Pushkar Fair begins, with a dried-up lake!

The Pushkar Fair, or Pushkar ka Mela, is one of the world's largest camel fairs, held in the town of Pushkar, Rajasthan. Competitions such as the "matka phod", "moustache", and "bridal competition" are the main draws for this fair, which also attracts thousands of tourists. In recent years, the fair has also included an exhibition cricket match between the local Pushkar club and a team of random foreign tourists. The Imperial Gazetteer of India, mentions an attendance of 100,000 pilgrims in early 1900s. This year, the Pushkar lake has become a dried-up excavation site thanks to a Rs 50-crore government project to clean it up and make it deeper.