A rendezvous with 'petite and pretty' cow, two hump camel and other folks.

KARACHI -- After another late night of razzle-dazzle it is yet another morning at the city's biggest livestock market at Sohrab Goth. The animals were resting, some were munching and chewing on feed while others were freshening up.

Mind you, it was no ordinary freshening up. The keepers and caretakers of the animals lathered them up using body wash and shampoo to keep their coats soft to the touch for interested buyers. The ones with white coats were then drenched in blue 'neel', which was also washed off. The 'neel', one was informed, worked just like it works on laundry. It would turn their white coat brilliant white, especially under the bright lights they turned on in the evenings.

The livestock market management gives 16 litres of water for each animal's drinking needs. But for washing them their owners need to buy extra water. A big blue water can costs them Rs500 each but they are fine with that as long as they were able to keep their animals clean so they fetch a good price.

It is still 10 days before Eidul Azha. The sellers were expecting the sales to really pick up close to Eid.

The buyers start arriving after 6pm when the sun is setting and the weather has cooled down. That's when the lights are turned on and the animals are all made to remain standing for showtime.

As Eidul Azha draws near, city's biggest livestock market shines at night under strict monitoring of sick animals

The bigger stalls owned by various cattle farms have all been nicely decorated. They are all very well lit with chandeliers included among their lights. The chandeliers sway in the evening breeze and double as wind chimes.

The livestock market has it all - cattle, goats, sheep and camels. It has specific areas for all the different species that are been broken down even further. For example, the cattle market is divided by areas of the animals' origins. There is an area reserved for cattle from Sindh, another for cattle from Balochistan and yet another for the Punjab variety.

The cattle prices range from Rs90,000 to millions. The most expensive animal there is not even for sacrifice and it recently received an offer of Rs30 million. It is called 'Rani'. Rani is a very small variety of a cow. It is the size of a dog. The person who offered to buy Rani said he would be keeping it at home as a pet.

The age of the animals is determined by his or her front teeth. In cattle and big animals two teeth mean approximately two or two-and-a-half years of age.

However...