Feeding, grooming secrets of Coastal cockfighting

Cockfighting during Sankranti is the favourite sport of the people in the coastal districts of the two Godavaris, Krishna and Guntur. West and East Godavari are the main centres. Bhimavaram in West Godavari is the main hub for cockfighting. Cockfighting is a big draw in the coastal districts. Betting over each contest goes on simultaneously. Crores of rupees change hands after each contest. The whole tournament of cockfighting runs into hundreds of crores of rupees, it is learnt. When there is so much money going, people from the two Telugu States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana flock to these four coastal districts. The organisers accommodate the cockfighting enthusiasts in tents at the various venues. Previously, when the police enforced a ban on cockfighting, the venues were nondescript. The venues are now neatly organized places. Politicians of all parties are enthusiastically participating in the cockfighting programme. At some places they have opened the tourney as well. Why so much hullabaloo over cockfighting? It is the lore that goes into the sport apart from the money. The feeding and grooming of the roosters is telling. Lakhs of rupees are spent on feeding and grooming of each fighting rooster over a period of 6 months before Sankranti. The feeding comprises all dry fruits, raw eggs, mincemeat. At the same time, the grooming of the roosters goes on, subjecting them to special exercises. Even a fallen rooster following cockfighting commands a price running into lakhs of rupees. As they used to say in olden days, an elephant dead or alive is worth Rs.10,000. This should be recoined as, A fighting rooster is worth lakhs of rupees dead or alive.