kambala at katpadi

honnamma presiding
a buffalo race!

By kulamarva Balakrishna

Honnamma,my late sister told me not very
long ago, she had visited our old grandfather´s
house, at Karyadu where I was born and
marked the room. It was an occasional visit
she used to refresh her memories of childhood.
It meant her so much,our childhood.Her siblings
were her Barby toys.If Barby plays were passive
and one sided, we siblings responded that made
us different and loving.It meant a lot for her,
enough to decide giving up going to school to be
able to help mother.
Looking back almost seventy five years,she said
=if only I had continued in school, I would have
been like you, a free bird=.
I was touched to note there was no difference
between male or female dreams.Pains and pleasures
are similar as desires for accumulating experiences
remain irresistible for the sensitive.
That was the secret for her ignoring bodily strains
to go with me on diffilcut tracks and streams
bridged by mere bamboo sticks involving descents
and climbs of minor hills to reach an old aunt or an
uncle,who had rocked us as kids.
When I said to her at Katpadi not far away from
Padubidri on Highway 17 en route Udupi there was
a =kambala= buffalo race with some 60 pairs
participating,she felt like witnessing it.
She had seen as a child with us at our own field,
half a dozen pairs running in sticky mud for a
bunch of coconuts or bananas and a few coins
by flashing mud higher and higer!
But Katpadi annual race of buffaloes is only
surpassed by the one held at Kadri, at the
center of Mangalore city.
In both the places the atmosphere is that of
festivals.Large crowds of men and women,
special tents of shops selling sweets and spicy
crumbs of food.Participating athletic men with
masted buffaloes =pre-teens and teens= with
full of spirit.The excitement seniors tend to avoid.
But Honnamma was a game full of sportive
spirit.=Let us go there=,she said.I asked Elias
to drive us there.
A crowd of several thousands.Excited young
buffalo pairs lined up by half dozen young men
behind each pair with turban ends flaying like
individual flags!
The spirit of enthusiasm, and of course a display
of animal and human health in prime of youth.
We were total strangers to the village crowd.
But welcomed with reverence.We got the best
of seats as we both were rare seniors in the
midst of so many young.I felt more than
flattered at the reception given us by the
kambala organizers.
We spent there no more than forty five minutes.
We felt young once again, we were proud our
distinct culture of the district was lving and vibrant.
We had a restful night.But next day calls after calls
of telephone ringing from relations and friends
to say =we saw you presiding over Kambla at
Katpadi!= (end)