Pushkar Fair, starting life as Pushkar Camel Fair in the nineteenth century, is now about much more than the trading of camels. On the ground this year camel folk gave estimates of between 10,000 and two million camels. I’m guessing towards the lower end, with The Times Of India suggesting 50,000. Anyway, I’ve never seen so many camels.
But for the price of ten camels you could also have one horse and the beautiful Marwari horses, indigenous to Rajasthan, really steal the show. Sold mostly as breeding stock but with many trained to dance, with bells on their fetlocks.
Beyond the livestock there’s a fairground and, reflecting Pushkar’s religious and cultural significance (Brahma dropped a lotus leaf here and the lake emerged), there’s a cultural programme, hijacked and emboldened by the Rajasthani tourist board. That’s camel racing, camel painting, camel dancing, horse dancing, people dancing and the longest moustache competition; you get the idea – the Great Yorkshire Show with bells; and camels.
But as the revellers arrive the camels leave – me too.
