Kambala-The Race

Kambala (Tulu: ಕಂಬಳ) is an annual Buffalo Race held traditionally under the auspices of aristocratic Bunt Households (Aramane,Beedu,Guthu/Mane) in coastal Karnataka,India.The Kambala season generally starts in November and lasts until March.


Vandar/Vandaaru is a village around 10 km from Kundapura(the last destination directly connected by bus from Bangalore). This Kambala is special as there is no competition here but this is an exhibition of the best talents. There are pairs coming from all the villages within 15km radius. The Kambala lovers and keen enthusiasts come from around the villages noting important pairs and how they are performing. There are smaller/younger buffalo pairs, who do a half (mazza) run, they get prepared for the future. There is a big village fair to enjoy too.


The Vandar organisers are not part of the Kambala organisation and you need to know specifically when they are organising Kambala for the year.  


Here is a photo story from my visit

Participants came from all nearby villages. Some had to walk others were carried

The owners and caretakers were present to keep their cool before the race begun

  The village pride at stake

With pomp and cheer and whistle entered each team

The teams looked upon their supporters from the village

The experienced eyes had to watch out for possible competition.

The ablest of the farmers were ready with their whips.

The speed and control mattered the most. The crowd was also in for a mud bath.

Its time for the village Hercules.

Accidents did happen.

Amusement for all.

Anxiety for some.

The king was present and so were the jesters in the fair that followed.

The contestants and villagers walk back with a bite of  ice cream and sweets and memories for the family.

A Bengalee homecoming.

He saw that person carrying revolver from the morning, when they boarded the train. A politics veteran from Arambag has seen it all during his political days. His experienced eyes cant be wrong. He tried feeling the metal when he got a chance, with his side arm and his speculations just got confirmed. He informed his nephews, both patients coming back to Bengal, they spotted them exchange hands. Fears got worsened, the group seemed to be bigger as the four in the compartment seemed to a close knit group, who dont fear anybody. The compartment was just a huge group of Bengalees returning home. Some thought they wont harm them, others speculated they were police, some others thought its not their duty. But for sure, people who saw them having a weapon or saw them drinking post dinner did not have a quite comfortable sleep.

There were a couple of complaints to the railway boys to keep RPF involved which did not seem to work. No step was taken and mind you the boys were also Bengalees. Finally somebody tried to act and called a friend in need to get RPF involved. Media was also involved as if they were policemen, it can be a recoil attempt on the person calling. RPF was generous enough, as they were mentioned it wasnt a abnormal scenario in the train and it was no hoax call either.They stopped the train the next station, came with a force. They found the license and okayed the person. The journey was smooth thereafter. But lets concentrate on the behavioral trends of the bagful of Bengalees.

Unless police asked them, none raised their head or stepped out, though most knew about this.

A 10-yr old kid was telling his father, "Papa I told I saw pistol". His papa stops him, starts asking the person who called the police, what happened, is something wrong?

All the police gone, the licensed arm holder who may be a special force guy (read a roudy looking civilian showing off his arms) takes the caller aside, shouts at him, brings his parents resting safe at their homes on-board, threatens he can shoot him for this. Nobody supports saying the only unethical act was going on was rather from the other side.

None put even the lights on, but for the coop where the person concerned was sitting.

At least at the end, the veteran and another confirmed they too saw the person carrying arms, but from the safety of their seats.

A lesson for us bengalees:

1) We are still considered politicians who play mind games, slowing forgeting the ideals of all formers to rise against the wrong.

2) Seeing unprofessionalism to its heights and not protesting againt it, shows how unprofessional we are becoming.

3) We should use volini more often so that our backbone is still kept functioning.

4) If nothing would have happened at the train and next day something happened at the end station, could we be able to console our non-action?

5) No external CHANGE can help us unless we change ourselves and our outlook towards life.

Thanks to the person calling for help and his friends in need, we reached to the safety of our homes and enjoyed the rest of the night's sleep.

A day with the birds!!!

