Never knew a small town in Ajmer, Rajasthan would attract thousands of tourists from all around the world to celebrate one of my favorite festivals - HOLI! My words may not do justice to this experience but I am in love with this place and I cant wait to go back again!
Day 1
After an exhausting 14 hours journey, I could do nothing but wait to reach our stay. We reached Pushkar on 19th March in the evening looking like zombies. Our cab dropped us off few steps away from our stay as the lanes are too narrow to enter. As we dragged our luggage, I could just see tourists all around. We could feel the festivity, the town looked LIT & we couldn't wait to go out and see whats happening around. Checked into our cozy hotel, showered and stepped out in no time. We made it to the Varah Ghat area just in time before they could light the fire and I was stunned to see thousands of people in the tiny lanes of Pushkar. Regular Holi worship rituals were followed by entire city singing and dancing till late on the beats of our desi dhol (drums)

It was a wonderful & loud affair!
Day 2 - Big day at the Varah Ghat, Pushkar.
I was up before time as usual & colored before I could drink my morning chai. Our stay at Shankar Palace was indescribable. We were the only Indians amongst people from Chile, France, Israel and other corners of the world. Together, we were a gang of jubilant and enthusiastic tourists in the mood of painting the town red!

Started off at the hotel itself, we couldn't wait to step out and hit the streets! I must say this place gets pretty overcrowded and one must be ready to rage in that crowd.
Highly geared with natural colors we walked out looking pretty delighted on the streets. It began with wishing the local ladies and kids who were waiting outside their respective houses to color each and every person passing by from head to toe. We clicked selfies with the locals, danced and in no time reached our destination - Varah Ghat!
This place had completely changed its appearance overnight. Awestruck! From devotional songs to bollywood to psychedelic trance music; this holi festival caters to all genres of music. Thousands of us were jumping, pumping & merrymaking on the same beats like one family. It was pretty hot that day but who cares! We all were having the best time of our lives.
After dancing for hours at Varaha Ghat we decided to walk around the lanes in search of nothing but happy faces. Many houses had their own music set up open for everyone to join. After walking for good 10 minutes, we found the perfect place to celebrate with local families! From kids to old ladies everyone down with the festive fever!!
We were quite hungry by late afternoon so we rushed back to our favourite place - Hotel Shankar Palace. Reuniting with our hotel friends we ate, drank & relaxed for a while before stepping out for round 2.0 of the Holi celebrations.
WARNING FOR GIRLS:
You have to take care of yourself. People will push/touch/grab and you wont even be able to figure out who did that. Luckily, I was able to catch hold of the person and make sure he left the premises. You have to be prepared and ensure you are safe and with a good company.
SECURITY AT PUSHKAR HOLI FESTIVAL
Volunteers & security personals at the main event area are extremely good with their work. All the security personals are wisely placed at different locations be it in the crowd, on the first floor or the terrace. They know their job and will make sure you are safe and fine. They wont take a second to pick a person and throw him out of the ground if seen misbehaving. There were repeated announcements to make sure everyone is safe.. specially girls.
They are the real hero's of this event!
The day ended beautifully while we watched the sunset at the Ghats! It was serene and much needed after such an action packed day.
Follow our off beat journeys @ranak_trivedi & @nilesh.dadhich on Instagram & stay tuned here for more
Also, here are few snippets from our crazy time!
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