Salim and Kayal #Watty's 2016 # YourStoryIndia #ProjectWomanUp

Let's tame the bull

Kayal's POV

In the morning after the break, when Salim called me, "Excuse me", I gave him a good piece of my mind. But now, I feel bad for him. It is not Salim talking. It is his religious conditioning. He doesn't like to think of girls as his friends because Islam prohibits it. So, he is trying to keep himself pure all the time by lowering his gaze etc. Working with him is going to be difficult. So, in the afternoon when all the classes were over, I didn't give him an opportunity to call me. I went near him and spoke with him, "Salim,is it okay to meet in the common room? I will have my lunch and come back."

He said, "That's fine with me. Thank you."

I rushed to the hostel, had my food and returned to the common room. Sara has to work with Aakash and Jaanu was stuck with Harneet. Megha was with John. From what I know Harneet is really lazy. He doesn't even bother to take notes in the class. All of us took seats in different tables. The tables were round and had only two or sometimes three chairs. Salim was sitting in the far end of the room. There were very few people in that place. Actually, fewer disturbances are good.

"Hai Salim." With that I kept my laptop on the table and hung my bag in the chair.

"Hai." He still doesn't say my name.

When I settled down, he started speaking. "I have an idea for this assignment. People mostly think Muslims as terrorists. We can explain them that Islam is a religion of peace. What if we can talk about the growth of Islam in South India? Many people think that Islam came to India through Mughals but it isn't true. Islam flourished in India even before Mughals. Arab traders inspired the people of the Coromandal Coast to take up Islam."

Can't he think about anything other than Islam? But, I don't want to say no straight on his face and hurt him. "It's a good topic. We can also discuss about literature, Aayiram Masalla, Umaru Pulavar's Seerapuranam, Yakob's Sithat Patal etc. And then we can talk about the contribution of Quaid de Millath Muhammad Ismail Sahib in Tamil Nadu's politics and B.S.Abdur Rehman's philanthrophy."

I could see a grin as well as a confused look on his face. "It is a nice topic but while coming here I was thinking about the ban on Eru Thazhuvuthal/Jallikattu /Bull taming in Tamil Nadu. It is part of our culture. But due to political reasons and for the concerns of some hare minded animal activists a case is being fought in court to ban it. I am against the ban. It is part of our Tamil traditions. So can we explain how it has been part of our tradition and how we are also against cruelty towards animals? How this ban will pave way for Jersey cows to enter our market etc? So to be fair to both of us, I will write our names in two small pieces of paper. You select any one. Let's promise that whatever the topic might be that we will give our hundred per cent."

He now had a smile in his face. He has a cute smile and I think a dimple as well. I tore a page from my note book. I wrote Salim in one part and Kayal in another part and tore them in two halves. I then folded and shuffled them in my hands and threw in the bench. He picked up one piece of paper. With a smile in his face he said, "Your choice".

I had to laugh now. He was amused now and asked me "Why are you laughing?"

"I just remembered a dialogue from a movie. But, I am not sure how you will take it?"

He still had that smile in his face, "Try me."

"If Muslims face a problem, Allah will save them. But, if a Tamilian faces a problem another Tamilian should raise his voice for him."

He laughed out loud. "Yeah. True. Where do we start now?"

"Okay, can we start with the history part? And then we can proceed to the types of bulls used in Jallikattu, different practices in it etc. After that we can put our emphasis on how all these animal lovers have wrong ideas about this practice. We can then elaborate on the safety measures taken by the government for the safety of the bulls, like the players as well as the bull should pass through alcohol test etc. We can also explain how no harm is done to the bull because it is considered sacred."