Chikka Tirupathi Saturday Goat Market

September 16, 2019

Chikka Tirupathi Saturday Goat Market

For my long time followers you may remember a visit I made to a local market here in Bangalore back in 2015, where there is a massive trade of goats every Saturday. This market in Chikka Tirupathi is loaded with goats, sheep, roosters and the like. On arrival you hit with the heat and smell of a true animal market combined with the dust and general smell of rural India!! There is a constant hustle and bustle of men yelling, pushing, jostling as they trade and try to find the perfect goat or herd of goats - only men seem to be involved in the negotiation and it is serious business. So serious that we were not even noticed by many of the men.

I have been an expat for nearly 7 years now and I understand that I will always be the minority in these situations and I just get on with what I want to see and do. I always have my camera, and I am conscious that many of these people have no interest in being photographed, so I usually stick to the animals and the colours and culture. However, I had 3 young expat children with me - 2 girls and Max, ages 10 and 11 years, and boy, were they wide eyed in this crazy market - they were really keen on the goat trading and pushed me hard to buy a baby goat!! there was lots of giggling when one of the goats didn't particularly like Max being too close and bunted him.

I had warned them upfront that their parents would not be keen on me bringing home a goat or two to wander the back yard at our gated community - this created some sad faces but I think they agreed in the end that these goats would be a lot more work than their house cat. Negotiating a price for a goat would have been very interesting, and a few of the men were pulling us in to check how good their goats were, even putting the babies in my arms without asking. I even thought one of the girls could help me out as she is learning Hindi at school, but again I was on strict instructions to come home 'without' an extra mouth to feed.

After we photographed all our favourite goats, we wandered to the next door temple where the Hindu tradition of Mundan is performed, which is the ritual of giving your child their first haircut. There are many Hindu traditions surrounding first haircuts, but this particular temple is used for Mundan which is considered a purifying ceremony done any time up to 3 years of age. Historically, it was only for boys, but more and more girls are being included in this tradition now. The ceremony is designed to rid the child of any impurities, remove past life negativity and then bestow a long, happy and healthy life ahead. Of course, there are some practical reasons for doing it in the villages in India - it's cleaner, cooler and can improve the growth of the child's hair in the longterm.

This is the second time I have been inside the temple and I just love seeing these gorgeous little babies being so brave when a strange man, comes towards them with a cut throat razor to shave their heads. I just cannot believe how close a shave they get…….. completely bald ! There are lots of tears and some very stressed mums and dads during the process but overall a lovely ritual to witness. They then go and complete a puja with holy water, coconuts, flowers and herbs and celebrate the future of their little baby.

The remaining area in the market is full of roosters and chickens for sale - not quite as serious a sale as the goats, but the roosters are quite a big deal and very very noisy. Then there are the fruit and vegetables, traditional Indian market items for puja's, cleaning, and cooking.

Unfortunately, the pottery kiln next door was closed this Saturday, which is an experience in itself, watching the water pots being made and then cured. Another good reason to put an extra visit to the market back on the calendar.

Please enjoy the photos of our fun morning out and about in Bangalore.