Goats for Eid: Baahubali competes with Karan, Arjun, Salmaan for buyers’ attention

Ali says he has been coming to this market for the last five years and this year, he brought 20 goats to sell during Eid. “This time I brought more goats assuming I would earn more. But, only a day is left and I have sold only 10 goats on lesser profit,” he rued. Ali has named one of his goats Baahubali and said that he expected to sell that for over Rs 45,000 as it had been subjected to a special diet for the last one-and-a-half years. “Every day, I would give one litre of milk, 5 kilos of grass and many other things. And its height is tall which makes this goat expensive,” he added.

In the same market, another seller has named his goats Karan, Arjun. “I have named my goats Karan and Arjun because they look similar and are of the same age,” said the seller from Malerkolta in Punjab. By Monday evening, Karan and Arjun went for Rs 56,000. Many sellers, however, said the market was slow this year. They said it could be due to the government having imposed a temporary ban on shipping livestock to the Gulf ahead of Eid.

“Thousands of goats and sheep are usually sent to the Gulf every year. This year, we are told that the stock is not going abroad, which is the reason why many sellers are coming to the markets here to sell their animals,” said Muzaffar from Sector 26 in Chandigarh. For the last few days, the market is abuzz with a variety of goats arriving from different states. The rush is more in the evening and many sellers have even decorated their goats with flowers to attract customers.

“I have been coming here to this market for the last two days to get a healthy goat. Prices will come down on Tuesday because many more sellers will arrive by then and it is the last day. And then, we will buy a healthy goat,” said Mohammed Ashraf, a resident of Manimajra.