Indore: The craze among youths to take out 'baraats' in traditional Rajasthani style has increased demand for camel dance in the weddings of Madhya Pradesh. Thus camels are being taught to tap their legs to music and the price of a 'dancing camel' has risen from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 to 7 lakh.
Camel, which for centuries served as a major mode of transportation in the deserts, has now been replaced by various types of vehicles. So the 'ship of the desert' is being used in various other purposes, particularly weddings and tourism sector.
Dance school for camels
Currently, five types of dances steps are being taught in the one-year training that is being given to the camels in Mhow of Indore and Rasulpur bypass of Dewas. These include 'Sher Patak Dance' (sitting with two legs forward like a lion), 'Naach Ke Par Dance' (dancing with the ghunroos tied on legs) 'Chautala Dance' (tapping four legs together), 'Jumping Dance' (standing up on hind legs with forelegs off the ground like a horse) and 'Neechi Naar' (dancing with the neck down).
Dance trainer of Dewas, Firoz Ali, said, "Camels are made to undergo dance training since childhood. Camels of two to four years learn dance steps very quickly. During the training, they are controlled by putting a bridle on them just like the horses and then various steps are taught with the help of rope.''
According to Ali, usually after being trained daily for a year, the camel starts performing the dance steps. These dances are especially appreciated in weddings and 'baraats' and camels from Rajasthan are now being bought and taken to Madhya Pradesh and other places, he said. They are also used in the tourism sector, he added.
A dance trainer from Mhow, Pappu Khan, said, "In weddings, apart from music band and DJ, horse and camel are being booked. The cost of booking camels range from Rs 8000 to Rs 15000 each."
He further said, "If the price of a camel is 50,000 in Rajasthan then dancing camels will cost Rs 5 to 7 lakh each in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and other places. This is the reason that owners of horse carriages and people managing weddings are bringing camels worth lakhs of rupees for dances thereby earning a good amount.
Decreasing population of camel
Madhya Pradesh currently has around 1.5 lakh camels, of which the number of Arabian camel, also known as Dromedary camel, is more. Usually, Rajasthani camel herders come in large numbers to the bordering areas of Madhya Pradesh after the monsoons and spend eight months camping in the fields and forests here. After this, they return to Rajasthan, especially Jaisalmer, and other areas.
Due to increasing challenges on availability of food and water, the number of camels is continuously decreasing across the country. Rajasthan has about 2.25 lakh camels while Gujarat has only 28,000 calves. There are around 5000 camels in Haryana and 2000 in Uttar Pradesh.
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