views
Pushkar: The purohits in the holy town of Pushkar believe in the old adage, 'When in Rome, do as Romans do' and want the tourists visiting the town to follow the local customs and refrain from doing any thing that upsets locals.
At the annual Pushkar fair, the administration has a new rulebook for the tourists to follow.
The town, just out just out of its worst tourist-locals conflict that came after a streaking incident by a Finnish tourist, is swarming with posters with do's and don't for the visitors.
Thousands of hoarding and billboards have been put with the code of conduct and the cops are out in full strength to keep a close watch on the troublemakers.
Most of the foreign tourists say they are comfortable with the news regulations announced by the administration.
A tourist, Oscar Lynd says, "We knew before we came here that it wasn't right according to your society to hug and kiss in public and that sort of a thing so we totally follow that. When you're in somebody else's country you've to do what they want."
The rulebook comes after a Finn tourist, Erica's took a dip in the holy Pushkar lake two weeks back and walked backed to her hotel in the nude.
PAGE_BREAK
This was the third incident that had the local population up in arms after an Israeli couple kissed in the public following their marriage and in an incident before that some tourists from Israel had danced naked.
The administration now wants to mince no words in telling the tourists what to do and what not to do while in Pushkar.
The Fair Magistrate, Pushkar, Prithviraj says, "On this pamphlet also we have put instructions what to do and what should not be done like no photography of bathing women and no vulgar scenes."
The administration is also organizing a spiritual walk around the ghats during the fair so rub it in that Pushkar is not to be treated like just another tourist town in the backpackers loop.
While a lot of tourists have taken well to the rules being put up, a number of them are worried about inadvertently breaking them.
"Your do have signs and I have seen them at the hotels and the restaurants but exactly what it is, if I am breaking the rules sometime maybe the locals would tell me but I think I've been behaving alright," says another tourist, Sheneath.
But despite the rulebook, it'll be a while before Pushkar can come back to its spirit of seamless harmony between the foreign tourists and the local ulture.
Comments
0 comment