Pushkar Lake

Your expert’s note

Be firm about the 'Pushkar Passport', the red thread priests tie on visitors' wrists in return for a dakshina. The pattern travellers report repeatedly is that a man hands you flower petals at the lake, walks you to a particular ghat, separates your group, recites a puja over each of you and then names a figure per family member running into thousands of rupees. Making an offering at the ghats is not mandatory: decline the flowers at the outset and keep walking.