"Have been to the mountains, have been to the seas, just have not seen the beauty of the dew drops over the paddy fields in the backyard." -- This is somewhat what Tagore realized. I felt just the same after being to the Hebbal lake in namma Bengaluru. To track these herons, pelicans have rode miles, trekked long distances, but ahem they were here all here at the lake.

Was getting bored in the long weekend and had to get out somewhere. Photographers say early morning provides the best light for birding. When I got up it was already 9 am and to reach Hebbal it will be 12 (midday). But wait, it rained all night, there was promise for more throughout the day. I thought the light would be just fine and so it was.
These are some of the species that I could capture ...


Common Egret

Indian pond heron!!!

Great Cormorant in flight!!!

Brahmini Eagle!!!

Purple Heron

One should gulp only that one can digest. Otherwise its a lot of trouble and uneasiness. Finally, it was relief for this cormorant.

Mandarmoni

Pre-requirements:
Hotel : Can be booked from makemytrip. Listed hotels are 'Sonar Bangla' and 'Digante'.
Delux rooms available on rent are almost same in fare in the two hotels. 'Sonar Bangla' is sea facing and closer to shore. 'Digante' has its own 'Jhau Bon' (jungle of jhau trees and the sea lies just ahead of this small planned trees.Rent in Digante : Non AC deluxe - 1200 per night
There are also ground floor cheaper rooms (700-800 per night, these are not available online).

Transport:
Best way should be to take your own vehicle or a rented car.
Buses are very frequent and any Digha bound bus will do. We went from Esplanade and had advance tickets booked in a C.S.T.C Digha bound bus.




Experience:
started from Esplanade at 7:45 am. The bus fare was 87 per head. Buses start on time, do not be late.The travel was nice and we could see the beauty of Autumn in Bengal. We had to get down at 'Chaulkhola'. The journey was for around 4 and half hours. From here the straight road will take you to Digha while another road goes towards Mandarmoni. Local public travels in trekker and 'Bhatbhoti' (a goods/passenger carrying vehicle with motor and engine of a 2-wheeler). The other option is to hire an ambassador which we did. you can also ask the hotel to send car(fare is same). The charges are high (i.e. 250 bucks for a paltry 15km). The final 6km there is still no road. The vehicles go over the beach in the final stretch. We reached with the high tide around. But could manage to reach the resort without much stoppage. From 9:30 am to 12:30 pm normally the high tide cuts out all road communication from Mandarmoni to the rest of the world and vice versa.
Food orders should be given in the hotels well in advance. There are no other food hotels around. Very small ones exist but there too you must disclose your intention early. The cook of 'Digante' is a gem in his field. If you are in for bengali cuisine, they provide the best. It is better to use bottled water as local water is a bit salty.
We took the water around 2 pm and found the sea to be tamest of all that I have seen. The beach is flat and is very very safe. But then if it was not, there are very few who might see you drown. Its a very solitary beach. But then if you gave good company you will like it.


We had a stroll in the evening. The sun was scorching. So, you can wait till it is manageable. If you are going towards 'Mohana'(where a river meets the sea), start early as you should come back before it is too dark. The place is quite isolated. We spent time on the beach collecting souveniers (there is barely any stall where you can gather any).

We could have at least a cup of tea coming back. (All shops here give you sugar free tea. Things might change when the sugar prices dip!)
Only a few tea stalls can be found on the beach. There is no electricity here. The resorts run on generators. There is also a high tide in the night. It can be very surprising to find the entire km spread walkable beach missing. Instead there can be water metres away when you come out for a post dinner walk.



Morning should be planned well. The sun rises around 5 am. Unless you are as unlucky as we were, there will be no rains and you can see a gala sunrise. We walked towards the 'Mohana'. It was around 45 minutes walk to the 'Mohana'. Keep an eye on the rare beauties you can see many small sea creatures. You might see star fishes, hermit crabs, red crabs or even small sea snakes. Since this beach is not still a hot spot, you might find rare shells, some can be really worth a place in personal aquariums or as a show piece. We had a bath in the high tide next day and this was a different playful sea.
The tides were nice and enjoyable. We were ready by mid-day but had to wait for the high tide to retreat. This time we took the local trekker. We took our place inside and then watched the locals ride(read stick to it.. for more details please watch the fevicol ad).This was surely a lifetime experience.
We also did not have our return reservation in buses. But this is no problem at all. Every 5 minutes, you can find a Kolkata bound bus coming from Digha. A few seats are always manageable here, but might not be advisable for families. Get your return tickets booked and also avoid the trekker.

