Pushkar Camel Fair

On the full-moon day in the month of Karthik, or more preciously for 10-12 days preceding it, a moving canvas at Pushkar acquires such a hysteric boldness that it defies all logical sense of time and space. Cattle Fair is the earliest manifestation of Market—in economic term. Pushkar had been more than a cattle fair for thousands of years. Literally, thousands of camels are brought to the fair as commodities, and they rejoice and gesticulate and panic and kick the sand in all conceivable manners. Families come in eternal camel caravans, camp on the sand, negotiate and trade, offer ‘puja’ to Brahma, take holy dip in the lake, buy intricate utensils and turbans and nose-rings, and return back on a final, somber, evening. Only hoof-marks on dirty sand stay back before being vanquished by wind.