Karnataka - Hubli-Dharwad   

An abiding passion for pigeons

Girish S. Pattanashetti

PROUD MOMENT: Ashok Gudihal, whose pigeon won the Pigeon-flying Contest-2006, receiving the prize. Maruti Bhille is at right.

HUBLI: As a child his favourite pastime was rearing pigeons, and now at 73 he has around 40 pigeons and spends his time taking care of them.

For Maruti Gangaram Bhille what began as a pastime has now become a passion, leading to the founding of an association of like-minded people who want to promote pigeon-flying as a sport.

The Bhille family is well known in Hubli. It has been in the sweetmeat business for over six decades.

Mr. Bhille grew up watching people bet on pigeons flying non-stop for hours and wondered why it could not be a sport. After he failed in the matriculation examination, he started helping out his father in the family business of selling sweetmeats and snacks. Financial constraints didn't deter Mr. Bhille from rearing pigeons. His family also didn't force him to give it up.

Soon, the pastime became a passion, and at one point Mr. Bhille had around 150 pigeons. He even appointed three persons to look after them. He enjoyed watching pigeons flying non-stop and desired to conduct a pigeon-flying tournament one day. However, his business didn't allow him to spend much time on organising the event on his own.

Then, the idea of starting an association struck him, and thus was born "Pigeon Passion" in 1990.

After his sons started looking after the business, Mr. Bhille was able to devote more time to pursue his passion and so started the pigeon-flying competition, which is now in its seventeenth year.

Each year, on an average, 70 enthusiasts participate in the competition, which carries a cash prize. Over the years, several persons have helped Mr. Bhille to conduct the competition."Pigeon Passion" brings out a booklet every year containing details of the competition, which is usually held between June and August, with the prize distribution taking place in September.

What makes the competition time consuming is that the judges have to visit the place of the person who wishes to take part in the competition.

A lot of planning and work is involved, such as getting entries from various towns, fixing of the dates of competition in a town/village, appointment of judges and so on. In fact, the process begins one month before the competition.

Because of the time factor and other constrains, Mr. Bhille initially restricted the competition to his home district of Dharwad. Now, the competition is conducted in Dharwad, Belgaum, Gadag, Haveri, Davangere and Shimoga districts.

In this year's competition around 70 pigeon enthusiasts participated, and the pigeon reared by Ashok Gudihal of Gangadhar Nagar, Hubli, won the competition by flying non-stop for ten hours and twenty minutes. The pigeon reared by Shivappa Hugar of Kusugal village near Hubli, which flew for ten hours and sixteen minutes won the second prize.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

An abiding passion for pigeons
Amenities in slums will be improved, says Shettar
49 per cent of funds set aside for gram panchayats
Mobile Yellow Pages released

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu