Music weds spirituality in Shree Cement Sacred Pushkar 2017

From joining yoga classes early in the morning to participating in ancient heritage walks across the silent Rajasthani town and the ghats surrounding the famous Pushkar Lake, visitors, from different parts of the globe, were seen cheating their regular routines to taste something unique and colourful all day.

All these arrangement in Pushkar are part of the two-day-long Shree Cement Sacred Pushkar 2017 that commenced its third journey this year on Saturday.

The morning in the city was unlike every other day as visitors were seen joining the yoga session early.  Sacred Fire Songs by Kim Cunio and Heather Lee from Australia were also part of the special morning events which kept visitors busy.

The core activities of the festival centred around the ghats of the Pushkar lake with various events keeping people busy across the day.

As the day progressed and the sun slowly started to set, a group of travellers, including foreign tourists, joined their guide Robinson Robert as he took them for one memorable heritage walk across all the ghats surrounding the holy Pushkar lake, considered by many in India as one of the sacred water bodies in the country.

Robinson guided his team across all the ghats and explained to them the significance and uniqueness of each of it.

With the sun setting down beneath the Aravalli range, the lake reflecting its own aura of sanctity, an unique ambience gripped the entire region with tourists moving from one ghat to the other, learning more about the slice of heritage and tradition of the Indian culture that the holy city has long preserved in itself.

One step to the other, the entire team was accompanied by a group of traditional Rajasthani folk artists from Pabusar village who added to the mood and charm of the moment by belting out some local numbers with a tab to their ethnic musical instruments.

One participant of the walk-Izzy, from the UK, said the entire experience left her amazed.

"Walking around the lake and knowing about the ghats was really special. India is an amazing place and today we experienced its uniqueness one more time," she told IBNS.

Her friend from the UK-Frankie de Lavis- also voiced similar opinion, when she said: "We expected that our trip to India will be special. Today, coming here in Pushkar and becoming a part of this beautiful heritage walk and the music sessions made me feel really special. It was a wonderful and peaceful experience for me. I will cherish the moments forever."

Pushkar, unlike other cities and towns in India, holds a unique secret of its own as it boats to be the only part in the entire nation to shelter a temple dedicated to Indian god Brahma.

Legend says that it was Brahma who had himself created the lake named Pushkar.

Priests here say that Brahma himself had performed  a “yagna” beside the lake and the spot is still considered by devotees as pious.

A walk beside the temple and touching your body with the water from the lake surely helped people experience the essence of Indian concept of spirituality which Pushkar glorifies.

Speaking on the event, Sanjay Mehta, President (Commercial) and Chief Happiness Officer, Shree Cement Ltd, said: "Sacred Pushkar festival draws thousands of people from India and abroad and is one of the biggest fairs in India with a socio-spiritual-cultural orientation.This is the third time we are associating with the event."

"This year's festival would be spiritual experience as well as musical treat for visitors," Mehta said.

Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, said: "Since morning, the festival has been progressing quite well. The participation during the morning events and later on were in good numbers.The entire idea behind hosting this event is to create a platform to celebrate the diversity of different cultures."

"The entire event has become a platform to showcase new talents too," he said.

He said the festival also contributed positively to the growth of the local economy of Pushkar.

As night set in, the entire area around the lake was lighted up and the stage was set for some delightful music sessions that begun with Hindu bhajans sung by Arushi Asgonkar. Her  mellifluous voice left the audience mesmerised.

She was followed by some fusion India-Western music session by World Ethic Music Ensemble and later on by popular folk singer Bhanwari Devi and percussionist Nathoo Lal Solanki who belted out some of their popular numbers.

The lighted ghats, the Brahma temple standing tall across the lake and the soulful performances kept the spirit of festivity alive and it was at this moment when ghatam player, Padma Bhushan and Grammy awardee Vikku Vinayakram, along with his celebrated son Selva Ganesh, and grandson, Swaminathan joined the celebration to showcase three generations of percussion.

Their interactive performance left the audience touched and kept the charm of the evening unfaded.

Selva Ganesh said performing at the event was an 'amazing' experience for them.

"The experience of performing here and the crowd were an amazing experience for us," he said.

He said addition of traditional musical events added a special charm to the incident.

The first night of the event came to an end with popular Bollywood singer Kavita Seth charting out some of her popular numbers which included Iktara song from 2009 movie Wake Up Sid.

(Reporting by Supriyo Hazra, Images by Avishek Mitra)