To commemorate the primary 12 months anniversary of the Jallikattu protests, a competition known as Sempulam was held in 2018. It was helmed by Thondaimandalam Basis — that works to maintain rural and peri-urban livelihoods within the Thondaimandalam area spanning from Tirupati to Tiruvannamalai — and Actor Karthi’s Uzhavan Basis that helps farmer livelihoods. The 2-day occasion introduced collectively farmers who promoted natural farming strategies, and the honest showcased native cattle breeds of Tamil Nadu.

Final 12 months, the fest returned as Sempozhil (that means a flourishing grove in pink soil, in tamil) and was held on a much-larger scale as a three-day occasion with artiste performances, native meals, and extra. “We needed to organise a rural fest celebrating natural farming, sustainable dwelling and showcasing native livestock as a mark of gratitude to folks for supporting the marketing campaign,” says Himakiran, managing trustee at Thondaimandalam Basis. “Sempulam means ‘fertile lands’. We needed to create a bigger canvas for the competition and therefore modified the title to Sempozhil. ‘Sem’ is from semmai which implies fertile, and ‘pozhi’l means a backyard, forest, or a big panorama,” he explains.

This 12 months, Sempozhil might be held for 4 days and in a far bigger format. “This 12 months, we now have content material within the six themes of meals, clothes, shelter, artwork, literature, and wellness. and might be introduced as workshops, reveals, and performances. The content material can also be tied to the ainthinais (5 landscapes),” says Himakiran, who can also be the chief producer of Sempozhil.

Geared toward spotlighting the assorted aspects of Tamil heritage, Sempozhil could have day by day performances by rural troupes from throughout Tamil Nadu together with Therukoothu, Paraiattam, Oyilattam, Bommalattam, amongst others; an area devoted to native seeds, heritage crops; thematic installations; play areas for youngsters; amongst different options. The spotlight, nonetheless, is the cattle expo that may convey collectively over 40 native animal breeds of Jallikattu bulls, sheep, goats, canine, horses, and poultry.

For the occasion, Himakiran says the crew has collaborated with Alliance Francaise of Madras for the workshops, Tamil Nadu Iyarkai Uzhavar Kootiyakkam for the meals and seed shows, Anubavi for curating the humanities performances, reveals and workshops. First-time artwork types at Sempozhil embody Thiruvannamalai periyamelam, dabbakuthu, silambattam, to call a couple of. “Over 1,000 farmers and 150 performing artistes, primarily from rural and tribal belts, are collaborating within the present,” he says, including that 3,000+ faculty kids will even be attending Sempozhil as a part of organised instructional and experiential excursions. 

Curating an occasion at such a scale has its personal share of challenges. “Somebody who loves the humanities may not essentially like livestock. Somebody who likes farming may not be concerned about reveals. These are perceptions and pre-conceived notions which might be the toughest to cope with. The city vs. rural divide is synthetic and we actually imagine that there’s a youngster in each grownup and a villager in each urbanite,” says Himakiran.

For somebody attending the occasion for the primary time, what does the crew advocate they do? Himakiran says studying about seed range, and our livestock must be on their agenda, together with savouring conventional millet and rice-based natural meals. “You would attend one of many many workshops taking place as a run as much as the occasion till August 22, and likewise witness one of many 4 livestock reveals that may make folks be amazed by the laborious work wanted in rearing livestock,” he says. A trend present that includes 2,000 years of Tamil attire will even be held and it’ll characteristic modern Madras streetwear.

From August 21-24 at YMCA, Nandanam. Tickets on sempozhil.org/

Printed – August 18, 2025 03:49 pm IST