Ballia is an ancient city where great saints and sages of India including Valmiki, Bhrigu, Durvasa,and Jamadagni had their ashrams. An annual fair, the Dadari-Mela, is celebrated on a fairground at the junction of the Ganges and the Ghaghara, on the city's eastern boundary. Regular connectivity with nearby districts as Mau, Azamgarh, Deoria, Ghazipur and Varanasi exists by means of Railway and Roadways. It is world's largest cattle fair. I never had a chance to visit the mela, but it is in the list of places that I have to visit.   read more »