SandeepaChetan's Travels

A cattle fair at Rajur, India by sandeepachetan.com | 720,000 views

A cattle fair at Rajur, India, a photo by sandeepachetan.com | 720,000 views on Flickr.

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It was actually just the weekly village market, albeit the biggest of the year. But a rural Indian bazaar, with its explosion of colour and activity is never “just a market”. It takes a simple lifestyle to turn a weekly market into a carnival. We were lucky to have one such experience.
We recently had the opportunity to visit this unique Indian bazaar, a cattle fair, in the small town of Rajur, around 270km from Mumbai, India.
This market is the biggest social event in this region, it really is their Christmas! Schools were shut and no one worked that day, because everybody- entire families, kids in tow, were at the market, dressed in their festive best!
It was a great experience for us, being in middle of all this celebration. The cattle fair was a fantastic icing on the cake.

The small town of Rajur is the “market town” for this region. “Market town” because the weekly market for this region is held here on Mondays.

Every year around December, the first Monday after “Dutta Jayanti” (The birthday of Lord Dutta), is the biggest market day of the year. The biggest cattle fair of the year is hosted here.

Village folks from as far as a 40km radius come to trade their cattle, mainly bulls, here. Some of them would have walked for over two days to get here.
They stay on the grounds for two straight days, hoping to get a fair deal for their prized cattle.
It’s a big open ground, at the end of the village market where the cattle fair is set up.
It feels like a mega congregation of the bulls, with thousands of them spread out all over.

Grassroutes Journeys (www.grassroutes.co.in), an initiative to promote rural tourism in this region had organised our tour. Balu Kondar of the nearby village of Purushwadi was our assigned guide. He helped us through the maze of the bulls.

The whole ground was abuzz with activity.
Some were still decorating their bulls, making sure they looked just right.

Prospective buyers were doing the rounds, inspecting the bulls, to zero in on the one to take home.

Some others were just feeling the pulse of the market and the deals!

Balu gave us a farmer’s perspective on all that was happening around.

The cattle is a part of the farmer’s family. They raise and rear them with as much love and care as their own children.

The importance of their cattle to rural India, is magnanimous. For small time farmers, who do not (and can not afford to) own tractors, the cattle is their only means to pursue farming and earn a livelihood.

This is what makes the bulls their best friends, their children, their Gods!

The connection between these farmers and their bullocks is endearing to watch and comprehend.

The cattle are well fed and kept happy while waiting at the cattle fair.

Only after they have their meals and settle down for their midday siesta do the farmers sit down for their lunch.

Lunch is a simple local bread called bhakri (similar to it’s more popular variant, the roti) with some vegetable, chutney or sometimes just onion!

Special accessories are bought to decorate the bulls and make them look their festive best.

Do not miss the colours of the Indian tricolour!

Everybody wants their cattle to stand out. Colourful belts, bells and various trinkets are used to make the bulls stand out.
Every bull is decorated to the best of his farmer’s ability.

A young bull, ready for farming activities is priced the most.
The teeth, Balu told us, were the best indicators of the bull’s age.
The buyers would also carefully inspect the shine in the bulls’ eyes, their muscles, everything before making a decision.

We hadn’t seen black and white bulls before.

Balu, our guide, explained the reason.

Artificial insemination of the cows is now quite popular in rural India. Bulls born thus, are single coloured - white, brown or black.

Only the ones conceived naturally are black and white in colour. Which is why they are seen only closer to the villages where the cattle population is larger.

A group of men, like the one gathered here, especially when some had shawls around their necks, meant some intense negotiations happening.

What’s negotiation got to do with a shawl, we wondered. We would soon know!

We were lucky to a witness a real deal take place at the cattle fair.

Balu explained to us it’s finer mechanisms.

Every farmer sets a price for their bulls, based mainly on their age.

Nobody wants to reveal how low they are willing to negotiate. That’s when a shawl comes in. The farmers at the cattle fair, have some fixed symbols, representing certain numbers. The buyer and seller put their hands under the shawl and non verbal, touch-and-feel negotiations start.
The onlookers are quite animatedly excited. If a deal seems likely to happen, they start urging the buyer to pat the bull.

The buyer’s pat on the bull is the sealing of the deal. It is the buyer saying he is now mine!

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