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Colours of the season

Mangalore comes alive during winter and it's not just Christmas. M. RAGHURAM rattles off a long list of events this month that includes the kambala, bhoota kola, beach festivals, kori katta, Yakshagana and innumerable temple jathres, car festivals and fairs

PHOTO: MURALI KUMAR K.

RAW POWER A hefty buffalo does a 100-meter dash in less than 14 seconds at the kambala

Come December and Mangalore turns into one large folk theatre. The weather turns a few degrees colder in the daytime and dips further in the night, and time becomes perfect to express the various colours of the city.

On one side you have the Christmas fever and on the other side it is kambala (the world-famous buffalo race in the slush), bhoota kola (spirit worship), beach festivals (includes the coastal food festival), kori katta (cockfight), Yakshagana and innumerable temple jathres, car festivals and fairs. Though the best of them are still held in rural areas, Mangalore as yet clings on to its past in isolated pockets and urbanites do participate.

The folk theatre of Dakshina Kannada is now known all around thanks to the Internet and the media. And nothing is more popular than the kambala, which is the favourite folk sport of the city, combining fun, technique and stupendous synergy between man and beast.

The fun comes from the fact that you have a good excuse to get yourself dirty in slush, and technique enables a jockey make a hefty buffalo do a 100 meters dash in less than 14 seconds, which is just four seconds more than an Olympic sprinter. But then the buffalo jockeys are barefoot and have to run on a slushy track while controlling a pair of enormously powerful beasts that are just churning slush.

The supremely athletic kambala has become very popular among even among today's youth who only try to break speed records on their snazzy bikes on crowded city roads. The kambala track is also used for a tug of war and a local version of rugby called thappangayi. A dehusked coconut is marinated in oil and two teams are formed to reach the slippery coconut to the goal posts of the rival team. Kadri Navneeth Shetty, organiser of the famous Kadri Kambala, says: "It is very difficult for human hands to securely hold the coconut let alone carry it to the goal post. The oil mixed with slush makes it a very slippery object and teams struggle for long periods to score one goal."

Manohar Prasad, who is knowledgeable on the kambala, says: "The kambala has an aura of strength and endurance about it. Landlords take pride in rearing the buffaloes and they treat them royally, even hiring people to look after them. For city people, it is a wonder that man and beast coordinate their efforts so well and that alone makes this event worth watching."

One or two highly competitive kambalas with high-tech camera finishes have been organised for getting the results right. Channels such as Discovery and National Geographic have also filmed the event.

The folk season is much awaited by foodies. Go to either a kambala, kori katta or bhoota kola one can be sure to find at some corner a local caterer who will be waiting with goodies such as bajil sajjige, kadle bajil, kori sukka and puttu, sanna kori ghasi, appa puli munchi, kori rotti and, if you are lucky, you might even get to have a satisfying pull of the kali (toddy).

There are 16 kambala sites in Dakshina Kannada and the last one within the city is the Kadri Kambala, which is being organised on December 10.

Other popular kambalas around the city include Jaya-Vijaya, Surya Chandra, Kantabare Boodabare, Lava Kusha, Katpady Arasa Kambala and Kaup Arasa Kambala.

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