Bull fighting in Spain

Today in the news channel on TV, I saw a matador getting seriously injured during the bull fighting and I was feeling sorry for him. I have noticed that TV channel in Canarias are no more showing the live coverage of bull fighting on their sports channel. Some years ago, it used to pain me to see the bull fighting events on TV. There was at least one channel on Spanish TV that would show bull fighting on its sports channel regularly. But last year Spain's public broadcaster, TVE, announced it was scrapping live coverage of bullfights for the first time ever, deeming them unsuitable for younger viewers. Thank God for that! Bull fighting seems to be the favourite sport amongst the Spanish people with tourist joining in this gory sport. While the bull is asking for mercy, the distinctly well-heeled members of the crowd shade themselves in white bowler hats sucking on cigars and merrily eating peanuts. As the matador proves his machismo, there is no talk of regional domination or cruelty; just a stunning chorus of ''ole¨ How do they cheer at the sight of blood? This is the most ritualised slaughter. There is unfair advantage of the matador, with bulls frequently given tranquillisers and laxatives to sedate them before fights, and petroleum jelly sometimes rubbed into the animals' eyes to hamper vision. The inevitable death is almost never swift, with only the most skilful matadors able to kill the bull with one thrust of the sword. You see the corrida (as it is called) with three distinct stages, each time announced by trumpet sound. The participants first enter the arena in a parade to salute the presiding dignitary, accompanied by band music. In traditional corrida, there are three matadores, each fight two bulls, Each matador has six assistants — two picadores ("lancers") mounted on horseback, three banderilleros ("flagmen"), and a mozo de espada ("sword page"). Collectively they comprise a cuadrilla ("entourage"). In first stage, the matadors confronts the bull, observes its behaviour and picador stabs a mound of muscle on the bull's neck, leading to the animal's first loss of blood In the next stage, the three banderilleros, each attempt to plant two razor sharp barbed sticks on the bull's flanks, ideally as close as possible to the wound where the picador drew first blood. In the final stage, the matador re-enters the ring alone with a small red cape and a sword. He uses his cape to attract the bull in a series of passes, both demonstrating his control over it and risking his life by getting especially close to it. He manoeuvres the bull into a position to stab it between the shoulder blades and through the aorta or heart. If he succeeds, you see the helpless bull crumble down on its knees, almost lifeless and sometimes it the unlucky matador who is tossed out of control and knocked on the ground. The cruelty and blood are the end products of this sport. While the bullfight is still exempt from Spain's anti-animal cruelty laws, recent developments suggest the anti-corrida movement may be gaining the upper hand. Bullfighting has been struggling to attract younger fans for years, and opponents hope less media coverage will lead to the sport's eventual extinction. It is an old debate: tradition versus modernity, culture versus cruelty. The low attendance of the younger generation at the arena is a good sign; bull fighting in the modern society will have no future.

Baile De Mago...A Magic Dance

In Canary Islands, the summer months, June, July, August are the months of Fiesta and Siesta. Canarians are happy people and you can see the aura of happiness everywhere. Throughout the summer, different parts of the island have festivals that exhibit the typical Canarian food, have live cultural shows and have mini fairs where they exhibit the typical Canarian art work. During late evening, you see them dressed in the traditional ´Mago´ dress and dancing together in the dance called ´Baila de Mago´ (Magic dance). There is a popular song that is favoured amongst Canarians,with beautiful lyrics : Con el baile del mago Haces tú lo que yo hago Giras tú la cadera Dando vuelta y ya está Con un poco de magia Un hechizo tú lanzas Y al pobre de al lado En sapo convertirás This Saturday, ´Baile de Mago´ was organised at our club in Icod. The criteria for attending and participating in this event is that you have to be dressed in the traditional dress. The club was dressed for the festival with seating arrangement all around the pool.Front side was reserved for dancing and orchestra, the remaining three sides of the pool had long rectangular tables that could accomodate a group of twenty people. The food that was served was typical Canarias that included croquets, roast chicken, salads, tortilla, French fries and many more varieties of food. Some families had brought extra food to share with their friends. At 11pm, the orchestra started and the people started leaving their table to go to dance floor to dance to the music. and the music played... Si a veces sientes que tú estás triste, no hay problema, lo olvidarás Con este juego que ahora comienza, todo lo malo desaparecerá Adiós a las penas, adiós problemas, si ya estás listo, tú puedes jugar En una línea todos se paran y así formados ya brincarán Brinca pa’un lado, brinca pa’l otro Da media vuelta y listo estás And for next five hours they did forget their problems and pains and danced, sometimes in circles, sometimes in pairs, coming to their tables only to refresh themselves with a glass of wine or munching the assorted fruits and tapas that did their rounds throughout the event. During the wee hours of morning, after a cup of warm coffee, they returned home to snooze away the blues.

