Pushkar's new face

For centurics, pilgrims have travelled to pay their respects to the sacred pilgrimage centre of Pushkar, in central Rajasthan. These visitors honour the sacred lake by performing religious rites and lifecycle rituals on its shores. Pushkar, today a population centre of some 13,000 located approximately six miles from Ajmer, claims the only temple dedicated to the god Brahma, the creator of the Hindu pantheon. Pushkar is also host to a celebrated annual camel fair. This well-publicized fair has attracted the attention of Western media, travel writers and Internet bloggers, who have discovered Pushkar's charms and made it an attraction for tourists worldwide.

Pink Floyd Cafe in Pushkar is famous among tourists

Filmmaker Heeraz Marfatia, who grew up in neighbouring Ajmer and shot a short film in Pushkar, Birju, says 'Pushkar was my biggest inspiration. I saw it morph into its current shape. It is hard to pin the place down - it is a holy place where a Salvador Dali boutique and the only Lord Brahma temple coexist. The whole town is vegetarian and has a variety of cafts like the Pink Floyd Cafe. Here, traditional Hindus live with marijuana worshipping foreigners...