Pushkar Lake during better times.
Sharell Cook
The 2009 Pushkar Camel Fair gets underway on Monday, but there's one issue. The lake is completely dry. It's been turned into an excavation site by works aimed at cleaning and deepening it.
While the fair's camel related festivities will carry on regardless of the empty lake, it does pose a problem for the many pilgrims who flock there to bathe in its holy waters. The two days around the full moon during the festival are considered to be the most auspicious time of the year for bathing in the lake. Those who bathe on the day of the full moon are said to receive special blessings.
This year, pilgrims will have to make do with bath-tub-sized pools in parts of the lake, filled with water daily basis. It's hardly enough to be holy!
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