The Rivers And Rocks Of Mekedatu

It became more than a month since 3 of us went for a trip together. This time, all of us were determined that we need to go out somewhere for a day trip. So on Friday night 11 pm we decided to go to Mekedatu. This is the place, where the Mighty Kaveri River flows through a narrow ravine. This time we decided to leave early because we wanted to avert the scorching heat and also because we were depending on public transport and had no idea how it will work out after Kanapura. Anyways this time we decided to meet at Majestic bus-stand at 7:30 am. in the morning and we all made it at 8 am! As we don't have the reputation on being punctual on a weekend morning, this even surprised us! Guess we really needed a break.

There is no direct bus from Bangalore to Sangam, from where one has to cross Kaveri and head for Mekedatu which is 4 km. from Sangam. So our first phase of journey was from Bangalore to Kanakpur. It is around 60 km from Bangalore and buses leave pretty frequently from Bangalore. We reached at Kanakpur by 9:30 and decided to have some heavy breakfast and also bought some liquid and fruits for road. The bus we boarded for Sangam was supposed to start at 11:30 am. But at about 11 am. the conductor came up and told something in Kannada with a face that told "You guys are going to be unlucky today". Needless to say that we did not understand a single alphabet and he repeated it again, probably thinking that if he tells the riddle again and again these people will be able to decode. At last, after he tried 3rd time to make us understand, another passenger told us in broken hinglish that the bus is going to go only half of the 36km between Kanapur and Sangam. So we disembarked from the bus and started looking for other options. Luckily we got another team of 4 who were also depending on public transport like us. Together we hired a SUV and started for Sangam at around 12 noon.

After about 20 km we came to know, the hard way, what the conductor was trying to convey. A big tree was resting in peace on the road. There was a diversion though and it turned out to be just enough for the car. We reached at the Sangam after another half an hour.

From Mekedatu

Sangam is actually not a confluence of two rivers, but the confluence of Kaveri and a small stream that the locals call Return kaveri. The best thing about the place is that the water is crystal clear. I have never seen river water so clear. The rivers have good current but is not much deep at this place. At places the river is only 6 inches deep. There was no mud at the bottom of the river. It was flowing on stones and sand. We were really enjoying standing on the water when the next bus to Mekedatu was leaving. It's only 4 km from this place and one can walk to that place. But the bus was straight from ancient ages. So we decided to experience it. The journey can be described by only one query that came in Anirban's mind when we were about half of the total distance. He asked "Have you ever heard of somebody dying due to jerking in a bus?"
But the troublesome journey was completely worth it when we reached Mekedatu. Here Kaveri flows under the rocks that we stand. The surroundings are awesome, much more than the photos we took. Standing on the Age old rocks one easily understands that once Kaveri used to flow above these rocks. The smoothness of the rocks let us understand that once the river used to flow above these. It was a hot afternoon and standing on the rocks was not helping because almost all of the heat was again reflecting back from the rocks. But there were lots of cave like structures where one can find shadows. Walking on these rocks is not an easy task because they are really slippery. We could see Kaveri flowing down under with such a force that it was creating white froth by hitting on smallest of rocks. But it was hard to imagine what that narrow stream has done to these large rocks. Sure it has taken thousands of years but the sheer vastness of the work done and energy produced is enough to make anybody wonder.
Despite of the fact that the rocks were not suitable for even walking (some portions were more slippery than granite flooring) we did some pretty risky hiking and tried to reach closer to the water. After having some water and fruits we decided to go back to Sangam. There was only a lone vendor at Mekedatu with some mineral water and cold drinks bottle. The monkeys were having a feast with our banana remains when the return bus arrived. We went back to Sangam, Spent an hour more there and then started back for Bangalore.

Ohh and the dinner was biriyani and grilled chicken from Mughal darbar. Check out that pic too.