For four days now thousands of people have been at the Marina Beach, protesting the ban on “Jallikattu”…. whats so great about the protest ? People keep protesting everywhere for different things ! True, BUT, this is the first protest where huge crowds have gathered and there is no violence, no women have been groped, no trash has been strewn and no politician has been allowed to join. It is truly a peaceful protest. Rest of India needs to learn from this !!
Evidence is now surfacing that the alleged rapes during the Jat agitation did take place … sick agitation and even more sickening behaviour ! The bulls in Jallikattu behave better than the men did during the Jat agitation. And some young men of the “cosmopolitan” city of Bengaluru behaving like animals on New Year’s eve makes for a deep contrast with this protest. Rest of India indeed needs to learn from this.
Suddenly the hair oil wearing, non-Hindi speaking, veshti-wearing Madrasi is hep and happening … every non-Tamilnadu news channel is unable to believe its cameras. These guys just dont throw stones, they let traffic pass, they clean up the mess, they feed everybody, and they dont grope when they see girls wearing “trendy” clothes but they are still insistent on changing the Supreme Court’s ruling. Interestingly, some learned men tried arguing that we must accept the Supreme Court’s ruling as the final word and let go of “Jallikattu”, but they don’t seem to extend our Prime Minister the same courtesy – the very same Supreme Court has exonerated him from all charges in the 2002 Gujarat riots, but his detractors continue to hang onto those riots. Suddenly the honourable Supreme court goes from “knowing all” to “not knowing enough”, eh??
I don’t know enough about Jallikattu to take either side – but I agree with the argument that “IF” the bull is not tortured or hurt or made to drink alcohol during Jallikattu and its played as the sport it originally was meant to be, then the ban must be lifted. Why not put stringent conditions and ensure that anyone flouting the rules is imprisoned ? Tamilians are law abiding and the exceptions are few (I am thinking of Srinivasan of India Cements and the Mannargudi Mafia).. so Jallikattu can once again be just a sport.
“PETA” go back ! seems to be the 2017 equivalent of “Simon, go back” in 1929. Again, I am reading about “PETA” but I do wish Western institutions fighting for animal rights read up about the Indian culture and the Hindu culture in particular. Many mock the thousands of Gods that Hindus pray to, but many of those Gods are animals – the bull as “Nandi”, the dog as “Bhairava”, the monkey as “Hanuman” (who is eternal), the horse as “hayagriva”, the elephant as the beloved “Ganesha” and the dreaded Cobra as the “Anant Nag” on which Vishnu rests or the snake that adorns Siva’s topknot !! The cow is revered as a mother because it gives milk… anyway, the barbaric treatment of animals in India is of recent origin, whether we learnt it from the rest of the world or the colonists brought it with them, the fact remains that this new behaviour has to be unlearned and quickly. Coming to PETA, they seem to have failed in stopping the massacre of dogs in China or the uncontrolled killing of whales or the culling of cows in Nepal or the bullfighting in Spain – and now they seem to be playing a significant role in banning Jallikattu.
Don’t get me wrong – Am all for treating animals better than human beings, I don’t eat meat and I never will because I can’t eat something that was alive and communicating till a few hours back – as a more intelligent animal, I can find nourishment in other sources, not only by killing fellow animals. So, I will fight for animal rights and if during Jallikattu any bull is harmed in any way, let the human animal responsible for that be punished and severely.
While I read up about PETA, here’s my support to lifting the ban on Jallikattu, the sport that is not cruel to the bulls !! Save our Indian breeds, say no the “Jersey” cow import.
அப்புடி போடு போடு போடு !!!