A lips-locks competition was organsied in a tribal-dominated village of Pakur district in Jharkhand aiming to celebrate love and romance between married couples.
In the presence of thousands of people about 20 tribal couples locked their lips during the competition at Dumaria village which was never-seen-before. The competition was organised by a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislator (Littipara assembly seat) Simon Marandi. “It was an initiative to check growing cases of divorces and differences between couples in the tribal community here”, he said.
Tribals are basically innocent and less educated. Due to which, the family system is weakening. To make them aware of our social structure and responsibility towards the family, the idea of a kissing competition was conceived, said Marandi adding “such a competition would help strengthen the relationship between the husband and wife in the tribal community”.
Marandi has been organising an annual fair, known as Dumaria Mela, in his native village for the last 37 years where hordes of events, including tribal dance, archery and running competitions are organised to entertain villagers. The two-day fair started on Friday and concluded on Saturday evening. The kissing competition was added for the first time to the list of events. “Earlier, the village competition was organised in a smaller space but this year it was held in a football ground where thousands of people from other villagers also took part,” Marandi said.
