The goat has an unusual brown spot underneath its neck that resembles the Arabic symbol of ‘Allah’. (Source: Express)
ON Saturday, Gopalrao and son Kapil Sohail plan to return home in Ajmer, dejected after their highly-priced goat found no buyer at the Deonar abattoir for Bakri Eid. With the festival slated on Saturday, they waited in final hours on Friday hoping someone would show interest and offer a huge cash amount.
“A lot of people came to look at our goat. But nobody had the money to purchase it,” Gopalrao said. Their “Allah wala bakra” was laced with necklaces as it sat on a wooden table. On its white fur with brown spots, one of the spots resembled ‘Allah’ written in Arabic for which the Sohails decided to keep the price tag of over a crore of rupees. They showed its neck, where the natural mark is, to every probable buyer who came to Deonar to shop for a goat for Eid.
“We may bring it next year,” Kapil says. On Wednesday, the goat was priced at Rs 1,00,00,786, when they first displayed it for sale. By Thursday, the price was reduced to Rs 51,00,786.
“The rains on Tuesday were so heavy that prices of goats in the market fell. This has only happened in Mumbai,” Kapil says. He brings 35-40 goats to Mumbai every year for Eid.
Traders saw a dip by Rs 2,000-8,000 in the Deonar abattoir in the price of each goat. The entire abattoir was submerged in waist-deep water drenching goats until they were shifted to a higher location at a slaughterhouse, after three hours. In other parts of Mumbai, goats that remained dry were sold at higher prices.
