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Donkey-cart race
Enjoyment and entertainment is the basic right of human beings and is important to help us live sane lives. People enjoy themselves in different ways. Some go to libraries, some visit parks whereas some go shopping as well. But what about the people who live in localities devoid of these facilities. Let’s see what they do.
The Donkey-cart race is one of the most interesting and unique forms of entertainment that takes place in some areas of our metropolis. Lyari, Mehmoodabad, Clifton, Koragni and Moach Goth are some areas where every weekend a large number of donkey-cart owners take part in these races for fun.
Heera, Commando, Tendulkar, Bulbul, Rocket, Karachi, Rustum-i-Baloch, Computer, Chandni and a whole lot more are a few donkeys to whom the credit for this mass event goes.
The owners of these donkeys take good care of these animals and spend almost Rs200 to Rs500 on each animal every day. The diet of these donkeys consists of chahar maghaz, butter, almond, pistachio, lassi, saib ka murrabba, dates and pure ghee to make them stronger.
The donkeys who participate in these races are usually bought from interior of Sindh, Makran, Balochistan and the Iranian city of Zumran. The Iranian donkeys are one of the most expensive species used for this purpose and range between Rs50,000 to Rs100,000. The animals from interior of Sindh range between Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 and the animals from Balochistan cost Rs 30,000.
Some of the owners keenly take care of their animals and do not use them to earn a living. Sometimes they hire a trainer to train these animals for the races. The trainers at times in order to make the donkey perform better in the races hook them on to hash and marijuana as well.
The small and beautifully decorated donkey-cart widely known as ‘sports cart’ is not at all economical. The prices of these carts range between Rs3,000 to Rs6,000.
These weekly races are organized every Sunday at the Jinnah Bridge from Nagina Cinema point in Keamari. A large number of participants gather to show their vigour and make extraordinary efforts to win the race. The prize money for the winner is around Rs2,000 to Rs5,000.
The organizers of this event complain about the police’s behaviour which involves a handsome amount of extortion.
Now, the races take place at only a few venues in the city on Sunday. However, a large number of donkey-carts can be witnessed on Thursday between 10:00 pm to midnight next to Abdullah Shah Ghazi Mazar at Clifton where these donkey cart owners offer prayers for themselves and their beloved donkeys to win the upcoming event.
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