Bahrath and Sharukh Khan.

I was supposed to meet my friend at the Koramangala(Bangalore) Shopping complex today at 1630 hours. I decided to cycle my way. Since i reached about 15 minutes ahead of schedule, i decided to loaf around the cross roads of koramangala in my cycle.

In one of the turns in 6 block koramangala, i bumped into Sharukh khan, the camel who is the bread winner for his masters Bharath and Moin.

Sharukh khan, Bharath and moin have walked all the way from Jalor in Rajasthan to earn few hundred rupees a day in Bangalore.

Bharath takes care of the camel and moin takes care of a horse. Both of them have taken a long walk with about 100 people like them and 40 others like sharukh khan all the way from Rajasthan.

Bharath told me that he walked with his darling Sharukh khan for six months from Jaloor via Indore, pune and davanagere to finally reach Bangalore.

Bharath says that the business of giving a camel ride to people in Bangalore is a relatively lucrative business for him. He said that he has abandoned his land in Rajasthan and he is no longer interested in tilling the land (Bad condition of water and power in his village).

In terms of investment, Sharukh khan (Camel) has come at no investment. He says it is his family property and sharukh khan's parents are still alive and doing similar business in Bangalore.

Business wise, Bharath says that a ride for a kid is charged 20 rupees and for an adult it is rupees 50. Total turnover per day, Bharath says is on an average 400 to 500 rupees. He says this earning of 400 rupees was definitely worth the effort of walking 6 months to Bangalore. So one can imagine the sate of affairs back home in his village.

Maintenance wise, he says sharukh khan is very easy to maintain, His maintenance cost on Sharukh khan is about rupees 60 a day which is mainly his food (Goot and bhoosa). Water for washing sharukh khan is free in avalahalli lake. (Where they stay).

According to Bharath's statistics, 39 other camels took the walk with him and sharukh from rajasthan. Bharath says, as far as he knows, 20 camels including his are scattered around Bangalore doing similar business and about 20 others have gone to Mysore, Hubli, Davanagere and other places.

Well, one can understand that he would not have had an equally lucrative business in Rajasthan, but walking all the way to Bangalore for 6 months is quite a task. This itself is the greatest investment he has made on his business.

The story of Bharath and Sharukh khan is one that of state of nation and state of Bangalore. There are many people in Bangalore who earn as much as bharath, but i havent heard much about people walking 6 months from rajasthan to earn a livelihood. (Best of the walking expeditions i have heard of is my uncle's bhajane team who walk for a Little more than a fortnight to mantralaya from Bangalore every year. Of course it is not to make a livelihood ).

But one must be happy to note here that Bharath belongs to one in the 23% of India's population who earn more than rupees 20 a day. There was a government report in the latter half of 2007 (national commission for enterprises in unorganized sector) , if i am right it was headed by Economist Arjun sengupta which says about 77% of the people of India (about 835 million people) earn less Rs 20 a day(http://nceus.gov.in/Condition_of_workers_sep_2007.pdf). Considering how India is shining with these 836 million people and who is benefiting from our 9% growth rates, Bharath's 6 month long expedition with Sharukh Khan is defnitely worth it.

It also speaks volumes about the market in Bangalore. From what bharath says there are easily about 20 more like sharukh khan in the city. So about 20 to 40 people are able to sustain in the city giving camel rides. Remember 20 more are spread across the state. Bharath adds that its 3 years since he came to bangalore and many more camels would have come to Bangalore since then.

Interestingly when i asked him, why his camel is called sharukh khan, Bharath says, naming his camel on a superstar's name will make more business for him.

Lastly Bharath remarked that, he does not intend to go back to his village. He said first of all he cannot go there leaving the camel here and secondly he has nothing to go back and do.