The swing of a talon and a flurry of feathers leaves a rooster motionless, a cockfight bout viewed as cruel by many but which binds disparate Indian forest communities together.
India is renowned for its fanatical cricket obsession but in the central state of Chhattisgarh, cockfighting draws the crowds.
“Earlier there was no other entertainment and it helped us meet people from other villages,” said Raju, whose skill in raising fighting fowl has made him something of a local celebrity.
Photo: AFP
“Even with all the changes around us today, the sport is still very popular,” the 32-year-old added.
The forests of Bastar district are home to numerous tribal communities living in scattered villages.
India has pumped millions of dollars into infrastructure development, and new roads and mobile phone towers have brought the forest’s inhabitants somewhat closer to the outside world.
Rugged terrain and the tyranny of distance in remote Bastar district still lend few occasions for these villages to interact with each other.
But when a cockfight is on the calendar, hundreds of men will walk far across rivers, through dense bushland and over hills to get a ringside view.
“I do nothing but organize fights, raise roosters and place bets,” said Bhagat, 35, of Katekalyan village.
FAME AND RESPECT
Last month was Katekalyan’s turn to host a bout, with men from out of town ringing the fence of the dirt enclosure where roosters spar.
Most cockfights are over in the blink of an eye, with the pre-game pageantry accounting for most of the action. Bhagat and a rival rooster owner first hold their bird’s beak to beak to gauge whether they have the necessary hostility to battle.
Both men then use twine to fix sharp blades to the claws of their charges as the crowd shouts out their small wagers on the outcome.
Along with much of the rest of the world, cockfighting is banned in numerous Indian states on animal cruelty grounds.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India call cockfighting “barbaric,” and campaigns to shut it down for good.
But the men living in Bastar’s forests see it as an integral part of their community fabric.
Roosters that survive multiple bouts are lauded alongside their owners.
Raju said the most enduring fighters were locally remembered with the same reverence that the rest of India holds for cricketing greats like former captain Sachin Tendulkar.
“Like you have a field for cricket, this is our field,” he said. “And the winners get fame and respect, just like Sachin did by scoring all his runs.”
Bhagat said it always grieved him when one of his animals died in combat.
“When we lose a rooster in the fight, our hearts are in pain for a few days,” he said. “But then we get drunk, and then there will be peace.”
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
RSS