Pushkar Fair 2009

[KrishnenduKes]

Starting a new "Critique" thread on an important fair in North India. Let us put in our efforts for those who have made it to the fair and show what we have go to show.

The Pushkar fair gained in importance after the advent of the Brahmanical Order wherein Hinduism developped the structure of the holy Triad. And in that triad the odd one left out, due to his mischievous exploits or whichever reason, was ironically the Creator, Brahma himself. But to completely leave him out would be insanctimonious and thus the only shrine was built at the supposed place where he shed a tear that formed a lake which finally dried up thanks to the Government's efforts to preserve by digging up without taking adequate measures! And to visit this lone shrine of Brahma come a host of pilgrims principally once a year, notably during the days of the waxing and full moon of the month of end October-November. Surrounding this congregation of pilgrims developped some peripheral business activities notably the cattle fair.

In modern times the Pushkar village is visited during the fair days by pilgrims, cattle merchants and tourists coming from far away. I have had my fair share of visiting this fair since the time I have been in the tourism industry and I have tried the best I could to bring out the brightness and colourful character of the fair.

Here goes some of my photographs of the Pushkar 2009 fair.

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Colourful_Dromadaries.jpg
Colourfully dressed up Dromedaries!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Dromadary_Master.jpg
Portrait of a Dromedary Master.

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Dromedary_in_waiting.jpg
Dromedary in Waiting

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Decoration_for_Dromadary.jpg
Ornate jewellery for decorating a Dromedary

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Upload.jpg
Pushkar: A place to Upload!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Reunion.jpg
And a place for reunions!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Excitement_ahead.jpg
A place of excitement for the young lasses

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Fix_Chottis_Marriage.jpg
And a place to arrange the marriages of the young ones!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Whose_Marriage.jpg
Whose Marriage?

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/MG_5840.jpg
Purdah system in traditional Rajasthan

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/MG_5728.jpg
A man selling his wares

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Candyman_again.jpg
A Candyman

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Portrait.jpg
And a woman decidedly undecided amidst all that!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Lone_Ranger.jpg
The lone ranger

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/MG_5830.jpg
Another young gun selling his bamboo toys

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Candyman.jpg
Portrait of the Candyman as the artist

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/10Bucks_any_item.jpg
All items for 10 bucks each!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Confusion.jpg
And Confusion prevails amidst all this!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Colourful_consumers.jpg
Colourful Consumers

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Consumption.jpg
The Economy is booming!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Lady_buying_jewellery.jpg
A lady buys

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/MG_5843.jpg
And this one defies!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Checking_out.jpg
The Patriarch checks it out!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Checking_out_together.jpg
Checking it out together

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Discord.jpg
Man proposes, Woman Disposes!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/How_Much.jpg
"How much" asks a young Rajasthani beauty!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/How_Much_too_expensive.jpg
Too much!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/Flirt_Bargain.jpg
Flirt and Bargain. Even the foreigners join in!

http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/538/medium/MG_5919.jpg
Tented Accommodation for tourists traversing continents to see the Pushkar fair. This is where I stayed as well.

That would be all from my side for this year. Critiques and Comments welcome!

[surya@64]

Amazing and comprehensive coverage of Pushkar Fair....riot of colors and fantastic story telling...

The pic. speaks for themselves...

Those turbans and rugged looks speaks for the terrain.....What a lovely place to be to do these kind of Candid shots...

Very well executed.:):)

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

splendid series ken.have enjoyed all of them.

except for number 3 and number 10.

in number 3 i feel that the shot is scattered.what to look at??

in 10 the focus is actually not on the woman but the one to her left.so kinda OOF shot.

but a superb series for the rest.

anvancy

[Aryan]

Lovely coverage of the fair Ken da! Loved the pictures. Thanks for sharing it with all of us.

P.S: Are those tents comfortable? Must be a lovely experience staying in those, at night. Would love to experience it next year, at the Pushkar mela, if everything goes well.

[hitanshu]

Those lovely tents cost some 3k non AC and the fancy ones are 6.5k :D

Stay in simpler hotels for like 1-1.2k a night :D

[Jonak]

Lovely clicks Ken da.

[KrishnenduKes]

Amazing and comprehensive coverage of Pushkar Fair....riot of colors and fantastic story telling...

Very well executed.:):)

Thanks Surya. Good to hear from you.



except for number 3 and number 10.

in number 3 i feel that the shot is scattered.what to look at??

in 10 the focus is actually not on the woman but the one to her left.so kinda OOF shot.


Totally agree with your views!


P.S: Are those tents comfortable? Must be a lovely experience staying in those, at night. Would love to experience it next year, at the Pushkar mela, if everything goes well.

Those tents are way more comfortable than the 1.2K hotel that Hitanshu stayed in!!! :D :D In fact I am even surprised that he got a place to stay in! :)

Lets hope everything goes well next year! End of the Commonwealth Games, the foreign crowd staying on...

