HIGH STAKES: Organisers set cash prizes up to Rs 2.5 lakh fuelling rivalries MEERUT : As the midnight hour casts shadows across the state highway to Garh Mukteshwar, an ancient tradition pushes modern boundaries, escalating from celebration to confrontation. Bullock cart races , held to celebrate Kartik Purnima , see rival villages from across the region clash in a frenzy of speed and pride.
By day, the fairgrounds are teeming with pilgrims; by night, they’re punctuated by drumbeat of hooves and roars of bikes as bullock carts charge through the state highway — illegally, and often fatally. Despite a police ban, these races surge forward, drawing crowds and disrupting traffic on what would otherwise be a sleepy road. Here, bullocks are forced to race up to 40km at speeds as high as 80kmph, goaded with sharp rods and pointed sticks that inflict pain to propel them to peak pace.
The stakes are high: organisers set cash prizes up to Rs 2.5 lakh, fuelling fierce rivalries. For some, it’s about preserving village pride; for others, the prize money is worth the risk to life and limb — both human and animal.
“These races have been around for generations, but the aggression was never this extreme,” says Madan Pal from Naanpur near Meerut. “In the past, they used wooden rods; now, pointed sticks and spurs drive the animals. Earlier, link roads in rural belt were used; now, they have spilled over to state roads.
” The consequences are tragic, with exhausted bulls collaps.