(I pray ...)

I pray
For my family
For my family
Living and dead
Living and dead
In the name of KrishnaLaxmiShivaGanesh
In the name of KrishnaLaxmiShivaGanesh
(He pours some of the lake on my hands. I pour more of the lake on my hands)
For good luck, karma for the whole family
For good luck, karma for the whole family
For good health
For good health
For mother
(So if you've caught on, I'm repeating everything the priest says and I have a red mess of smudge on my forehead and I'm holding flowers on a plate with my eyes closed and there's also rice on my forehead.)
For father
(I repeat after him.)
For brother
For sister
(I shake my head.)
For grandparents
For wife
(I shake my head.)
You don't have wife?
(I shake my head twice.)
For future wife
(My mind draws a blank, but here I am it's too late to explain, praying "for future wife.")
For children
(He corrects himself)
For children in future
I give
I give
(brace yourself)
an amount
an amount
20 dollars US
(20 dollars US is stuck in my throat. I cough. I actually cough and draw my hand to my mouth which is ruining the whole thing, I can tell. I think we were probably working up something good for a second there with the holy lake and everything.)
I can't. No. I have a small amount, but I can't give that much.
(And he's watching me pull it out of my front shirt pocket and oh, the anguish, it's like all the relatives living and dead are crowded around in anticipation. My ancestors--all of them--are there on the bathing steps rolling their eyes, scribbling out calculations on napkins, stone tablets, papyrus, whatever. "50 rupees?!" "That's what." More scribbles. Someone has it. "That's--no--$1.25? A measly buck and a quarter?" A wave of sighs rips through the family reunion. Someone pipes up in back. "You just spent like 1,000 rupees on some weird jacket." It's true, I did. "Think of the family! We don't even want that metal elephant you bought us!" And then a voice from the priest.)
Why did you come to Pushkar, to holy lake?
(I'm sputtering again, like I'm swallowing the blockage in my throat slowly.)
I don't know. To see it.
Yes. But Pushkar is not a place for seeing, Pushkar is a place for holy things. This is a very small amount 20 dollars US. I think this is like a movie for two and dinner for two in your country. Ok, maybe 10 dollars US. This is a very small amount.
(And here we are back in familiar territory. I know how to bargain for a little metal elephant, but holy water and priests tend to make me uncomfortable.)
Are we bargaining? I ask him.
(And I smile and he smiles too, because why not. The lake is beautiful and the day is good. Everything is good.)

Later that day I took a photo of the lake. You're not allowed to take them at the bathing ghats. But it wasn't really on the bathing ghats. Well it was on a bridge nearby but it wasn't the people bathing. There was no one around to say no and I couldn't resist a snap. Those steps looked beautiful in the light. Oh, what a postcard it was! And--I can't even tell it. Well, for mysterious reasons my camera's memory card went dead later that night and took a hundred pictures with it. Including my pictures of the lake. Karma be damned!