Those lovely tents cost some 3k non AC and the fancy ones are 6.5k :D


That is pretty reasonable it seems this year. Earlier we used to pay way more than that with the RTDC tents.

Jokes aside, where are YOUR photographs? Will be waiting for your shots!

Lovely clicks Ken da.

Thanks Jonak.

[hitanshu]

Ken da - my pics will come up by next weekend (coming to shekhawati?). I'm working 16 hours in office these days and need to learn how to retouch the pics a bit before I post them. I've taken a whole number of portraits and will surely post a comparable number of pics :D

speaking of street photography - where should one go to practise the same?

@Ken da - bacchon ke budget ki kyun le rahe ho? :p I am sure aryan is proletariat just like me and would've managed nicely.

@Aryan: Check out http://pushkarhoteloasis.com/index.html - 1200 for non AC room in fair time (walls look a bit old - not painted in two years, but otherwise CLEAN loos, very airy with decent aircooler) - 600 other days. Its a decent deal. I have personally called over 50+ hotels so can tell you its much better than many hyped places and clear rates - plus book via cleartrip. Its next to the naka so those who wanna drink can do so - and your car can be easily parked as well!

[KrishnenduKes]

Ken da - my pics will come up by next weekend (coming to shekhawati?). I'm working 16 hours in office these days and need to learn how to retouch the pics a bit before I post them. I've taken a whole number of portraits and will surely post a comparable number of pics :D

I will be waiting for the same. :)

speaking of street photography - where should one go to practise the same?

Check out Old Delhi. You can also check out my Old Delhi Take 1 thread!

@Ken da - bacchon ke budget ki kyun le rahe ho? :p I am sure aryan is proletariat just like me and would've managed nicely.[/QUOTE]

IIT Delhi, IIMA, calls himself proletariat!!! Give me break.

@Aryan: Check out http://pushkarhoteloasis.com/index.html - 1200 for non AC room in fair time (walls look a bit old - not painted in two years, but otherwise CLEAN loos, very airy with decent aircooler) - 600 other days. Its a decent deal. I have personally called over 50+ hotels so can tell you its much better than many hyped places and clear rates - plus book via cleartrip. Its next to the naka so those who wanna drink can do so - and your car can be easily parked as well!

Thanks for this piece of info.

We were drinking and having meat as well (inside the tents though!)

[vitesh]

Loved ur pics ken..Enjoyed all of them :) 1,4,10 are my favourite ones...

Missed the mela this time but will be surely going to it next year if everything goes well :)

[TheShutterbug]

They are too Good clicks Ken

[KrishnenduKes]

Loved ur pics ken..Enjoyed all of them :) 1,4,10 are my favourite ones...

Missed the mela this time but will be surely going to it next year if everything goes well :)

Go there Vitesh. You will fall in love with the colours and the people. It is your kind of place.

They are too Good clicks Ken

Thanks Shutterbug.

[Xavier]

Lovely stuff Ken. Not my style/taste, enjoyed viewing them nonetheless. :)

[ryder_boney]

some really awesome pictures there, 5,8,13,14 were pleasure to view hence personal favorite......

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

i forgot to write that cotton candy man is my fav.

anvancy

[KrishnenduKes]

i forgot to write that cotton candy man is my fav.

anvancy

Which one?

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

Which one?

the series of cotton candy man.

anvancy

[hitanshu]

Here are some of mine:
http://www.freerider.in/apad/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Pushkar_0911-3164.jpg
More later, in due course.

[KrishnenduKes]

Here are some of mine:
More later, in due course.

Pushkar revived!

Interesting! I would have cropped off some "air" from the top. What is all that dust all over the place?

You said some! There is only one it seems...

[hitanshu]

a. I dozed off while posting. Look at the time :p
b. There was dust in the air and dust on the lens. Now the lens's been cleared up and skylight filter put on your instructions :D

btw, this is the first shot in ages when i've liked my own crops!!

[hitanshu]

Pushkar revived!

Interesting! I would have cropped off some "air" from the top. What is all that dust all over the place?

You said some! There is only one it seems...
And then there were many:
Sambhar for starters?!
788
Then "Dude!" angles, each one asking "Why the hell are you clicking me..?"
789
790
791
(a straightened version is there but this got uploaded)

"I am counting till three and then my boys will slap you"
792

"aila ... meri photo le bhi li?"
793

"oh no ... not another one of those SLR boys"
794

"if you press click, then I will slap you!"
795

:)

[KrishnenduKes]

There is a lot of slapping happening there! Looks like you were mostly into portraits.

I did not know that you did Sambhar too!

[hitanshu]

LOL. Those are the only things I was able to process after a root canal completion last evening :p

They had those kinda looks but I didn't wait for them to action it out!

/again note the timing of the post!!
//I told you specifically about Sambhar - you told me that Vivek was staying nearby etc etc