The Ultimate Photo Feast - Pushkar, India

THE ULTIMATE PHOTOGRAPHIC FEAST

I had on many occasions come across references to camel fairs - somewhere in India. While the idea of a lot of tribal people and livestock coming together fascinated me I had a problem to put India and Camels together. To me India stood for the tropics and not for deserts.

Then my wife and I met the Maharaja of Jodhpur who had brought his team to a Polo tournament to Kenya. He suggested that we come and visit. We did and chose April to get away from the long rains in Kenya, ending up in the hottest part of India during the hottest period of the year. We spent most time in air-conditioned rooms, cars and shops. However we did get a taste for what India's desert state, Rajasthan might have to offer. We sat down and read some guide books and there was the camel fair again, being held at Pushkar in the center of the State prior and of the full moon night every November. When the Maharaja told us that his traveling Royal camp would be put up in the desert at the edge of the town we had as good a reason as any to revisit India (a major travel publication I suggested the story to responded by saying that a festival was not a good enough reason to run a special feature - how wrong they are.)

When we booked the camp for the first time and they were fully booked for the religious festival period which is just prior and then on the full moon day. So we decided to go earlier and that turned out to be the best move we could have made. The camel fair starts about a week prior to the full moon night and peaks well before the pilgrims arrive. Since most tourist visitors book their stay to coincide with the full moon, there are few Westerners around during the peak of the camel fair - and too many for the religious peak.

Pushkar is the only place where two years in a row I ended up buying 'local slide' film. Stock which had been sitting in hot window displays for months because I had run out of what is normally my standard supply. There are more photographic subjects at Pushkar than anywhere else I know of. The light, like in all desert settings is special although there is quite a lot of haze which actually helps with backlit silhouette scenes at sunrise and sunset. It is estimated that up to 17,000 camels and a lot of other livestock congregate on the market days and while there is a lot of trading going on one gets the impression that this is as much a social event as anything. It is the one time a year for the nomads trekking in from all over the state to meet and 'shoot the breeze'. Their relationship with their beast is something which impresses me. One could do a story just on that. Camels being painted, brushed with what looks like the owners personal comb, the noses and ears get pierced and adorned and teeth get pulled.

However it is at the end the people which result in my motor drive regularly having to work overtime. I have been trying hard to get written information on the different tribal groups and there is not much to be found. Supposedly the very colorful turbans are part of the insignia. The faces of the men and women are as extraordinary as I have seen in any other group of people. Every man has his moustache and that is another story the many many designs of moustaches. They seem to be extremely proud people and the fair on top of it appears to bring out a very festive mood in them so one does not feel as an intruder when shooting portraits. At first light I regularly try to capture the mood of a camp fire by going in very close with a wide angle and getting all the men with their very expressive hands held out over the flames to warm up. In most cases this results in invitation to have a cup of tea or a glass of warm camel milk. On the last trip an old timer with a very distinctive face held out his hands towards the camera trying to stop me from shooting but laughing at the same time. I sat down and tried to shoot up at him past the outstretched hands both of us laughing and having fun without being able to exchange a word in any common language.

The beasts are a photographic challenge as well. Maybe not the first day or two because there are a lot of easy subjects but then the ambitious photographer will start looking for the ultimate silhouette or herd picture. I am still working on this objective although on this my last and third trip I felt I came pretty close; Some landowner had fenced off a piece of desert which meant that the herds had to move up and down a hill. The going down turned out to be interesting. The camels seem to have learnt that accelerating down hill helps getting up the next dune. So the whole herd starts running and the herdsmen behind them. A lot of sand flies and dust clouds obscure the setting sun. Placing oneself in the path of the oncoming ungulates with a wide angle lens definitely adds an additional thrill as they rush past on either side and some of the shots did come close to would I had hoped for.

The women seem to arrive mostly during the second half of the fair. They match their man in every way when it comes to physiognomy and color and flair in dress. There is one tribal group which are very extrovert and come up and want to pose and they do expect something in return but it is all done with a lot of laughter. One morning I came across to groups of women sitting by their camels having a nice shouting match going. I sat down nearby with my 80- 200 mm and it did result in thing quieting down however within 5 minutes I had been forgotten and they were at it again and I got some very candid portraits.

Camp life adds another dimension to the experience. The Royal Camp is very comfortable. The mess tent is 300 years old. The sleeping tents are as good as anything we get in East Africa with flush toilets and bucket shower arrangements. The camp is located on two dunes at the edge of the fair ground and it is a five minutes walk and one is in the center of activity. There are some dunes between the grounds and the camp and they seem to be designated as public toilets so we called it the "mine field".

The combination, between western creature comforts, in a traditional camp setting, with what seems one of the least spoilt nomadic culture in a surrounding of intense natural beauty, makes this a very unique experience.

Pushkar town is a delightful place with a range of additional photographic opportunities - and shopping which is the reason why my is still willing to join me for yet another visit. The lake around which the town is build is the holiest lake in India. It is fringed by 500 temples and 52 sets of marble bathing steps, ghats. This is reputed to be the place where Lord Brahma, the creator, dropped his lotus flower. Brahma subsequently chose Pushkar as the site of his great "yagya" a gathering of celestial Hindu beings. Today the anniversary of the yagya is celebrated in the annual Pushkar Fair when some 100 000 pilgrims descend on the sleepy town to take a dip in the lake to wash away the impurities of the soul. Besides the temples and the bathing in the lake (which is the only no no as far as photography is concerned) there are also the saddhus - Indias holy man. But that is another story again: ascetic long haired man with legs wound around their heads, buried in the sand or spearing their flesh with metal tridents.

Even at the Royal camp religious tenants are observed. Excellent vegetarian food and no alcohol actually add a dimension to the experience.

While it is hard to sell another Pushkar travel story - many have been done -as far as I am concerned it is no longer just the photography which draws me back there is something there which takes one far beyond it and maybe that is the ultimate photographic challenge; how to document this 'SOMETHING'.

Karl Ammann