By Syed Zarir Hussain. India, 11:32 AM IST

From wild tubers to crabs, fish and fowl, you can get it all here - but not for money. The annual Jonbeel fair, 60 km east of Assam's main city of Guwahati, is unique. It is perhaps the only bazaar where any currency is forbidden.

'People here have been practicing the traditional barter system for ages. Monetary transactions are considered a taboo,' Nagen Barbaruah, a tribal elder, said. The three-day fair ends Sunday with a traditional bonfire lit by the local tribal king, 14-year-old Dipsing Deo Raja.

More than 10,000 tribal villagers converge in a vast meadow in what is considered the meeting ground for scores of ethnic groups.

'It is a sight to watch, with people from far flung areas coming to participate at the fair carrying items ranging from rice to dry fish, bamboo shoots to poultry,' said Raja, a school-going king.

'They do their business like any other trader and at the end of the fair return to their villages happy and satisfied although there is no question of profit and loss.'

Middle-aged Romoli Teron trekked for about six hours downhill to reach Jonbeel on Friday. 'I came with some garlic and dry fish and in just a matter of hours I finished trading my goods,' said Teron from the Karbi tribe.

'I exchanged my goods for some sticky rice and turmeric at the fair. I am happy to have met so many people from different tribes here.' Teron, a mother of two, gets emotional as she prepares for her journey back home in the hills overlooking Jonbeel.

Like Teron, hundreds of other tribal villagers have been visiting the annual fair like a ritual. 'For us the Jonbeel fair is a platform for cultural exchange. We also take this opportunity to pay our obeisance to the king who comes to the fair ground on the concluding day,' Hem Amsih, a Tiwa tribal elder, said. Amsih, 65, has been coming to the fair for more than two decades now.

For the hundreds of people who come down from the hills and dales to participate in the fair, it is time for fun as well. They set up makeshift bamboo and thatch huts for the three days and eat together in groups.

'There is no recorded history as to when the Jonbeel fair first started,' the king said. 'The day this fair is stopped means the end of tribal culture and our roots.'

By Syed Zarir Hussain (Staff Writer, © IANS)