Nurungukal  contd......

                                As soon as they get a signal from the main stake holders, the first pair of animals would brought to the field accompanied by loud shouts and arpu vilikal. The whole crowd responds to it in higher notes. There would be a rush of spectators to have la clear glimps of the event and in the process weaklings like us rarely get a good position. But in our case special view points would have been arranged by the brother of our brother-in-law. All on a sudden the yoked animals would enter the play field  jumping over the ridges like a bullet and would take a fast lap, in agony.Much later only I came to know that how much torture those poor dump creatures had to suffer in order make  we humans happy. But in a game like this there is no relevance to such sentiments. One after other they were taken round and each pair trying to attain supremacy over the other . Some times they will run into the crowd if the men loose control causing injury to many. Every such accidents were taken lightly as the spectators were equally agile to dodge from  such attacks.

                                As the animals dash through the mud they were controlled by two or three trainers. The Jockey rider will balance on a wooden plank attached to the yoke prompting the animals to gain speed and in the process he often bites their tails and hit them hard. Others will run along with the animals to maintain the line and also to scare them by shouting and beating. As the animals gained speed mud would be syphoned through the holes on the plank. The height it goes indicates the speed and control of the jockey. The winner is decided by a team of experts and the price money depended on the capacity of the organiser. Prominent farmers and locals gave gifts either in cash or clothes  as a gesture of encouragement.  The winners would be positioned in a convenient place to  show them to the public and many interesting stories would be spread about their performance, features etc etc. After a sumptuous late lunch the crowd would disperse reluctantly with a hope to attend a similar event  next year. In the departing lot we could see many trying to balance on their two legs as a result of the country brew they had consumed. Yet others would be trying to make intimate passes towards other sex providing native love scenes. To us the day was full of fun and frolic.  Such events took place in our society with out any sort of prompting , but as part of our culture.  Bygones are always bygones.