Ajmer and Pushkar - the Subhojit way!

9th September, 2013

Hi all,

My name is Subhojit Saha and i travelled to Rajasthan along with my wife Khushboo from the 2nd to the 8th of September 2013. I just want to share my experiences and other travel details so that in future it comes in handy to other people travelling in this region. 

I flew from Mumbai to jaipur in the early morning Indigo flight. The flight time is just 1 hour 20 minutes. We landed in Jaipur around 7:10am and straight went to the Jaipur station. Now, if you want to take a pre paid taxi they charge you around Rs 400 for a drop but if you just walk out of the airport gate there is an auto rickshaw stand which charges Rs 210 for the same. On our way to the station we made a quick pit stop at Rawat's Kachoriwala and gobbled up some yummy hot onion kachoris and dhokla all for Rs 55. Our train was at 10:40am the Ajmer Shatabdi. This train is always on time and drops you at Ajmer Jn dot 12:45pm. It is a 2 hour journey and we didn't catch a glimpse of the countryside because we slept off.

My father has been a frequent visitor of the Ajmer Darqa for 30 years now and thus, naturally he knows everyone there. We know the main 'Chisty' family there and his son himself came to receive us at the station. From the station we were taken to a dingy small hotel to change. You are not allowed to enter the Darqa in shorts or sleeveless clothing. About Ajmer i will provide you all with the contact details and that's all i can provide one with because my everything was taken care of. Roshan Chisty is the contact person and his number is +91 9818217145. He is one of the senior most people there and his family has served the darqa since ages now. He will provide you with the best 'Darshan' and feel free to donate as much money as possible. It is in good hands and will be used for good. 

The thing about Ajmer is that what ever you wish for you get here, as long as you wish from the bottom of the heart and without any selfish motives you will get what you want! Anyways post this we were dropped to our hotel in Pushkar in their car itself. Now Pushkar is a small place so where ever your hotel is you are not very far away from the lake! So don't panic when you see your hotel a little inside or at a distance from the lake. We stayed in a hotel called Kishan Palace situated on the Punch Kund Road. Their number is +91 9828171549. The hotel is well situated with a roof top restaurant that has a wonderful view. It is a graffiti paradise with every inch of the hotel walls painted with traditional Rajasthani paintings. 


The rooms are fairly large and the toilets are humongous. The hotel food is also good and reasonably priced. For non vegetarians there is nothing in Pushkar because none of the hotels or restaurants in Pushkar are either allowed to serve non vegetarian food or alcohol! Although there are a couple of places where one can score marijuana but that is if you are into such stuff.
Just as my wife and me stepped out of the hotel to take a walk around we were wondering that it would be so great if they gave scooters on hire even here like Goa. We walked like 700 meters and guess what we find? Scooters and bikes on rent!!! The scooter guys charges Rs 200 for 24 hours as rental and Rs 85 for a litre of petrol. Once you walk down Punch Kund Road you will find a couple of them. I have lost the card of the one i took from so sorry I am unable to provide with a contact here.

Post us getting our own transports we discovered the real Pushkar. In one line -  Pushkar is like the vegetarian and non alcoholic Goa! There are like a million temples in this town and for most Hindus they come here to perform rituals post the death of a family member. The Brahma temple is the main temple here as there is no other temple in the world dedicated to this God of Creation. The temple is very dirty and no feeling of devotion comes here, I'm a Hindu myself but sorry it seems Brahma has left this place long ago. There are also a couple of Jain temples or deresars. My wife is a Jain so we went to a very pretty looking deresar and apparently this one was the main one too.


We were just browsing through all the ghats when we came across a musician sitting and playing his drums by the Gangaur Ghat. He happened to be the renowned Nagada player Nathulal Solanki. The next couple of minutes we will cherish and remember all our life. Nathulalji asked us to join him on two other drums and he actually taught us 3 pieces. As we played along with him it was the most relaxing and rejuvenating feeling ever. He doesn't charge anything but if you feel like you can buy one of his audio cd's at whatever cost u wish.



Now let me come to the good places to eat in. Little Italy is an excellent joint but then I am not an Italian looking for some homeland food. I am the traveller who loves trying out local cuisines and local flavours because if i wanted to eat pizza or pasta then I could just do it in Mumbai, why go all the way to Pushkar? We ate in this place called Ganga's which is next to Gangaur ghat. The owner was a Rajasthani married to a foreigner thus his interesting menu of various wraps and Israeli and Indian blend foods. They are very very delicious and feel free to try whatever because they are all delicious. His wraps are anywhere between Rs 80 - Rs 140.


Post our little snack we went to Hard Rock Cafe Pushkar for dinner! Surprised?? Well it is not the real Hard Rock but just named the same. Over here we tried the Israeli thali and the Indian thali. Both were very very good and the Israeli thali actually amazed me. The prices of each thali is Rs 180 - Rs 220. They are very filling for one person. 


After this we went and had Rabdi from Lakshmi Mishtann Bhandar and it was superb too. A small plate will cost you around Rs 30 but the taste stays with you. By the way this Lakshmi Mishtann has nothing to do with the one in Jaipur, in fact if you ask them then they get annoyed and tell you how their shop is way older than the one in Jaipur. We had also gone to a tiny terrace cafe called Laughing Buddha for a cup of coffee and lime soda but both were horrible. The place is dingy too but has a good view of the street.


We went for lunch the next day to this so called Lonely Planet recommended restaurant by the name Rainbow. The view from this place is excellent but I can not say the same for their food. We found the food to be tasteless and very average. They have free wi fi if that is a plus point. Am not putting a picture of this place because its something I don't want to remember. At the end of the halwai lane there is a shop by the name Choudhury Sweets, there rabdi is to die for. You have to go early or else they get sold out. So this was all about food.

There is temple a little far from Pushkar at around 10 kilometres away called Akreswar Makreshwar. This temple is apparently very beautiful with a complete marble texture and to get there one needs to go through the desert. We left for this place the next morning but half way realised that a scotty is a bad idea in a desert and also we were low on fuel. We decided to turn our scooter around and head back to Pushkar. This temple is apparently surrounded by rose gardens so if anyone has been there please let me know how it was! The path to this temple is through the desert and the view is breath taking. Completely cover yourself people because the moment you come back you have tanned like crazy and become unrecognisable.



There are numerous shops to shop from in Pushkar. You get traditional Rajasthani handicrafts and lot of clothing items too. A pair of harem pants will cost you around Rs 150 only. Be careful while buying because they ask any price, you have to put all your bargaining skills at work because something that they ask Rs 700 for could end up being yours for Rs 180! There is a ceramic shop on the main road that caught our eye and we picked up a couple of things from here. We bought three ash trays and a three hook cloth hanger all for Rs 270. The place has very nice stuff and if you can carry then buy whatever you can get your hands on.

This was pretty much our experience of Pushkar. The nearest station is Ajmer so one can take the local state buses for a mere Rs 30 or take a car drop which would cost you around Rs 300 approx. We were dropped by our hotel owners in their car as they were headed to Ajmer for lunch. Over here i would like to add, our hotel was owned by two brothers who have worked across the globe. They have fascinating stories to share and are very friendly. Also if you are interested in other stuff like marijuana then these two know all the places of interest. It is no secret so one doesn't really need to hide anything here. Hope this was useful to all of you reading it and stay posted for my Udaipur, Jaipur, Sri Lanka, Goa and many more blogs to come. God bless and be safe.