Jallikkattu has traditionally been confined to the fringes of the collective conscience of the urban middle class. An annual event that happened in the rural areas while the urbanites watched TV while the calorie-rich pongal was digested. A distant, faraway phenomenon that was reduced to a few clips on the evening news. This could have continued to be so had it not been for the ban that brought jallikkattu into the living rooms of every household over the recent years.
Protection of native breeds. The PETA-jersey breed nexus. Benefits of A2 milk. There are many reasons - some less vague than the others - to ensure that the tradition of jallikkattu continues. But beyond the merits of these reasons, there is a more fundamental reason to protest: not allow someone sitting in Delhi to dictate how we should live our lives. People that aren't intimately familiar with the cultural and social mores of Tamilnadu should not meddle in our affairs.
A lady on Rajdeep Sardesai's TV show, appearing in her capacity as an "animal rights activist", declared that "jallikkat" has not been part of Tamil culture and that PETA wasn't calling for a ban on Pongal altogether. This mixture of ignorance and arrogance on the part of the North Indians - till recently quite liberal while using Madarasi - will leave the bristling Tamils feeling violated. It is not the right thing to say but Kashmir may not be the first state to leave the Indian union.
This started when sambhar became samburr, the dosai became dosaw and the vadai vadaw. Then the "ji" has started raising its ugly head as an honorific in Chennai today. But when rank outsiders start making rules on how we live our lives or cherry pick from our traditional practices ones deemed suitable for this day and age, we must say with all love and respect, "Abey, f*** off hain!"
My stand
Jallikkattu must happen. This year. And beyond. With regulations (enforced by authorities concerned) that shall put to rest any genuine concerns relating to the welfare of the bulls. I don't claim to be someone familiar with rural traditions and my stand is solely based upon the bits and pieces of information (of varying trustworthiness) that I have come across over the past few days.
North Indian media
The one favor North Indian media can do is to stop their coverage of this issue immediately. More than anything else to stop exposing their complete ignorance of all things Tamilnadu and the lack of their sensibility. Go cover the UP elections, Dangal box-office collections or Arvind Kejriwal's latest meltdown instead.
The BJP fiasco
There is a scene in the movie Pulp Fiction where Samuel Jackson is cleaning up the car after John Travolta shoots someone in the face. The BJP at the moment looks like Samuel Jackson doing "brain detail" after the Congress and DMK had caused this carnage in the first place. Between the lack of clear intent from Delhi and Subramanian Swamy's choice of words, the BJP has simply failed to seize the situation and control the narrative. They could have use this opportunity to gain a political foothold, however slender, but today stand cast as the villains instead. The AIADMK should perhaps sew C K Saraswathy's lips shut.
The Gounder-man rocks!
The quotient of nakkal-filled humor and biting satire packed into the slogans, memes and props leaves me with little doubt that a similar protest elsewhere in India would have been much less colorful. The mixture reference simply stole the show. It would be unethical to not pay our respects to Goundamani.
Chennai's Woodstock
There is something different about watching a movement grow and sustain itself without political or cinema support. I'm suspicious of anything involving the nadigar sangam and the usual suspects on the basis that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That this group is so far free of cinema-kaarans lends it more credibility. A salute to the crowd for not doing the Northie-style candle light vigils.
When the lion(ess) is away...
...the mice come out and **** themselves. I first became aware of this expression in my first few months of entering the working world. As the protest continues on for a fourth day, I couldn't help but wonder if a protest of this scale would have happened had Jayalalitha been alive. Especially when I saw the occasional poster or two of LTTE Prabhakaran popping up.
Protection of native breeds. The PETA-jersey breed nexus. Benefits of A2 milk. There are many reasons - some less vague than the others - to ensure that the tradition of jallikkattu continues. But beyond the merits of these reasons, there is a more fundamental reason to protest: not allow someone sitting in Delhi to dictate how we should live our lives. People that aren't intimately familiar with the cultural and social mores of Tamilnadu should not meddle in our affairs.
A lady on Rajdeep Sardesai's TV show, appearing in her capacity as an "animal rights activist", declared that "jallikkat" has not been part of Tamil culture and that PETA wasn't calling for a ban on Pongal altogether. This mixture of ignorance and arrogance on the part of the North Indians - till recently quite liberal while using Madarasi - will leave the bristling Tamils feeling violated. It is not the right thing to say but Kashmir may not be the first state to leave the Indian union.
This started when sambhar became samburr, the dosai became dosaw and the vadai vadaw. Then the "ji" has started raising its ugly head as an honorific in Chennai today. But when rank outsiders start making rules on how we live our lives or cherry pick from our traditional practices ones deemed suitable for this day and age, we must say with all love and respect, "Abey, f*** off hain!"
My stand
Jallikkattu must happen. This year. And beyond. With regulations (enforced by authorities concerned) that shall put to rest any genuine concerns relating to the welfare of the bulls. I don't claim to be someone familiar with rural traditions and my stand is solely based upon the bits and pieces of information (of varying trustworthiness) that I have come across over the past few days.
North Indian media
The one favor North Indian media can do is to stop their coverage of this issue immediately. More than anything else to stop exposing their complete ignorance of all things Tamilnadu and the lack of their sensibility. Go cover the UP elections, Dangal box-office collections or Arvind Kejriwal's latest meltdown instead.
The BJP fiasco
There is a scene in the movie Pulp Fiction where Samuel Jackson is cleaning up the car after John Travolta shoots someone in the face. The BJP at the moment looks like Samuel Jackson doing "brain detail" after the Congress and DMK had caused this carnage in the first place. Between the lack of clear intent from Delhi and Subramanian Swamy's choice of words, the BJP has simply failed to seize the situation and control the narrative. They could have use this opportunity to gain a political foothold, however slender, but today stand cast as the villains instead. The AIADMK should perhaps sew C K Saraswathy's lips shut.
The Gounder-man rocks!
The quotient of nakkal-filled humor and biting satire packed into the slogans, memes and props leaves me with little doubt that a similar protest elsewhere in India would have been much less colorful. The mixture reference simply stole the show. It would be unethical to not pay our respects to Goundamani.
Chennai's Woodstock
There is something different about watching a movement grow and sustain itself without political or cinema support. I'm suspicious of anything involving the nadigar sangam and the usual suspects on the basis that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That this group is so far free of cinema-kaarans lends it more credibility. A salute to the crowd for not doing the Northie-style candle light vigils.
When the lion(ess) is away...
...the mice come out and **** themselves. I first became aware of this expression in my first few months of entering the working world. As the protest continues on for a fourth day, I couldn't help but wonder if a protest of this scale would have happened had Jayalalitha been alive. Especially when I saw the occasional poster or two of LTTE Prabhakaran popping up.
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