Bull Racing in Kerala - Photo 4 - How to Jump the barricades

            In this photo, it is obvious that the raw bull power has over come the fine art of guidance and control by the bull racers. The hapless team of 3 has given up the race and and are trying desperately to control the run away bulls as they seem to be jumping over the embankment in one fine move.

The racer in the red cloth is the one who should have controlled the bull on his side to turn him around to do a 360 degree turnaround.

The dark spot of splashing water in the middle is the jockey who rides a thin plank of wood and he is the only one still going strong but now he seems to have gathered the futility of his jockeyship and seems about to abandon the the platform in the face of imminent danger of running on to the embankment.


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Adoor in Kerala holds its famous Bull Races every year around the time of Onam. It is a celebration of agrarian existence and is carried on without any grants or aid from the Government. This is a spectacular fiesta of rural Kerala. There are 2-3 other such events that are held in Kerala.

Two racing bulls are hitched together and three men come into action. Two racers with lead ropes on either side of the bulls who try to control the direction and speed if possible and one often obscured by sprays of mud and water, a jockey who rides on a small flat strip of wood.

The bulls race ahead with the men keeping desperately abreast of the thundering hooves. At the end of the racing track there is a 4-6 feet embankment of earth which acts as a protection and a marker for the bulls. The embankment gets totally crowded with onlookers. The bull racers need to turn the bull around and do a 360 degree here but most times that effort fails as the bulls in their racing frenzy would be uncontrollable.

I have no idea on the current status of the bull races. There are enough organisations howling to stop such races but the Supreme Court of India in a judgement a few months ago allowed bull/bullock cart races to go on in Punjab. So chances are that the tradition may still live on.

Dates
Taken on August 15, 2007 at 1.16pm IST (edit)
Posted to Flickr September 22, 2012 at 9.32PM IST (edit)
Exif data
Camera Nikon D70
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
DSC_0381 via ACr redone
   

Taken in: India / Kerala / Adoor (show map)

Taken on: August 15, 2007

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Camera: Nikon D70, f/4.0, 1/1000 sec, 70mm (=105mm), ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D70
Lens:	70.0-300.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length:	70mm (35mm equivalent: 105mm)
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
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