Hyderabad: Kabutar baazi is back

HYDERABAD: With winter setting in, pigeon rearers are now focusing on pigeon racing for the next four months. From the ‘galli’ level to clubs in the city, several competitions or “kabutar baazi” events are lined up in the city. Already, the ‘tugudi’ (relay) races have begun in some parts of the Old City. The racing events will commence later this month with the birds flying in from a distance of nearly 150 km to reach the city.

Pigeon racing or “kabutar baazi”, a favourite time-pass and leisure activity for city youth since the Nizam era took a beating in the last two decades for various reasons. However, it is now once again catching the interest of the youth and being revived with fresh vigour.

“Homer pigeons are usually trained for racing and ‘tugudi’ competitions. A nutritious diet comprising milk, cereals and herbs is prepared and fed to them for a week before the competition. The healthy diet ensures the birds fly faster and do not get tired”, said Mr Ghalib Saif Ali.

“Birds are left some 150 to 200 kilometers away from the city and they have to return to base. There are two categories in this race. One is derby where only one pigeon from a club participates and the other is group where many pigeons can be enrolled for the same race”, informs Mr Abdul Aziz member of Hydera-bad Homer Pigeon Club.

The group is one of the many formed to revive the tradition in the city. Homers are a breed of pigeons fit for racing when they are between eight months and five-years-old. “The birds are taken to points around 500 km away from the base point. Now technology has come handy; a photograph of the place where the bird is released is shot and latitude and longitude marked. The distance is calculated and when the bird returns to the base a picture is taken again. But the sport is not limited to Hyderabad, with groups training pigeons for racing in other cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata.”