The Kila Raipur Sports Festival

Ok – “career” might be a bitttt of a stretch. “Strongman” could also be pushing it but hey, I’m telling the stories here!  While I was sad to be bailing from Sri Lanka for India quicker than I would’ve liked, the timing was based on making it to the Kila Raipur Sports Festival in time, also known as India’s “Rural Olympics”.

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Very few foreigners make the trip to Ludhiana in the Indian state of Punjab for this exotic competition.  In fact, I saw only 5 other “Westerners” over the course of the 3 day festival – 3 retired Australian women living in Delhi, an American backpacker, and my now good friend Susana (from Spain).  With events like tractor racing, bale loading and unloading, pulling cars and motorbikes with your ears or beard and geriatric sprints, not to mention sideshows like having a car drive over a man while he lays on a bed of nails, motorbike acrobatics and a deaf/mute karate troupe, this festival really captured my imagination.  Oh, don’t forget the dancing camels, painted elephants, traditional dancers and, uh, ‘odd’ locals that all enhanced the atmosphere (remember the guy in the nappy dancing around the field Susana? Here he is again, for everyone).

Soon after bumping into Susana and latching on to her so that I had someone to speak English with, I noticed a crowd gathering on the field.  Not far from the painted elephants, dog races and 80+ year olds doing their warm-ups, a tyre-company sponsor for the event was holding a strength competition – using their products as the weight.  Of course, I like to play games, so I asked If I could compete.  Well! The crowd was pretty amped up at the thought of whitey taking part in their games and before I knew it I was in the middle of the competitors with cameras in my face and flashbulbs going off.  It was a pretty simple competition – hold the two tyres (one inside the other) over your head for as long as possible; last one standing wins.

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As the others dropped out one-by-one, I started to think that I had a chance to win the thing! I turned to face my final rival and, in a silly show of bravado, tried to pump the tyre even higher over my head.  Unfortunately, with sweaty, slippery hands at this stage, the tyre slipped, and I had to be content with second place (probably a lesson to be learned there somewhere…).  I maintain that I could’ve/should’ve won the thing but I was treated like the winner anyway! News cameras rushed over and more pictures were taken.  I never watched the local telecast but I’m sure my goofy grin was on a few TV’s that night.

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Another highlight of the festival was the rough, indigenous rural sport of Kabaddi. I’d been itching to see a match since reading about it and fortunately for me there were two forms of the sport on display at this festival.  The basic gist of the game to a foreigner is a brutal game of tag, within a designated area.  Again, Indian friends correct me where I mess up but, depending on the format, a number of players are either side of a line in the middle.  The teams take turns, with one runner breaking from his team to cross the line.  He then has one breath (continuously saying “kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi” to prove this) to touch as many of the opposing players and make it back across the line.  Simple enough, except the other team can use ANY means necessary to pin the runner to the ground or throw him out of the field.  These guys are built like rugby players and hit like them too.  I loved the excitement and physicality of it – it took 6 weeks but I finally got to join in on a game on the beach in Hampi with some locals; so much fun!

Here are some more pics of the events on display over that weekend.  Between any of the 100’s of cups of free chai tea that I made the most of, I was very well entertained and looked after.  The locals were extremely welcoming and this was a great introduction to India for me.  I highly recommend making the trip out to Ludhiana to experience true, rural Indian sporting culture.

Feel free to contact me for any tips on getting there and where to stay!

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