Pushkar Unt Mela

After an overnight train back from Delhi I hopped on my Bajaj for the 300km drive to Pushkar, a small town nestled in the Aravalli hills whose natural lakes and bathing ghats make it an important Hindu pilgrimage destination. To westerners, though, it is most famous as the site of the yearly Camel Fair/Unt Mela, where thousands of animals are bought, sold, and displayed and herders get a rare chance to kick back a bit. The popularity of the Mela and the town's relaxed atmosphere have also made it a prime stop on the 'alternative' tourist circuit.

The Mela is a result of the particular ecology, anthropology, and economics of camel herding in Rajasthan. Camel herding castes (such as the aforementioned raikas) live in family groups that own 40-100 camels, all but two or three of which are females and young. Spending the summer in the hills to avoid the desert heat, the herders return to the Thar for the lush vegetation and cool temperatures of the winter breeding season. Before heading off, though, they all meet up and swap top studs to prevent inbreeding. Inferior males are castrated and sold to farmers for work.

This year's mela was one of the most profitable ever, a result most likely caused by high oil prices and the resulting ineconomy of tractor use. The number of camel herders, however, was at an all-time low (I only met one full-size herd). This year's selling was mostly done by middlemen, dealers who rounded up marginal animals from their district and came to make a profit. For the NRCC, hoping to find some really top animals (and willing to pay their hefty price), the fair was a disappointment.

Stud selection

The primary responsibility of the Genetics Unit is the direction of selective breeding. Due to a variety of bureaucratic, biological, and statistical barriers this effort is moderately futile, but every September and October the numbers are crunched and the master breeding plan is put out.

With no real economic value for camels other than their capacity for work, breeding is conducted with the aim of increasing draught ability, while carefully maintaining the genetic diversity and population structure of the herd. So we take three biometric measurements long ago found to correlate with strength and billet the males accordingly (we do not select for females; due to their long intergestational period it is highly uneconomical not to mate them).

There are lots of problems with this approach. First, it constitutes indirect selection: we are choosing males based on biometric traits rather than actual work ability. Second, the study that pushed those traits to the forefront utilized primitive statistics that confuse what's really going on (I'm working on new numbers). Finally, while the assumption that 'big dads have big sons' is common sense, the heritability of strength is unknown so we have no clue how effective our efforts may be.

Winter approaches, and that means it's business time. Whether or not our selections are having an effect, we'll get some good-looking calves in a year.

The most valuable camels this side of the Gulf:

Best Research Awards

As a visiting scholar I have my run of the NRC, and I have quickly discovered which labs are air-conditioned (most days reach 38C). I have begun to lay the groundwork for my own research, which will officially begin on the 15th of September as I accompany geneticist Dr. S.C. Mehta to the southern part of Rajasthan to collect genetic samples. It has proven most edutaining, however, to sit in on the research of others, an activity I plan to continue for the next two weeks. The winners:

• The main push of the Physiology unit is to discover the reasons behind camel spermatazoa's low motility so as to facilitate artificial insemination. The main culprit seems so be some coagulant in the semen that is removable only by a yet undetermined catalyst in the female reproductive tract. There is little more entertaining than centrifuging camel sperm.
  
• The Reproduction unit is assessing ways of inducing ovulation, which is normally only triggered by male rut in the breeding season (Nov-Jan). The most likely method is through progesterone injections. If this effort is successful those females which did not conceive will not be a total loss for the year. They are also developing IVF methods.
  
• The Nutrition unit is currently focused on developing an alternate diet for camels that maximizes weight gain per rupee, as well as a study on esophageal constriction.
  
• The Genetics unit is engaged in a multi-year assessment of the genetic resources available in India, both among and within the different breeds of camels.
  
• The Biochemistry unit is currently conducting an anthropocentric study of the healthful effects of camel milk-based skin cream.
  
• Overall, the Centre is currently in a late-summer hush stemming from the heat as well as in anticipation of the exhaustive process of vetting (if you will) males for mating. The top studs will father up to a dozen calves at the Centre as well as traveling around the state to preserve pure and strong bloodlines.

I consider myself extremely lucky to get to dilettante my way through each of these projects.

Settling in

My adviser, Dr. Sumant Vyas, has proven exceptionally helpful in getting me settled. I am currently staying at the NRCC guest house, where the cook Meghraj's two daughters prevent me from oversleeping and the security guards' late night vigils introduce me to the coarser side of Hindi dialect. With Dr. Vyas' help, I have nearly secured my residence permit (through a haze of paperwork, most of which bore the title “Registration of Foreigners in India Act of 1939”), gotten set up with a mobile, and begun to explore and become accustomed to Bikaner. My days often feel empty despite the magnitude of the tasks yet to complete; without transport, I am often stranded at the guest house with only a book for company (right now it is Gore Vidal's splendid Empire). To this end, I have begun shopping for a motorcycle.

Meghraj and his daughters.

The NRCC

My academic affiliation is with the National Research Centre on Camel (NRCC), a division of the Indian Council on Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the Ministry of Agriculture. The campus, located approximately 10km south of Bikaner, resembles the ag-school campuses found around the world. A grand administrative building is flanked by the main laboratory facilities, all surrounded by the pens, corrals, and sheds necessary for the maintenance and study of the Centre's 300 camels. Auxiliary facilities include a small housing complex for researchers (now abandoned), a dairy, and the guest house where I currently reside. The Centre lies on a tract of over 600 hectares, maintained for camel grazing as well as for studies of multiple-use silviculture.

The 20-some scientists working here vary widely in their specializations, but a unified theme is the effort to find new uses for the camel in modern times. Traditional communities deep in the desert cannot afford to maintain their camel herds due to environmental degradation and economic changes, but neither can they survive in such an arid climate without the animal's draught capabilities. If the economics of camel ownership can be improved, be it through nutritional changes, modified reproductive practices, new uses, or, most promisingly, milk production, then the camel's importance, and the survival of desert communities, can be assured.

Some of the NRC's pregnant females, whose angst necessitates isolation.