Imagine a helpless man
fighting against a ferocious bull in a closed ring (arena). Yes, you heard it
right!
‘Spanish Bull Fight’! Every
time I hear these words, I get goosebumps. I am always amazed at the skill of a
man challenging an arrogant bull that can kill him anytime. I never saw any
video of a bull fight and always wanted to visit the bullring.
Spring announced the arrival
of bullfights paving my way to Spain. Valencia, a beautiful city in Eastern
Spain, greeted me warmly with crowded streets and hustling crowds. Valencia is decorated
with beautiful and exotic structures at every street to celebrate Las Fallas, a
popular festival in Spain. Valencians are dressed in traditional Spanish outfits,
outside the stadium named ‘Plaza de Toros de Valencia’, excited me to enjoy the
bull fight. The bullring, with hundreds of spectators, reminded me of the Roman
Colosseum brought to life.
A few guys dressed in
dazzling costumes, with bright colors, came to the middle of the bull ring.
Those guys are called matadors who possess exceptional skills to fight with
bulls. The spectators are yet to settle down in their seats and the noise ruled
the stadium. A whistle blew to signal the start of the fight. A momentary silence
followed the whistle sound with bated breaths of spectators waiting for the
bull. All matadors ran outside the ring and only one matador remained in the
middle of the ring. A hefty 1800-pound (800kg) ferocious bull entered the arena
running towards the lonely matador. The bellowing bull with loud noise stopped
in front of the matador who was holding a red cloth. The bull saw the red
cloth, got agitated and started kicking the ground with its feet. It aimed the
horns towards the matador and jumped towards him pulling all its weight at once.
The matador escaped the bulls’ horns and showed the red cloth again to the bull.
The matador repeatedly deceived the bull and escaped from its horns. The
thought of human triumph against the mighty bull gave a sudden rush of blood to
my head.
All of a sudden, the stadium
was reverberated with a loud cry of the bull. I realized that the matador
inserted a sharp spike into the bull’s flesh and it cried in pain. Matador held
his hands high with victory sign and got soaked in a resounding applause from
the crowd. The bull was in pain and ready to take vengeance and jumped towards
the matador again. The bull missed him and he inserted another sharp spike into
its flesh. I expected the bull to lift the matador with its horns and throw him
to 30 feet outside the ring. But, I was puzzled and could not understand why
the bull was unable to combat. I took a close look at the fight again for a few
more minutes. Then, I was shocked to realize that the bull is trying to hit the
moving cloth and not the matador standing in front of it. The bull could have
killed the matador but the innocent creature stood in front of him waiting for
the execution. As the supposed fight came to an end, the matador inserted a
sword in the bull’s head and it tumbled and died in a flash without any noise.
But, the bull’s cry recoiled in my ears and passed the pain to my heart. The
dead bull’s corpse was dragged outside the arena and the view was piteous.
Another heavy bull entered
the ring and met the same fate. Without my knowledge, tears popped around my
eyeballs at the sight of the pseudo fight. Bigger and stronger bulls are
expected to enter the ring for execution but I could not sit there anymore and
left the bullring with regret. Even though humans try to kill those bulls, those
bulls endure the pain, pardon humans and show the so called humanity to humans.
I agree that evading the bulls’ horns is no fun for matadors. But, is it fair?
Is it fun? Give a thought! I request everyone to skip a bull fight and protest
the gruesome display of humans killing animals for fun. Besides, I even started
preferring vegetarian or vegan diet since then.
