just “rest.” Why? It seems that we just love to take things. Where do we put them?

16. Would be
“I would be coming for the meeting in Malad.” [via superstar] “Would you also care to purchase a copy of “English Grammar for Dummies” on your way?” It should be “will be”, not “would be.” No reason to switch the two, even to sound polite.

17.  Putting this and that
“Put on the switch”, “Put this yellow dress.” [via Umamaheswari Venkatesh] We just love using the word “put.” It’s a great so-called filler verb to shorten sentences. “Switch on/turn on the light” or “wear/put on this yellow dress” are all correct. No idea how “put” came into the picture. Then again, we also have people who exclude that word completely. “Off the lights.” Doh!

18. Danced on
“We danced on this song at the wedding reception.” [via Ranjit]Yup. “Danced on.” Not “danced to.” But “danced on.”What is the world coming to? Those wedding guests were tripping for sure if they thought they were dancing “on” a song.Come to think of it, I’d like to have been at that reception.

19. Don’t eat my brains
One of those colloquialisms we love to use in times of irritation. “Eat my head” is another variation. While your dietary choices are your own, I would like to point out that Mumbai has some excellent goat brain on offer, should you decide not to take up the challenge above.

20. Indian-English SMS speak
“c if u cud mk it psible fr tmrw itz gna b osm party … i nw u bzy wd shoots nly bt gv a try na …. cheerrzzz yaa …” [via KC] I save the best for last. This headache inducing cellular shorthand is a worldwide problem, imported from the decadent-capitalist-pig-West onto our shores. People who talk like this are the future of the country. Think about that. And shudder. Sigh. Are we done already? There are so many more. Till next time …

It’s time for your big overseas trip, but what to take???

First thing I do is look at where I’m going and decide on what I’ll take to wear. Is it going to be all the same temp, or mixed. How long am I going for? Can I purchase things easily where I’m going?  If I don’t know the answers, I jump online and google it.

I have my backpack stored away, and keep in it a few things that only come on trips with me, like my Indian Kurtas and Salwars if I’m travelling to the subcontinent (traditional Indian clothing), sleep sheet, travel items such as multi adaptor plug, washing clothesline.

Then I get out my Master packing list and start to make a pile of things such as – toiletries bag, underwear, first aid kit, camera, camera case, extra memory cards and camera battery, swiss army knife and travel alarm clock, torch, spare batteries, washing clothes line, universal sink plug, adaptor plug, ear plugs, travel umbrella, travel clothes wash (a small bottle of handwashing powder in a travel sized all purpose bottle is ideal).

It’s a few weeks until you go.

It’s the perfect time to start planning what to take and what else you need to prepare.Keep a pen and paper by the bed if you’re like me and tend to wake up in the middle of the night thinking about something else you need to remember to take or organise.Get out the clothes you plan to take. Try them on and ensure they don’t need repairing/stitching. Make sure your shoes are in good nik. Get them repaired/resoled if necessary. You don’t want them falling apart on you while you’re walking through a local market or traipsing through an ancient site. If you plan to buy a new pair of shoes for the trip, ensure you do it early enough so that you get plenty of wearing in time before you leave. Make a list and update it as and when you think of new things and start finding/buying what you need. Regularly rewrite the list to refresh it as you add things and take others off.

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Now comes time to work out specifics.

Clothes – take out half of what you’ve put aside.  You have packed too much.

At most you’ll probably only need:

• 2 x Bottoms
• 3 x Tops
• 1 set Thermals (if you’re going somewhere that might be cold)
• 1 set Swimwear (unless you’re going on a beach/resort holiday, then pack a few – they’re only small)
• 1 x walking Shoes
• 1 x shoes that can be worn out with your evening wear and double as day time wear too.
• 1 x shower flipflops (the lightest pair you can find)
• 1 x set Evening wear – ideally a non-crushable light dress or shirt that packs away to nothing.  It’s amazing how a scarf or throw can dress up an ordinary top.
• 1x Rainwear – jacket or even a plastic disposable raincoat1x warm jacket if required
• 2 x shawls/throws/scarfs – can double as warmth/modesty/evening wear. A couple of well chosen colours (I take cream and black), will go with just about everything.

