KAMBALA Race – Reflections on the Cultural Ecosystem of India

The man-buffalo race, popularly called Kambala Sport is an annual event in the Western Ghats Region of Southern India. My decade-long association with the event aims at presenting the race that has become an integral part of the cultural ecosystem of the inherited Indian pastoral festivities. The event year after year unfolds in a mood of frivolous earnestness where people of all ages and creeds submerge their social differences as is manifest in their enthusiastic participation. The current portfolio approaches the sport in a holistic manner detailing on – respect and love for life and nature, setting the background, spirited emotions, passionate expressions, leg movements, spotless agrarian touch, intense festive moods, indulgent participation of man and animal. It serves the main purpose of presenting the intricacies of the event, from preparation to post-event exhilaration. Underlying it is the unwritten objective of documenting a memoir of the lens for the connoisseurs.