Sunday, 28 January 2018

Jallikattu 2018

On our way to Jallikattu at at Rangampeta in Prasad's auto, stopping at a wayside Nagalamma temple in the forest.
On the way to Rangampeta, Jallikattu.
Yesterday.
Small temples of my land.
Gundalamma temple, Nagalammma temple.
In the middle of the forest. Early as we were, someone was earlier and had done worship. Had applied all the stones and idols with turmeric. Placed flowers and incense sticks. We also lit camphor, incense sticks. Annapurna took the kumkum from the plate and applied on all our foreheads.
Religion anchors this land.
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Prasads auto can pack in any number, like all village autos !

JALLIKATTU!!!
RANGAMPETA!!!
For the people, by the people, of the people...
For the farmer, by the farmer, of the farmer...
For the bull, of the bull, by the bull...


Every home, terrace, veranda, opened to the people.
From villages far and around.
Every tree a perch.
Waiting...


Jallikattu is where caste stands challenged. As shoulder to shoulder all try their bare handed might and courage against the bull. Where people from every caste are there in the teeming crowds. Where lemon rice and water is served by the host village to all.
When Keerthana, Anita s daughter got very hungry, Anita took her to the home closest, and the lady fed the child. Anita said that everyone would feed in such gatherings as people come from far and wide for the event. Anitas being an SC was not remotely in the picture.
The distant urban who opposes this, does not even know what it is he opposes. Community, Brotherhood, Respect for cattle.

Jallikattu in Rangampeta
Jallikattu in Kothapeta.
Today.
Beautiful bulls, powerful bulls. Majesty.
Proud farmers, some landless, some with holdings. Some Reddy, some Naidu, some Balijas, some SCs some Doral, racing down the path after their galloping bulls. Native bulls.
And smile broadly seeing the trying-to-be-brave youth scatter as their bullsapproach. And their cattle sail past all puny humans. In majestic disdain.
It is this pride, this thrill, that provides the logic to maintain native breeds even when modern economic logic ruthlessly negates the logic of keeping native cattle.
The pride and love for cattle that only those rooted in soil can know. And the call of pitting human strength against bull strength. In bare handed and fair matching of strength.
Jallikattu and it's validity is the face off between the men and women of the soil. And the deracinated.


The Kothapeta village youth proudly taking his proud nattu bull down the Jallikattu Street.
Nobody wanted to lock horns with it! And it walked down majestically.
Yesterday.
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Ravikumar Balasubramanian Bovine animals, unlike equine ones, are not made for running. They only run because they are terrorized. Would you want to terrorize your little boy or girl and make them run? Let's see you romanticize it.
Our objections have nothing to do with deracination and other fancy words. 
I am as hardcore a Tamilian as it comes but we need to slowly wean people off this sport (not by waving a paper from the SC though) by educating them.
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Alwar Narayanan You must be PETA sympathiser. Have you questioned why the PETA members have fancy dogs in their home, chained for entire life only to be walked once every day for the loo ! They are confined to 3 meters of rope or chain for entire life. Have you questioned them ?
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Ravikumar Balasubramanian Sir, for the record, I have nothing to do with PETA. I speak from my heart, not for any organization. I do not like the idea of pets and don't have any. 
There is no priority order here saying I should object to pets first, solve that and then only object to jallikkattu.
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Alwar Narayanan Your sentences like "Bovine animals, unlike equine ones, are not made for running" are from PETA. That is their argument in court. Who said Cow cannot run ? They can run very well.
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Ravikumar Balasubramanian Sir, your little boy or girl when terrorized or under the threat of a whip can also run. Kindly read up on the differences in the biomechanics of bovine and equine animals. 

In the meantime, you may find this interesting:

https://www.google.com/.../should-we-stop-keeping-pets...Manage
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Aparna Krishnan The farmer has his bond with his animals. He does not need urbans to advise him. 

Urbans can focus on their clan. Horse Racing where the horses are shot dead when they stop performance. Hunting where the hand to hand combat as in Jallikattu is replaced by gun versus the unarmed animal. Pets as mentioned above. 

Life styles which destroy whole species as they destroy climate itself. 

The villagers did not solicit advice.
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Ravikumar Balasubramanian Aparna, if we talk to the horse owner he will also say the same thing - that he has a 'special' bond with the horse. So will every pet owner. Fact is, we just do to animals what we like and then pretend that they also like it. That's true whether it is jallikkattu or pet ownership.
You can't and shouldn't sweep this under the tired old urban vs rural argument.
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Aparna Krishnan These are theoretical discussions which mean little unless one immerses and understands. I think you may have never visited a Jallikattu. I invite you to our place next year. For a long period enough to under the village, the villagers and the relationships. And also Jallikattu. That only can equip one to comment.
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Arun Kombai Aparna Krishnan I guess some minds dont open at all. Some minds still thinks rural mind dont have brain and never listens to the rural mind. Some minds are just blind.
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Komakkambedu Himakiran Cows can't run!

