Pushkar Fair
In the month of Kartik each year, a staggering number of camels amble their way across the golden sands of Rajasthan to congregate at Pushkar for the week-long fair devoted to them. Coming in from all directions, their masters astride them, they flick the sand at every step with casuals' ease. The horses that march to this site find the sand-trot an exacting exercise. Numerous cows and sheep all come to the animal fair. Completing the scene are thousands of men, women and children, come with their beasts, suddenly inhabiting the barren plain. Providing a backdrop, the camels in the distance camouflaged, scarcely discernable. The contrast to the blank desert is the riot of Colours - the large gaudy turbans of the native males arriving here to trade their animals or to set up the stalls to cater to the booming captive market, and the loud hues of the pleated ghagaras (ankle-length skirts) of the belles bangled by the armful, bejewelled from head to toe- adding charm and zest to the massive affair. At Mela time, Pushkar is Rajasthan under one roof, a complete exhibition of its culture.

The trading
Over the first five days of the fair, camels, horses, cows, goats, and sheep are sold and purchased. There may be protracted negotiations, or sometimes, a quick transaction. Hard bargains are struck, the vendor extolling the long list of virtues of his camel to the prospective buyer.

Fashionable Women
Womenfolk seem to have little interest in the business of animals. They are more attracted to the glittering wares in the stalls under awnings. The large variety of intricate silver ornaments - hairpins and chains, nose rings and neckbands, cummerbunds, anklets, toe rings and the ivory bangles worn from wrist to shoulder - would send any woman on a buying spree. The garments stalls, in no way less colourful, sell high fashion upper garments of patchwork and tie 'n' die. Tattoo stalls give many women beauty marks that last a lifetime. Whoever said that the unsophisticated are not fashionable!

…and Camels
In Rajasthan even the camels are fashion-conscious, and that too to a high degree, for they are soon to be part of a beauty parade! The proud owner of a newly acquired camel promptly goes to the stalls which the women bypassed. At these stalls all the crafts of Rajasthan have been pressed into the service of the camel community. Handmade saddles to fit every hump; long strings of cowries, bes and beads; colourful, woven saddle-straps, and embroidered back-covers to boot. After a shearing and a scrub, the camel is costumed and even perfumed! Surely the Marwari man loves his camel-and his wife!