The Sarangkheda Chetak Festival is from Dec 13 to Dec 27

If the well preened turfs at the Mahalakshmi Race Course or the serene slopes of Matheran are the only equestrian landscapes you have experienced, then Sarangkheda will be quite the eye-opener for you. A scene from this horse fair, better known as the Sarangkheda Chetak Festival, seems straight out of Sholay, minus the daakus, of course. Picture this: The jockeys, rustic, dusty and wild — a far cry from their uniformed urban counterparts — champion their horses while hooting loudly, some even stand on horseback and pull off a stunt or two — as the crowds, running into a few lakhs, cheer them to a crescendo. The multiple sets of hooves kick up a mini sandstorm fogging your vision as the sound of the gallop fills the air and echoes in your ears long after it has died out. All very filmi and surreal but that’s Sarangkheda for you, a quintessentially rustic and real experience. It’s a two-week long horse fair, the largest in India. But, for visitors, a weekend would be ample time to savour this pastoral getaway.