An Offer We Could Refuse

Besides being a camel fair Pushkar had all the trappings of a county fair with food, Ferris wheels, souvenir stalls as well as contests and shows. We were disappointed in the turban tying contest because it was tourists not Indians competing in the contest. The moustache contest however was almost uniquely Indian with only one sorry looking Australian mustache in the crowd. All were stunning but the winner unraveled his 3 meter moustache to take the prize. Dinesh our camel driver and guide was quite proud because the Moustache Man was also his uncle.

On our last night at Pushkar we were surprised to find that the Moustache Man was joining us when Dinesh came to pick us up. Not being proficient in english Moustache Man pulled out a photo album from his satchel and handed it to us. It was of course filled with pictures of him winning every conceivable moustache contest in Rajasthan over the last several decades. Additionally there were pictures of him lifting several children with his moustache as well as pictures of him towing cars and tractors tied to his moustache. We couldn’t quite figure out why he wanted to show us this but hey, he was so proud of himself and this is India.

As we were heading home at the end of the evening with Moustache Man still in tow he started talking. “Moustache you business America very good yes?” When he handed me a Xerox copy of his new passport and told me to keep it both Janet and I started to really wonder what he was being so persistent about. Very nice I said, not knowing what else to say and wishing our camel would pick up the pace. “Moustache business America very good you yes? “ You? “No,you!” Us? “Yes,you!” You want us to have a moustache business in America with you? “YES!” Moustache Man is now practically beside himself with joy. We are totally dumbstruck. Is he serious? No, he can’t be. I think he is, what do we do? Just keep smiling and give him back his Xerox. ‘So sorry, we think you need another man to make business in America, maybe from Texas, George Bush no have moustache but he need new job.’