Pushkar

The train from Jodphur takes us to Ajmer, which is the closest station to Pushkar. We take a taxi out of Ajmer, up and over the surrounding hills. The roads wind back and forth along the hillside, turning sharply before traversing the slope once more. At one bend, we meet a bus so long that it must straddle both side of the road to make the turn. This is a slow process. As soon as there is an inch of room for the bus to make use of, it is filled with a car or a moped trying to squeeze through. Not for the first time, I am baffled by the way traffic works here.

Once down into Pushkar, we have to brake suddenly for an enormous monkey. Grey fur, dark face, enormous tail curved up and around over its head, it looks about 4ft tall and lopes across the road in front of us. Surreal. I am unsure if what I've just seen was real. The taxi driver appears unfazed.

Our hotel, Pushkar Villas, is run by a happy old man with a great big paunch and a twinkle in his eye. Hi response to almost everything is "Ha" (yes), and he sticks his tongue out at intervals for seemingly no reason. I like him instantly.



Pushkar is built around a holy lake surrounded by tons of temples and bathing ghats. As we walk down to it, several people try to convince us to remove our shoes and leave them in little cubby holes. We remove our shoes and take them with. Once we have padded down the scorching stairs to the lake, we see scores of Indian people with their shoe on. My feet are frying. Reshod, we continue on.

We spend a pleasant couple of days in Pushkar. It is smaller than the other places we have been and it feels much more relaxed. There is a resteraunt called "Little Italy" just down the road from our hotel that does wood-fired pizzas. Whilst I would formely have scoffed at the prospect of flying to India to eat pizza, seeing the sign coaxes little gurgles of joy from my ravaged stomach.

On our last day, we check out of our hotel at midday but our next train is not until 1am the next morning. We spend the day wandering, finding a cafe down a side street called Funky Monkey, which claims to do real coffee. It does and it is good. We sit and chat with a guy who works there, drinking ice cold americanos and watching the street life unfold.

Although our train isn't until 1am and Ajmer is only half an hour away, taxis get expensive after 9:30pm, so this is when we leave. Facing a three hour wait at the station, we move swiftly past the customary chaos at the entrance and wander to the furthest, most quiet platform and find a seat.
We wait.

A couple of guys come and sit on the same bench as us. They stare. This happens a lot in India. A few more people arrive. Another guy approaches who speaks pretty good English and he starts to ask us questions, soon becoming an impromptu translator for the growing crowd around us.

People seem fascinated by us, more so than at any point before. I'm not sure why this is. Perhaps they are mutually reassured by the rest of the crowd, perhaps more eager to communicate with a translator. Perhaps these people are simply not the jaded hoteliers or money-grabbing guides we have met previously. They want to know everything about us, particularly what our relationship is to each other. They seem amazed that Alice and I - so different in outward appearance - are together. Our difference in height an skin colour amazes them. I find simply bemusing but later Alice tells me that this, along with other experiences in India and observations about the caste system and the way that different people treat each other, makes her feel uncomfortable and has a hint of racism about it.

An older man, with short hair and wild eyes - the apparent comedian of the group - tells me I am very fit and have the "body of an Indian hero", with great exclamation. I daren't tell him that I've been on the Varanassi weight-loss plan. Although the crowd is alarmingly large at times, the mood is happy and there is lots of laughter. People seem surprised and pleased that we are willing to talk to them.

It transpires that we are on the right platform for our train but it is delayed an hour. At  just after 2am it finally arrives and I slump gratefully into my sleeper berth.