Pushkar

"You'll get used to Hinduism," she said. Our first day in Pushkar I had some shopping to get done - a notebook, fabric for a salwar kameez, finding a tailor - and I mentioned that I don't like to mix my temple visiting with consumerism. But the divide here cannot be made so simply. Religion and everyday life go hand in hand, visibly, seamlessly, and to me, confusingly. Yet, giving money when one goes to the holy lake to do their puja with a priest, or purchasing offerings of sweets and flowers to leave at a temple, is little different than placing one's tithe in an offering plate. It's just that it's visible, vocal, and far from secret.

Even as a holy city, Puhkar is not so subtle and sublime. It is a mashup, a clustering of pilgrims, chic hippies, aging Deadheads and tourists. Sitting at the Jaipur Ghat at sunset, the sounds of bells from the hundreds of temples in town are drowned out by dreadheads playin their guitars obnoxiously loudly whole singing terrible covers of The Doors. Bob Marley blasting from shops is as frequent as the local brass band leading a wedding procession down the narrow backstreets. Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining. There's something incredibly fascinating about the whole situation. And I find myself trying to dissect each moment. And then I forget what I was thinking about entirely because as we've been walking down the street, I've simultaneously been cut off by a cow, almost hit by a motorbike, been greeted by a shopkeeper in Hindi, smiled and hollered at by children in English, and Jon next to me is having a completely different experience he is explaining to me, trying to point out the monkey eating offering from an altar while also talking to someone he's struck a conversion with. And so our days go - walking aimlessly for hours discovering small, seemingly insignificant moments, gaining small successes each time we purposely set out to do something simple and succeed, find the perfect cup of chai or learn the name of another delicious street snack.

It all must be taken as a whole.