How to identify a safe beach in Tenerife

Tenerife, being an island, has beaches on all of its sides. But not all the beaches are safe for swimming. It is important to identify the safety of the beaches by the color of flag that you see at every beach. Different beaches display different colored flags. It is important to understand their significations by their colors before taking a plunge. They are red, green, yellow and blue. The beach with blue flag is a five star beach. It is clean, has all the safety precautions, has active life guards, has instant first aid services, restaurants, clean toilets, sea beds and all the facilities to enjoy the day at the beach. When you see a green flag, it indicates that the waves at this beach are well behaved and are trained not to display their bad temper. Yellow flag indicates that you have to make your own decision and swim at your own risk. All the safety precaution might not be available and you are in charge of making your own decisions. If you see the red flag, don’t even bother changing. On such days, the best option is to walk along the sea shore on the paved path that has colorful rock gardens or simply just patronize the café bars that have spread their furniture on those promenades.

Beggar Artist

Each time, my vehicle stops at the traffic signals in Mumbai, I am surrounded by swarm of beggars who invent different tricks to attract my attention and I always practise yoga to be able to ignore them if I am not feeling too generous. But here in Tenerife, it is a different story. First of all, there are hardly any beggars. Sixty percent of the population are floating tourists who come here to breathe fresh air and the government supports its local population by either creating a job for them or paying them a substantial amount till they can find a job, but they make sure to keep them off the streets. Unless, The beggar has extraordinary begging skills Like this man who was dressed in white from head to toe and his hands and face painted in white too. He stands there in the busy tourist area, in a perfect pose, still, like a statue, frightening the passer by, every time that he makes a slightest move. It is a pose that requires skill to stand there without even blinking for five complete minutes. Many people stop and click his picture and wait till he changes his next pose. Children walk over to shake his hand, placing coins in his hand and clicking pictures with him. Now that is the art you just cannot ignore! Technorati Profile

Spanish Rice Dish Called Paella

Every country has its own speciality of rice dish. In India, we enjoy Biryani, Indonesians like Nasi Goreg, Chinese like fry rice, Thais like Khao paat, and Spanish like Paella All the rice dishes have common ingredients of vegetables and meat of your choice, but the only difference is the method of its preparation. Even the utensils differ from country to country. It could be a deep pot containing layers of coloured rice, covered tightly, and cooked under steam, or it could be opened wok to simply stir fry the rice with mixed veggies and meat. Spanish use a huge flat pan. Vegetables or meat stock is separately made which is used for boiling rice instead of plain water although some may just use veggie or chicken cubes. My niece made for me veggie paella and it was quite delicious. She put 2 tablespoons of olive oil and fried the ground paste of one large onion and one teaspoon of crushed garlic. Next she added one tin of Soya bean chunks and stir fried till light brown. She then added assorted veggies such as carrots, beans, mushrooms, corn, green peas, red and green capsicum, tomato paste and also tomato puree. When she saw the oil bubbling, she added five hundred grams of par boiled rice, and then added veggie cube, five glasses of water, paella powder, saffron strands, perejil powder and salt. She covered the pan with foil and steamed it till it was tender. For garnishing, she put slices of lime. Non vegetarians use chicken, pork, clamps, octopus and shrimps Spanish can’t eat chillies, not even a pinch of chilli powder; I find their food very bland. Thank Gawd, I carry my own bottle of chilli sauce in my purse whenever I go dinning in a Spanish restaurant.