Bengaluru Kambala: a raging success tempered by teething troubles )

Even the rains couldn’t dim the spirit of Bengaluru’s first ever two-day kambala, or slush track buffalo race from coastal Karnataka, which saw the attendance of lakhs of Tuluvas residing in the city, at the Palace Grounds

Even the rains couldn’t dim the spirit of Bengaluru’s first ever two-day kambala, or slush track buffalo race from coastal Karnataka, which saw the attendance of lakhs of Tuluvas residing in the city, at the Palace Grounds on Saturday. 

The traditional sport with a 700-year legacy, organised by the Kambala Committee of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod (Kerala) districts and the Bengaluru Kambala Committee (BKC), saw the presence of leaders from across the political spectrum.  

While former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, along with BJP leaders D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Shobha Karandlaje, attended the inauguration in the morning, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Speaker U.T. Khader addressed the gathering in the evening.   

The jodu kare (double slush track) was thrown open for the event by Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar, wife of the late Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar.  

Praising the efforts of the BKC to introduce kambala to Bengaluru, Mr. Siddarmaiah called it the sport of the common people. “I had never expected to see so many people turn up for the event. I will work towards preserving this traditional sport, which is not cruel to animals like Jallikattu,” he said. 

He also promised to try for official State language status for Tulu, eliciting cheers from the audience. 

Puttur MLA and BKC president Ashok Kumar Rai said: “We had close to 228 registrations, but we filtered them down to 178. Close to 20-25 lakh people from Karavali live in Bengaluru. We wanted to introduce this folk sport to the entire State and the nation”.