Women’s hockey, camel milk to mark cattle fair

Ajmer: A hockey match between foreign and Indian rural women ‘Chak De’ would be the main attraction of the upcoming world famous Pushkar cattle fair.

To make the fair colourful, the district administration has planned to organised various rural competitions for the tourists coming to the fair. It has also planned to introduce the camel milk products in the fair.

The fortnight-long fair would start from November 6. Around four lakh domestic and 8,000 foreign tourists are expected to participate in the Pushkar fair. The administration is leaving no stone unturned in adding colour to it.

According to the tourism department, on an average 5 lakh tourists throng the holy town in a span of fifteen days. While the devotees take dip (Kartik Snan) at the holy pond, the tourists enjoy the fair.

At the newly started National Hockey Academy, the administration is busy preparing the rural women to play a match with the foreign women team. Talking to TOI, district magistrate Naveen Mahajan said, “This would be the main attraction of the fair and we have named it ‘Chak De’.”

Various games would be organized to make the fair colourful and entertain the tourists. One of the most important rural games would be the bridal competition. The rural women would compete with the foreign ladies in the bridal make-up.

“They all would wear the Indian bridal attire and be judged first and second,” said Mahajan. Similarly, games like kabbadi and volleyball would also be organized for the tourists. “The main aim is to make the tourists happy and the fair enjoyable,” said Mahajan.

To popularize the camel milk and its utility, the administration is launching various milk products in the fair. “We have tied up with a Bikaner institute which would provide camel milk and ghee, butter made of it to the tourist,” added Mahajan.

Beside these competitions, the tourism department would organize a show of desert symphony during the fair. Various artists have been invited from Rajasthan to present their art to the tourists.