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Srinivasa Gowda-famed Kambala buffalo racers lead walk for religious harmony in Karnataka
Udupi in Karnataka saw people from all faith join a walk for harmony. The procession was led by the Kambala buffalo racers.
Walk for Harmony in Udupi (Source: G Vishnu/Twitter)
The streets of Udupi town in Karnataka saw a carnival-like atmosphere on Saturday, where thousands of people held a walk for harmony to rekindle the idea of 'unity in diversity'. The aim of the walk was to share a message of inter-faith harmony among the people of Udupi — the place that has lately been in the news for communal tensions.
The march that led was taken out from the Hutatma Chowk in Ajjarkad to the Christian School in Mission Compound and saw people from all faiths taking part in it. The march was led by the Kambala buffalo racers from Tulu Nadu. Kambala is an annual buffalo race held in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. It's a buffalo race where the farmer runs with the buffalo pulling on a harness or cord and whiplashes them to generate speed. The track is a slushy paddy field and farmers race each other to compete for the top prize. The Kambala race became a topic of discussion when one of the racers, Srinivasa Gowda made headlines for being India's Usain Bolt after he ran a distance of 142.5m in 13.62 seconds.
The march for harmony concluded with a harmony convention at the Christian School campus in Udupi. The chief guests of the convention were social activist Yogendra Yadav and former IAS officer Sasikanth Senthil. The event also included a music programme by Kannada singer and activist MD Pallavi.
Udupi was in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. A controversy sparked over wearing hijabs in classrooms. It led to the Karnataka High Court disallowing the wearing of hijab in classrooms. Further, in the same town, Muslim traders were getting evicted from temple fairs like that of Kapu Mariamma temple and Mulki Bappanadu temple.
