Moving right along...

I am in Bundi at the moment in the southern area of Rajistan. I left Bikaner 3 days ago for Pushkar. I had been told that Pushkar was a touristy area, but I really had no idea. It was like a scaled down version of the Haight in San Francisco. Literally it looked like it was run by foriegners. There was even a "Pink Floyd cafe" that was called "The Wall". I arrived in the evening and didn't have a chance to explore until the next morning. As I left my hotel and began walking down the main street I was immediatly accosted by a man trying to give me a flower. I said "no thank you", but he insisted. A little confused by his behavior I took the flower and headed down the street. After having walked a couple minutes I was stopped by a man who had noticed the flower in my hand and said that I needed to come with him to a holy lake so I could toss it in for good luck. Traveling for 5 months has made me overly suspicious of situations such as these so I said no I had somewhere to go. The man again insisted and decided that while there had to be some money connection with this, it would be interesting to see what such an eloboratly planned meeting was all about. A young man with a bandaged hand took me down to the edge of a large lake. As we were walking I asked him about his swollen black and blue hand. He looked a little embarassed and told me he had heald a fire cracker too long during Diwali. I tried to look suprised. I was asked to remove my shoes and taken to the lakes edge where there was a man siting with a plate full of colored powder, rice, string, and a coconut. I was told that this was the ritual for throwing the flower in the lake and the man holding the odd assortment of objects would be walking me through it. He asked me to repeat some indian phrases, painted a rice encrusted dot on my forehead and tied a string around my wrist. After a couple of minutes he dumped the contents of the tray into my cupped hands, put the coconut in them and before I threw them into the lake to finish the ceremony he asked me for a donation of no less than 1000 rupees. 1000 rupees in India is enough for a me to live off of for a week. I had been expecting money to come in at some point seeing I was in such a touristy area, but I had expected it to be more like 50 or maybe 100 rupees max. He told me that many people had given this much and it was a good amount for the ceremony. I regained my composure as quickly as I could and tried to think how much I thought this experience was worth seeing that I had originally said I did not want to take part in it. So I gave him 10 rupees. His smile immediatly turned into a frown. He snatched the coconut from my hand and gruffly told me to throw the rice into the lake. I did as instructed and was then hurried away from the lake. I could'nt help but laugh. Someone had been placed near my hotel to give someone a flower which another person down the street was looking for. He would then take the person holding the flower to the lake where another man, who was/was playing the priest, would provide a ceremony and then ask for a huge donation seeing that he had just shared such a holy and sacred ceremony with a foriegner. Maybe the fact that I viewed the situation in such a way is a sign of how jaded I've become travelling.

I left the situation at the lake and continued my walk down the main street. Unlike the first stretch of my walk I was immediatly approached by people everywhere trying to sell me whatever was in their store, asking me for money, and trying to get me to take their picture for a price. This was so radically different from just 10 minutes ago, before I had reached the lake, I realized something must have happend, and then it hit me, I had been marked. The bright red smudge on my forehead was the mark of the tourist, and not just a tourist, but one willing to buy India, or more accurately buy what it had to sell. I made quickly for my hotel and washed off the red mark and sure enough the number of people pushing me into their shops, plummeted the next time I went wlaking around town. This was in part a situation that led to my decision not to stay more than a day in Pushkar. I had been deliberating whether or not I should stay for the Camel Fair that starts on the 7th, but ultimetly it didn't feel worth it for me. I did however meet some very nice westerners and the city itself was beautiful in some areas.

The next day I headed to Bundi. Along the way I saw Ox, Water Buffalo, Camels, Elephants, Monkeys, and some Deer that ran across the road. The odd thing about the deer, which included two fawns and a Doe, was their size. The Doe was literally the size of a horse, the two fawns where as big as a full sized male deer in the US. I really had no idea that they were so large in India.

Bundi is fantastic and I may stay here for the next couple of days. My motorcycle is having some problems, but nothing major. Nevertheless, I will need to have it worked on. Bundi has alot to offer so I don't think I'll get bored soon. Included is a picture of me with the mark and my new haircut. I hope your all doing well.