Who is terrorizing these cows? Watch the videos and learn.

https://www.facebook.com/karthikeya.sivasenapathy/posts/1784373641593518?pnref=storyManage
Karthikeya Sivasenapathy added 3 new videos.
Cows can’t run 🏃‍♀️.... used to be the favourite scientific analysis of PETA and so called animal lovers .... and Hon Supreme Court also agreed with the scientific analysis in 2014 ... here cows are proving otherwise even without Jallikattu ...
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Aparna Krishnan Arun, the biggest challenge our country faces is this attitude. That the villagers are dumb, and need the modern educated to guide them. That attitude may not change is my growing belief. The villages simply have to tell the urbans to keep off. If the urbans correct their lifestyle and stop overloading the earth it's enough. They don't need to 'educate the villagers'!!
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Arun Kombai Aparna Krishnan completely agree. When you do that with sarcasm, it hits the nail hard. 😁
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Aparna Krishnan I don't want to be sarcastic at all. I really see 1. The urban tendency to moral police the rural getting stronger by the day 2. Ignoring that their own lifestyle is the greatest crime on both beasts and other men. 

Till this is faced by all, rural and urban, all discussions are idle.
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Ravikumar Balasubramanian It appears to me I am talking to a wall. I already said I don't like urban practices of pets and horse racing. It is all cruel. And without offering the slightest cogent argument, accuse me that I think village people are stupid etc when all I have done is to try to engage you in a reasoned discussion. Well, may be you are not up for it. 
Not all traditions are justifiable, urban or rural. It used to be the case that the zamindar can take the laborer's wife whenever he wanted - that too was a 'tradition'. Watched 'kizhakke pogum rail'? Where the girl has to go around the village naked to please the gods? - that too was a 'tradition'. Slavery was a tradition. Confining the woman to the kitchen was a tradition. Come on, guys! 
Is using western-invented FB and British-taught English to go on blaming the West for everything that went wrong, rural or urban?
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Ravikumar Balasubramanian wow! You want to compare the gentle trot by a carefree animal in the wide open field to a terrified animal's mad scramble in a confined narrow corridor, chased by people with huge noise and crowds around them? Really?
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Arun Kombai The point is, "why animals run and why we celebrate that" thats the basic question you are asking, either you must understand practice by understading livestocks and its use or go spend time villages to understand. The urban rural debate will happen when you question a practice without understanding that. The other point being, none here uplifting a tradition cause its a tradition, you arugement itself shows that you think we dont have brains, that itself is a challenge for you to understand us. Urbans are resposible, if you like it or not, westerns are responsible if you believe it not.
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Ravikumar Balasubramanian Burning the wife on the husband's stake was a 'tradition'. Shaving her head and make her live with a white saree for the rest of her life was a 'tradition'. Not allowing women to remarry was a 'tradition'. We changed all that.
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Arun Kombai There are million zamindar alive now in cities, thats not tradition. Tradition is something which uplifts a community, social unity and living.
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Arun Kombai Of course we changed practices which doesn't support living and social unity. You also need to understand, there are million traditions born too to uplift society. I don't know, are you saying all traditions are "Bad tradition"?
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Ravikumar Balasubramanian Arun, first, I am glad you have decided to engage in a reasoned discussion. Thanks for that. 

Of course not all traditions are bad. But let me ask you - who is to decide whether a tradition is socially uplifting? And even if it is, isit still justified as it may involve beings which are not part of the human society. Take race horse ownership for instance - I am sure those owners think the practice brings lots of like minded people together etc. But what of the horse? Ditto with bulls in jallikkattu.
The basic premise behind ethics is that 'don't do anything to anyone that you don't want to be done to you'. IF you subscribe to that, you have to ask yourself, would you want to run like that? More simply, jallikkattu makes the village happy. Is the bull happy doing it?
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Arun Kombai who is to decide whether a tradition is uplifting - The people of the land, for instance jallikattu survived for thousands of years and you need to understand why it survived and why people saved it for so long and why this needs to be protected, this point one must understand before just sharing your view. Even horse races, same logic and you will find answers.
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Arun Kombai Is the bull happy doing it... for this logic, are you happy doing everything you doing today?? I guess not really. Some are very important, must be done for living, here rural people need that, if you like it or not. You need to understand the concept ...See more
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Ravikumar Balasubramanian Thank you, Arun, for sharing your perspectives. While I remain unconvinced and we should agree to disagree, I appreciate your engaging in a reasoned debate rather than dismissing out of hand. 
Wish you the best in your endeavors.


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