Last weekend was one of those rare ones when I was working but not complaining. I was attending a sporting event near Ludhiana at a place called Kila Raipur (www.ruralolympics.com).
I knew it was going to be fun as I like visiting rural areas, meeting people and idea of rural sports is exciting anyway. But what I experienced was entirely magical. If you think IPL is a show with a blend of tamasha and sports, I would encourage you to visit Kila Raipur next year. I bet that IPL people can pick a couple of leafs from the 75 year old Kila Raipur games to know how to entertain people amidst serious sports.
Let me first talk about Be-lack-Berry. Not the phone but one of the contenders of the dog race! This dog was flown in from Caneda. There were other dogs also flown in from different countries as this belt has a lot of NRIs who not only contribute financially to the event, but also participate in it along with their rural cousins. Kila Raipur acknowledges no state and country boundaries. Anyone from anywhere can participate. I don’t know if our client BlackBerry would have been happy to be sharing its brand name to that of a dog, but I was amused each time they mentioned him (in that typical Punjabi tone). And Be-lack-Berry did well too. It lost to Boomer in the finals(yet another brand, but not my client!).
The bullock cart races were quite entertaining. Everything on the ground had to stop to accommodate the bullock cart race. Four carts went in each round and there were a couple of dozen entries. The bulls were quite bullish about their way even when they were trotting on the ground trying to bully mere mortals like us. The distance to be covered was close to 250 meters. The officials at the starting and finish line had to wave a red flag or a white flag depending on their side of readiness to start the race. Sometimes the bulls refused to be tied to the cart but most of the times it was the crowd that did not clear the ground – not enough to start the race. This amidst the commentator continuing to cajole, persuade, scream and make announcements requesting people to clear way but most were lost in their own thoughts discussing the next game, or ogling at animals or rare human species capable of performing distinguishable feats – all present here on the ground. But once the race started, the entire crowd would roar – very much like the horse race. The only difference being that there were no favorites – one would hardly know who is contesting unless he was his friend or neighbour. But the crowd would be excited as hell. Each round would last about 30 seconds during which more than 25000 people were on their feet cheering!
Another intriguing sport was the circular kabaddi (played in Punjab and Haryana). Though I was not impressed by its form initially, toward the end, I had to appreciate the strength and vigor of the players – almost all of whom had bruises, sprains, cuts etc after going through grueling rounds before reaching the finals. Locals were watching this one closely cheering their favorites.
During the third day, suddenly some people in tractors decided that they wanted to race. And as easily as that, they got their permissions. But the trick was that they had to start right after the bullock cart race while the ground was still clear. And they did just that. Just while the cheering was dying down from the bullock cart race, the tractors thunderous ignition drew immediate attention. And wow, I didn’t realize the tractors could move so fast!
While regular sports were going on in the center of the ground, some people were displaying their acts at the seams. Someone could lift a 100Kg sack on his back and then had his son sit on it. The khalsas rode two horses by keeping a leg each on each of them. Motorcyclists from army did a show, an eight year old rode a bullet while his father sat one sided reading newspaper! Camels and horses danced to the tunes of drums. A tricycle race for handicapped was organised with just two participants. Everything that was out of ordinary was okay to be showcased here.
If someone walked in, he would see chaos. There was no restriction on entering the ground. Anyone with any kind of camera was permitted. Those without sat on the stadiums. People moved into the kabaddi rings, photographers into the racing tracks and not every sport was conducted with absolute precision. But once you linger around, you would notice that there was some method to the madness. In spite of all the chaos, things started and ended on time. Just as Olympics, there were two, sometimes three sports going on simultaneously on the ground. The primary commentator controlled the timetable with the help of other commentators on ground.
In a way, I was impressed as close to 1000 sportsperson participated in a couple of dozen sports and it all went in smoothly. In spite of combat sports and rural placing, the participants played in true spirit.
The five elements that talk about the spirit of Olympics are Friendship, Fairplay, Peace, Glory and Honour. Kila Raipur represents all of these. It is one event I would urge every travel freak to attend, at least once. And moreover, once the games are over, enjoy the warmth of people, the colours they adorn, the weather perfect (first week of February) and the food... Sometimes work can be fun.
