Jaipur: The colorful 15-days international Pushkar fair will start on Saturday. The major attractions of the fair this year are the milking the cows competition and decorated camel rally on the dunes of Pushkar along with rural sports and Maha Snan in Pushkar Sarovar.
The international Pushkar fair is one of the prominent fairs of Rajasthan that held in three phases and attracts tourists from around the world.
This tine also about 70 percent of the hotels and resorts have been booked for the fair and looking at the rush of tourists, tour, and travel companies are offering packages.
The first phase of the fair is the cattle fair that starts from the second day of Diwali. Livestock farmers have started reaching Pushkar with camels, horses and other animals. Special arrangements have been made for the animals and livestock traders.
The Joint Director of the animal husbandry department, Dr. Sunil Ghiya said 'this time there will be two special events at the fair. For the first time, a camel rally will be taken out, in which decorated camels will participate. It is being organized to spread awareness about the save the camel campaign as the number of camels is decreasing every year. Besides this, there will be a competition of milking the cows in three minutes.'
The second phase of the fair will start from Kartik Shukla Gopashtami that is November 9th with the hoisting the of flag for cultural and religious events. Sports and animal competitions and colorful cultural programs start from this day while the last phase of the fair will start on Devuthani Ekadashi and religious fair will conclude with the Maha Snan in Pushkar Sarovar on the occasion of Kartik Purnima.
Thousands of devotees are expected to come here for Maha Snan and to visit the Brahma Temple near Pushkar Sarovar. Rajasthani folk artists as well as renowned names like Anup Jalota and Kailash Kher have been invited to the fair.