A celebration of rural life at Gramotsavam

The grand finale of the 14th edition of Isha Yoga Center’s Gramotsavam was nothing short of a thiruvizha. Over 40,000 players from different parts of rural India took part in the sports meet that was held at Texvalley near Perundurai on Sunday. There were rural games, art, music, dance and exotic gastronomic delights that lured visitors giving them a peek into the lives of rural India.For the participants, it was the perfect opportunity to display their sporting skills.
Take for instance the case of throw ball player S Kiruthika from Pullangoundenpudur, who has stepped out of her house for the first time to play a game after she tied the knot. “I have a one- year-old baby and it was difficult to step out of the house. When I broached the idea with my husband, he was more than encouraging. I took part in all the practice matches, clusters and zonals. We played as a team throughout the series and won the first prize in the finale. For us, it was like going on a tour to different places and winning games. My husband was there cheering for me,” she says. The participants were selected from 126 clusters, 26 divisions and 8 zones.
For those interested in rural games, there was valukku maram, uriyadithal, kayiru iluthal etc. “There were special track events for children which included frog race, lemon and spoon, gun shoot, archery, spinning top and observation games. The cultural diversity of the rural dancers was also on full display with salangai attam, kummi attam, devarattam, poikal kuthirai, pambai adikkarthu, karuppasamy nadanam, kavadi and oyilattam to name a few. Culinary delights from Tamil Nadu villages also did the rounds – be it jigarthanda, thattu vada, ragi kali, arisi paruppu saadam, navadanya sappad, karuppatthi paniyaram and sukku kaapi to name a few,” says one of the organisers of the event.
Speaking on the occasion, weightlifting champion Karnam Malleshwari said, “We have great talents in our nation but we lack good infrastructure and coaches. We need to do this to wins medals in international sports.” Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev said, “Earlier, people in rural areas had folk songs for every activity right from sowing to harvesting. We need to bring the celebrations back. It’s great to see women of all age groups playing in an enthusiastic manner.”