Christmas in Pushkar!

Sorry to have been out of touch. I had been travelling, then getting back to work which always takes an adjustment. But Christmas was original, to say the least. We ended up at a hotel full of nouveaux-hippies, smoking pot. But they were a friendly lot and it didn't bother them a bit when we drank our sauterne and ate our foie gras on the roof. There were even fireworks. Not the cleanest hotel I've ever been in, but we had a nice walk around the lake and then climbed up to the top of a mountain to visit the Saraviti temple. Then traveled to Jaipur on Christmas Day for a nicer hotel and a hot shower. Oh the simple joys of life! And my New Year's advice as well as my own personal resolution: avoid the "whine" shops!
Happy New Year everyone!

The tradition in Rajasthan, as far as we understand it, is for a wedding party to march through the town, on the first day, the bridegroom on a horse, followed by his friends (mostly if not exclusively male) and on the second day, the women and children march through the town, both followed by loud music and drums.
Sometime in between, they go to the temple, then the big wedding celebration is usually on the third day. But it's still a bit confusing for me because there is at least one wedding every day here in Fatehpur. In fact, there is a wedding season, not dictated by the climate, but by the astrologers who play a role in many important decisions here in India. This group of people were actually walking straight past our haveli and when they saw us on the steps, they made a detour and turned left in order to pass right in front of us. Most of the young people came up and touched us on the arms and hands. I don't know whether it was to see if we were real or made of plastic, or just to have good luck, like in the famous rat temple in Desnoke where if you happen to see the white rat, you will be lucky for the rest of your days. I felt very much like the white rat today!

I finally found a swimming pool in Fatehpur, but it's closed for the winter. Yesterday I went to the Nimawat School for its' Founders' Day Celebrations with my friend Sabra who is teaching me Hindi. There were all kinds of sports events, then cultural events with a lunch thrown in around 2:00pm. We snuck out of the auditorium around 5:30 because we had been there since 1:00 and we're starting to find it a bit too much. But it was interesting, to say the least and I talked to quite a few, but not all the students: 30 girls and 770 boys! It"s a rather posh school with an excellent reputation and all the girls I talked to said they were very happy to attend this public school = translate: very private as in an English "public" school. The real public schools are called "government schools" and are not so expensive.

Tonight we are invited to a wedding, so more photos to come very soon!