Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 07 May 2018 | Page 14

IN & AROUND
THE SUBCONTINENTAL MENU
A GORY TALE
B
LOOD sports take their
toll. Thirty people and
12 bulls have been killed and
3,000 people injured since
Jallikkattu was resumed in
Tamil Nadu in January 2017,
when the state government
used legislation to get around
a Supreme Court-imposed
ban. At least one young man
was killed by a rampaging bull and more than 40 were
injured in events held in Perambalur and Ariyalur
districts earlier this month.
PETA says the events are still
taking place months later
although supporters claim
Jallikkattu is traditionally
held in conjunction with the
Pongal festival. It’s likely that
this will continue through
May, pushing fatalities up
even higher. Animal rights
activists are increasingly wary
of protesting openly, as they fear being attacked by Jal-
likkattu supporters—many have left the state as a result.
LAKHS FOR LUNGS
PACHYDERM POLYGLOTS
R
S 1.10 crore is the price of breath-
ing at the Siachen Glacier, where
panting Indian soldiers patrol the
highest battleground on the pla­net.
This amount is what is needed to
construct an oxygen generation plant
that would make the soldiers’ lives
easier—and a Pune couple, parents of
a serving officer, have taken the initi-
ative by setting up a charitable trust
and selling their jewellery to make
a Rs 1,25,000 donation. At present,
oxygen cylinders must be delivered
by helicopter from Chandigarh, and
there is paucity of choppers. Oxygen
generated at a plant close by would
reduce transport cost and time.
Schoolteacher Sumeedha Chithade
was quoted as saying, “I haven’t sold
every ornament, but made a start. I
will contribute more if required.” Her
husband Yogesh said, “Other families
should contribute too, at least Re 1.”
T
THIRSTING GODS
T
HE presiding deities of
Puri’s Jagannath temple—
lords Jagannath, Balabhadra
and Devi Subhadra—have been
missing their meals as the
temple administration is locked
in a faceoff with the cooks. A
servitor who was to serve the
‘mahaprasad’ became ‘unfit for
duty’ following the death of a
relative, causing the temple
administration to scramble in
vain for a replacement. The
gods had been dressed up in
anticipation, but missed their
breakfast and lunch as the
food prepared for the maha­pra­
sad was disposed of—and this
caused the ‘supakaras’ (temple
cooks) to protest and demand
compensation of Rs 30 lakh for
the wasted food. A meeting
with the administration got
nowhere, as the latter main­
tained that it wasn’t responsi­
ble for mahaprasad cooked
for commercial purposes.
Hopefully someone will
resolve the dispute soon.
HE immersion method of lan-
guage learning wasn’t meant for
elephants. When three jumbos—a
tusker, a female and the latter’s
calf—were brought to Jharkhand’s
Palamu Tiger Reserve from Karna-
taka in March, they were used to the
commands of their Kannada-speak-
ing mahouts. The sudden imposition
of Hindi has caused confusion, as
the local mahouts were unable to
communicate with their new charges.
The reserve’s director, M.P. Singh,
said the different phonetic pattern
was “impeding their understanding.”
This wasn’t entirely unan­ticipated, so
a couple of mahouts did accompany
the elephants from Karnataka. The
plan is for these mahouts to teach
their local counterparts the Kannada
commands, so that they
can use those at first
before getting the ele-
phants used to Hindi.
Illustrations by SAJITH KUMAR
14 OUTLOOK 7 May 2018