https://csim.in/conversations/Conversations-January2013.pdf

Chellammal, 37, was sitting outside her dilapidated hut at Kasimedu Kuppam in Ennore, Chennai. Her home was amidst the ten huts that were set up in a haphazard manner in the one-ground open plot. There were three similar habitations in the locality and each had a different story to tell.

I walked towards Chellammal along with 10 to 15 curious children who followed me. Most of them wore colourful clothes, but appeared shabby. They urged me to click their pictures and pulled my camera to view them on the camera display.

As I stood there, aware of the people around me, I suddenly felt suffocated.

“Is she a foreigner? If she takes your picture, ask for money,” said one of the men to Chellammal.

Latha, our NGO contact, eased my interview process by introducing me to the men and women who were gathered around us.

Chellammal was spontaneous and welcomed me to her tent. We seated ourselves in the small cement patch in front of her home and began conversing as if we knew each other for a very long time.

“What do you want me to say?” she asked.

“Just tell me about yourself, your family, your bullock,” I replied prompting a smile.

“I have three children—two daughters and two sons. My son has studied up to tenth standard, and my daughter stopped schooling after eighth standard as she got married. My younger son and daughter are studying in the nearby school. I also have a three-month-old granddaughter, and we all live together,” said Chellammal.

Chellammal hails from Periyapalayam, a town situated about 40 km north of Chennai, in Tiruvallur district. She belongs to the Poo Idayar community, commonly known as ‘boom boom mattukaran’ or ‘Perumal Mattukkarar’ in Tamil.

People belonging to this community lead a nomadic lifestyle and move from one place to another along with their caparisoned (decorated) bull. They worship Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupati and originally hail from Andhra Pradesh. It is learnt that they that were earlier flower gatherers and sold flowers for their livelihood.

“I also own two bullocks. While one bull is two years old, the other is a calf,” she said.

Chellammal leaves her home at 5 AM along with her bullock and visits homes and market places at Thiruvottiyur which is located 8 kilometers from Ennore. At times, we even start at 3 AM when we plan to visit farther places.

“We do not steal, nor tell lies. Therefore, we visit homes with our bulls to earn our living. We convey messages like ‘you will live well; your children will do well’; ‘good things will happen in your home’. As we speak, we make our bull shake its head and kneel before each home. This is considered auspicious and each family gives us around 10 rupees, rice, and old clothes,” she said.

“The caparison for the bullock costs Rs. 5,000 and I recently bought a calf for Rs. 20,000. Although I earn around Rs. 200 a day, I end up spending Rs. 100 to feed the cattle. The earnings are not enough to meet my family’s day to day needs. I have an outstanding loan of Rs. 50,000 that I borrowed from a private money lender at a high rate of interest. My husband Mariappan has been visiting homes in the city for the past one week along with his bullock and I engage in fish vending too,” added Chellammal heaving a sigh.

The community members earn their living by performing in front of homes, public places, and during festivals. The bull is trained to shake its head whenever a question is posed to it. If the bull shakes its head up and down it denotes ‘yes’; and if it shakes sideways, then the answer is presumed to be ‘no.’

They have a special percussion instrument—Urumi—which is beaten by hand on one side, and is simultaneously rubbed forcefully with a curved bamboo on the other. The term ‘boom boom’ refers to the sound made by the drum or Urumi. They also use a wind instrument to play songs.

As I looked around to get a glimpse of her bullocks, she signaled her son Muthu to bring them from the cattle shed.

Muthu spontaneously asked if I wanted him to decorate the bullock and hinted that I would have to pay him money for doing this.

“Will it be a bother for you?” I asked politely.

“No problem at all,” he replied.

Within five minutes, he brought the bullock decked up in bells, colorful ornaments, and clothes. He even played the wind instrument and entertained us.

As I set to click pictures, the exited children crowded closer around me. Their body odour was unpleasant though, and I tried hard not to express my discomfort.

I returned to Chellammal and we continue to chatter.

“It takes around three to six months to train a bullock. Some even take longer to get trained,” she said.

“Can you manage the bullock alone?” I asked.

“It is like managing our own children. The bullock is no different,” she replied instantly.

After clicking pictures of the children again, Chellammal led me to the other settlements in the neighbourhood. There were mostly men who were lounging in their tents and appeared to be drunk.

As the evening drew to a close, I bid adieu to this colorful community. The children followed me up to the end of the road and kept waving until the car was out of sight.

Poo Idayar community is commonly known as ‘boom boom mattukaran’ or Perumal Mattukkarar in Tamil. People belonging to this community lead a nomadic lifestyle and move from one place to another along with their caparisoned (decorated) bull. They worship Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupati and originally hail from Andhra Pradesh. It is learnt that they that were earlier flower gatherers and sold flowers for their livelihood.