Final post

On my final weekend in Ujire I was invited by an auto rickshaw driver to attend a Yakshagana being played in his community. Yakshagana is a dance show performed by a travelling theatre troop, and this particular show had been organised as a celebration and thanks to God by the owners of a newly built house. 

We arrived after dark to find a brightly lit stage and about 100 occupied plastic chairs in front of the stage. Apparently this play was a “social drama” and each scene was different – a comedy between a drunk and his wife, a soliloquy from a king, a haunted dream, sword fighting... 

About 100 people from the local community had turned out to watch the show on the brightly lit outdoor stage. 

The costumes were amazingly detailed, and the brilliant white, black and red make-up on the performers faces accentuated their expressions. Sitting on a raised platform behind the actors, the four strong band of two drummers, a singer and chimes played along. 

The play lasts for over 6 hours, and continues to 4am.

Despite not understanding the dialogue, I found myself really enjoying the spectacle of the show, which had a bit of a pantomime feel to it due to the bright costumes, cross dressing (all the actors were male) and jokes thrown out to the audience. 

During my last few days in Ujire I started to notice again some of the things which had become “normal” over the last few months – from our lunchtime banana leaf plate at "the hotel with no name" to the street vendors who materialize each evening to sell Chaats at the roadside. I never quite adjusted to the non-stop honking of horns on the roads, or being constantly stared at, however after three months as the only Westerner in Ujire, I felt like I was slowly settling in. 

Riding "Hercules" through Ujire always attracted attention.

The Selco Rural Lab team!

The development and dissemination of small scale agri machinery is a slow process. I have seen how it will take time for farmers develop to the confidence to invest in new machinery, and the challenges in making this machinery easily accessible to the farmers who are willing to invest. However, in the last three months, I feel that we have made some progress. We have started to collect some orders for the threshing machine we tested back in October, and the transplanter has now been successfully rented out (and paid for!) by a local farmer. Hopefully these small steps will pave the way for further dissemination.

Uptake is a slow process, but farmers are starting to show serious interest in the threshing machine including ordering a machine for community rentals.

There are still challenges in use of the transplanter, particularly due to the variability of soil conditions and the used of large sticks as fertiliser which block the mechanism.

So, that's about it. Thank you for reading if you have reached this far! I'm not sure where all I have learnt about India, rice farming and chapati making will lead me, but the last few months have been eye opening and totally unforgettable. Finally, I’m very grateful to the amazing team at Selco who welcomed me to India and helped to make my time there such an incredible experience. 

Kambala

Kambala is a traditional buffalo race which is held in rural areas of Karnataka during the winter. Teams from different villages gather and race pairs of bulls down a 180m long track filled with several inches of muddy water. The racing lasts from early morning until well into the night, as the villagers compete in knock out rounds for a prize of gold. After spotting a poster for Kambala a few weeks ago, I had been looking out for an opportunity to go along.

 

The floodlit track and the Ghats in the background

Our local Kambala took place on the first Sunday of December, in an open field at the foot of the Charmadi Ghat mountain range. Many tents were set up in the field, and at the far end there was a strip of floodlights and large crowd. Every few minutes a shower of mud was sprayed high above the crowd as the bulls and driver tore down the track, a bit like drag racing with buffalo.

  

Pairs of buffalo and a driver will race down 180m long parallel tracks in several inches of muddy water

The marshalling area was chaotic, and false starts were common. Four or five members of each team would hold back the powerful, oiled buffalo at the start line until the starter dropped his outstretched arm. 

There are two types of Kambala. The first is a simple race between teams down the length of the track. The second event is mud spraying! The buffalo driver will stand on a small board which is pulled along by a pair of bulls, spraying mud high into the air as he surfs along the track.

Each team was dressed in brightly coloured matching polo shirts and head bands. I was told that over 100 teams were taking part at this event.

The white banners above the track are used to judge mud spraying event

I think I spotted a bookie taking bets on the races.

Two teams charging down the track. Runs lasted less than 20 seconds and were accompanied by the sound of the buffalo feet splashing in the water and the yells of the driver.

We stayed to watch the races for about an hour. During this time, it was apparently announced over the loudspeaker that "we have a visitor" and "could someone please tell him what is going on", after which a local called Ravi approached me and asked if I had any questions! I learnt that over 100 teams were taking part, and that the grand prize was 6g of gold. As we left, the racing was still going strong and was expected to continue into the early hours of the morning.