India's own bullfight

It&rsquos stupid how I actually planned to leave half way through this. The first thing I&rsquom told at Alanganallur is that once I&rsquom there for the bullfight, there&rsquos no leaving. As I look in horror at a guy sharpening his bull&rsquos horn with obvious delight, I&rsquom reassured by my man Friday (every tourist within 10 inches of a rampant bull must have one) that all the exit restrictions are placed so that a clueless stroller doesn&rsquot get in the way of a bull running wild in the village. &ldquoThere are no rules in this game, you see,&rdquo he says, &ldquoThe bull can be anywhere, and it can think anyone is the bull-tamer.&rdquo

So this is what India&rsquos own bullfight is about a thousand mad bulls, more than 10,000 people packed in the backyard of a small village temple, and no rules. One by one, bulls are let loose into an arena full of unarmed bullfighters. It used to be a one-man-to-one-bull game, and even today only one man can tame each animal. Not kill, just hang on to the hump for 50m in the crowd as the bull bucks and twists to throw him off. But in people&rsquos drunken blind bravery, the bulls don&rsquot have it easy. Their tails are bitten, eyes poked, their stomachs prodded with sticks. But after watching for a while, I realise that the bulls are the ones that are less physically hurt than the hundreds that lie in the hospital for weeks after this day. They &mdash the bulls and the tamers &mdash are reared and trained for just that. Safe No. Increasingly attracting tourists Yes.

This bull taming, jallikattu, is a centuries-old tradition in Alanganallur, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu. A toothless old man with a thigh full of proud scars tells me it all started when small pox affected the village ages ago. People prayed for a cure, and offered this game as &ldquoblood sacrifice&rdquo. So if even a year goes by without a drop of blood smearing the village earth, he says the local goddess will make sure an epidemic hits the village. &ldquoOf course, these days, there&rsquos no small pox,&rdquo he adds, &ldquoso maybe cholera will come.&rdquo So abidingly every year, on January 16, jallikattu brings out the wild.