Dhaka's cattle markets for qurbani have come alive ahead of the holy Eid-ul-Azha. The markets are now busy with buyers, and devout Muslims are going from market to market to buy animals they like within their means for sacrifice.

Small and medium-sized cattle are the most in demand, but some markets also have huge animals. At the cattle market in the capital's Bhatara 100 Feet area, people at the market are calling one big black bull "Kalapahar". The owner, however, has not given the bull any name.

Its owner, Biren, said the bull weighed 1,246 kg. He had asked Tk 12 lakh for it but said he would sell it for Tk 10 lakh.

Biren said four of them, three brothers and a brother-in-law (their sister's husband), had brought the bull from Naogaon. They have been raising it for three and a half years, and its food costs Tk 700 to 800 a day. He brought it to the market on Wednesday morning and now wants to sell it for Tk 10 lakh.

"This bull weighs 1,246 kg. Yesterday I asked Tk 12 lakh for it. Some buyers bargained, but we cannot sell at the prices they offer. After raising it with so much care, we cannot sell at a loss," he said.

He said there was not much time left before Eid, so they were not bargaining much and would sell as soon as they got Tk 10 lakh. The bull has been raised on grass, straw, bran and bananas from the garden.

People around the market say Kalapahar has arrived, but when asked, Biren said: "We have not given the bull any name. It is the biggest bull at this market so far, so people here are calling it Kalapahar."

Monirul Islam, who calls the bull Kalapahar, said many cattle and goats had been brought to the market. "Three of us friends looked round almost all of the market, but we have not seen such a big bull here. I see in the news that big black bulls are named Kalapahar. Also, when entering the market I asked someone where the big bull was, and he said, go a little further and you will see Kalapahar. So I thought this bull's name was Kalapahar," he said.

Md Ashraful, a cattle trader who has brought cattle from Faridpur and is staying next to Biren, said the black bull was the biggest to have come to the market so far, and many people were calling it Kalapahar.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.