Falling in love forever

Chapter 22

Isai's POV (January 2017)

There is something hugely comforting in leaning against my husband's arms. They are strong, assure me of love and give me a contented feeling. Tonight we are on our way to Coimbatore to celebrate Pongal festival (Harvest festival) with my in laws. I was excited as usual to visit Coimbatore. But the spirits of my husband got dampened when he learnt that Rekla race (A type of bullock cart race) got banned along with Jallikattu. In Tamil Nadu we are a sentimental lot. We put our emotions before everything else.

When someone tries to dictate us, we use our best efforts to break the rules. We tried to appeal in Courts. When the legal route didn't work, we got frustrated.

As soon as we reached Coimbatore I could see the same frustration with my in laws as well. My Father in law is also a farmer. It hurts him when people who have no idea about how he cares for his bulls criticize him in the name of animal lovers. He almost yelled after looking at the news channel, "Who is this so called animal lover who can dictate me? This has been my tradition, my culture. What right does he have to stop me? Does he know that bulls don't get hurt in this game? What this game needs is better regularisation, not a ban."

My Brother in law said, "Appa, we have to follow the court order. Maybe we can file a case again in the next year."

"What is this stupidity? Isn't there anyone in this land who can raise voice against autocracy?"

My dear husband said, "Appa, they stopped us for two years. I have a feeling that this time there will be a Jallikattu. This is a newly formed Government after our CM's death. I am sure they will try to please the public in every possible way."

I said, "The question is whether the state government has the guts to stand against the central government and our judiciary. I remember a judge clearly telling us that instead of playing jallikattu, we should be playing Video games."

My Father in law said, "This sort of gap between the judiciary and citizens causes harm to both the parties."

Husband dear said, "Yes Appa. I don't think anything will stop us now."

After that heated discussion we had our lunch. We got answer by night when we heard news that few young men have started protesting in Alanganallur. Alanganallur, is famous for it's Jallikattu games. The fact that villagers of Alanganallur and surrounding villages have started the protest came as a good news for us. We hoped that everything would change by next morning. It changed but in a negative way.

Few young protesters were arrested and it created a lot of fury. It provoked many people to come outside their homes and fight for those arrested youth. We take our youth very seriously. We care for them, we love them, we hope only good for them. When the news of youth getting arrested spread like wildfire through WhatsApp many more youth joined for their friends. When entry to Alanganallur was stopped citing Law and Order issues, people started protesting in their own cities and villages.

My Mother in law was also taking a keen interest in the developments. News about Jallikattu happening in few villages against Court orders made my Father in law happy. He is a law abiding citizen but when that law turns to dictatorship he would do everything possible in his means to break it.

That night I tried very hard to make him sleep. He was very disturbed and was growing anxious. We talked for a long time and slept very late. We felt helpless...

Next day we returned to Chennai knowing that the protests will definitely escalate to the next level. Both of us couldn't concentrate in our work. To sit in air conditioned rooms when our youth were boiling in the protests made us feel uncomfortable. This morning protests started in Marina beach as well. It's been ages since Tamil Nadu saw a people's movement. The last one was against Hindi imposition.