Toiletries

Remember most things can probably be purchased where you’re going if you’ve forgotten anything, however I’m a fan of the travel bottles which have lids that don’t leak/break and leave you with hair shampoo oozed throughout your luggage.  You can buy different sizes depending on the length of time you’re away.  Only fill up the size that will cover you for the time you’re gone.That way you’ll have less space taken up and less weight. All important to allow for more room for the SHOPPING!

Electronic equipment

Do you need your laptop? Ipad? No doubt there’ll be at least a camera, and perhaps your phone.You’ll need converter plugs, backup batteries, spare data cards and of course, make sure you don’t forget to bring the charger leads. As I travel with at least 3 electronic items, I also carry a 3 or 4 plug power board, so then you can plug all your items in for using/charging while only using one adaptor plug, and only needing one power socket in the room.
Bringing your phone with you and plan to get a local Sim card? You might require passport photos in some countries to obtain a local phone connection.  And don’t forget to ensure that your phone is UNLOCKED, otherwise a local Simcard will be useless.

Travel Documents

1. Passport
2. Airline Tickets
3. Visa’s if any
4. Travel Insurance
5. ATM/Credit Cards/Money Cards
6. Foreign currency

You won’t be going far without most of these, and a really good idea to ensure you’ve always got access to all your information on the road if something should happen to your luggage, or wherever you’ve stored the documents – scan everything and send an email to yourself at a webmail account (such as hotmail or yahoo). I also get extra photocopies of my passport/visa and keep them stashed in various places in my suitcase/backpack, in my laptop bag and in my day satchel. (And don’t forget to leave a copy with someone at home).

First Aid/Medicine Kit

Take basics like plasters/bandages/saline solution and a good antiseptic like Betadine lotion. I also take some Tea tree oil and some Tiger Balm. With these basics, you’ll be able to look after just about all minor cuts, scrapes and bites.

If you take a prescription medicine, ensure you take a copy of your prescription with you. It’s worth knowing that in many asian countries you can get most prescription medicines over the counter, however their effectiveness can be suspect. There are also some medicines that won’t be available. Take any vitamins and heat-desensitised probiotics if you wish.

Other things

• Books – travel guides and reading books
• Maps of where you’re going
• Pens
• Writing paper
• List of addresses of friends/family back home if you like to send postcards.
• Photos of your family/friend/home/pets – a great tool to use to be able to communicate and share with locals you meet. Helps them to understand a little bit about your world as you come into and meet theirs.

THE MOST IMPORTANT LIST

What to leave behind

All the extra clothes you’re tempted to take ‘just in case’.  You can buy it there. And in many countries it’ll be cheaper than at home, and you’ll be able to pick up local type clothing which will help you fit in and feel more part of it.  This is especially true of somewhere like India where dressing in the local traditional clothing can help you feel less conspicuous and more comfortably accepted.

Heaps of foreign currency.  Don’t be tempted to change up loads of cash before you leave home.  You’ll get a far worse exchange rate.If you like travelling with a good stash of cash, leave it in your own currency, or change it to USD or EURO.  A small amount of local currency in smallish denominations is handy for when you first arrive in a new country (for things like airport transfers/ a bottle of water at the airport/ tips, but you’ll rarely need more than the equivalent of $50. You can usually change money at your destination airport for a far better rate, and there may even be ATM’s at the airport on arrival.

A suitcase full of snack bars and food.  Take a few for when you’re caught out without having managed to get a meal, but seriously, why are you travelling?  One of the greatest pleasures in travelling to foreign locales is to try the local food.  And don’t be scared about eating at road-side eateries if you’re after a quick snack.  If the place is well frequented by locals and has a good turnover of food happening, you can be pretty sure that you’ll not get a dose of anything. (Of course if you have allergies or health issues and you need that stuff from home, bring it, but don’t if it’s just because you’re scared of the food. I meet plenty of people who say that they’re not sure about travelling to India cause they don’t like spicy food. You’d be amazing at how much of the food is not spicy. And the plethora of fresh fruits, and dried fruits and nuts available means that you can always grab a healthy, spice free snack.)

This is really just a start, but you’ll find that with a little bit of preparation and planning (most importantly, writing down a to do/to buy/to organise list) will help to ensure that you have packed smartly, correctly and efficiently and will allow you to sit back and enjoy the lead up to your big trip.

Happy Travels.