Farmer throws Rs5Lakh bash on bull's b'day

Last Tuesday, Harnya celebrated his ninth birthday. And the family had a grand celebration for which it shelled out about Rs5 lakh. Harnya was, of course, decked out – a dash of tilak (vermillion) on the forehead, shiny silver and golden steamers adorning his body and horns.

The birthday boy is a bullock!

The family of 35-year-old farmer Rahul Manohar Satpute from Dawdi Nimgaon village in Khed taluka of Pune district, has been celebrating the bull’s birthday on March 19 for the last seven years – since Harnya turned three. The day Harnya was brought home is considered his birthday, says Satpute.

On Harnya’s birthday, the family organised contests with prizes worth Rs5 lakh up for grabs.

The bull occupies a special place in the Satpute household, especially after the fast-runner emerged a winner at several races in and around the village. “Thanks to Harnya I’ve won over 50 bullock cart races. He runs at the speed of lightning,” Satpute said.

The bull, said Satpute, was purchased at the bovine market in Chakan for Rs7,000, “It was a little calf then and it was tethered in one corner of the market,” recalled Satpute.

Harnya is fed a special diet. It feeds on wheat flour and pend (a special groundnut fodder).

Two years after it was brought home, Harnya won his first bullock cart race in an adjacent village, gliding swiftly to the finish line – the first of many such winning contests. “Another farmer approached me and agreed to pay Rs11 lakh for the bull but I refused,” said Satpute. “After all, Harnya is now a family member.”

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