One of the holiest of cities, Pushkar also shares the first place (with Varanasi) of my favourite places in India. Very small, very friendly, very personal, and not as loud – Pushkar is the place where I for the first time since coming to India felt that real euphoria again. It was when walking around town on the first day and a big group of people celebrating Ganeshas birthday walked by, women in colourful saris clapping, cheering and singing, that I felt that I was filled with love again. It didn’t last long – we kind of had to go – but it had been there and my eyes had teared up a little, if only for a moment.

To my mother’s delight, we stayed in an absolutely wonderful place in Pushkar, Seventh Heaven Inn, with fresh rose petals in the shower, service worthy a first class hotel and amazing attention to detail in every little piece of furniture, plant, candle and fabric.

Pushkar is very differeny from the rest of the classic India experience in the way that it almost completely lacks the pushing and ruthless bargaining that you come across everywhere else. You are welcome to look and touch, you will be shown other variations, but you can also freely walk out again if you wish – and you will be given a reasonable price to start the bargaining from. Comfortable, I bought little pieces of jewellery and had some things custom made for me, we walked around, had lime juice with mint, and I sent out some job applications now that the Internet connection was reliable.

Pushkar was like a break in all the running around. Less temples, castles and big impressive English buildings to pose in front of for a photo. More people who really wanted to have their photo taken just for the sake of it and not for money, than beautiful litte lake in the moddle of town, Ganeshas birthday celebration all over, and small spontaneous decisions. Less planning, more being.