things that happen here And I don't think anyone on the 'desi' internet is as drawn to the weird and wonderful As I am Whether it's dining with the 'daakus' of Chambal Or hanging with the 'gaurakshaks' of Ramgarh In Dr. VC's world, you get to see it all Because we have something for everyone here 'Punjab' comes from two Farsi words 'Punj' meaning 'five' And 'ab' meaning 'water' Hence, 'the land of five rivers' But people often forget the sixth river The one that flows in the veins of Punjab's youth The river of swag Welcome to Punjab The home of 'swag' We've heard of horse racing and car racing And we are all familiar with the human rat race But today, we are going to witness
a different kind of race Greyhound Racing In Punjab For others, this is just a tradition But for some young men in Punjab, it's another way for them to multiply their swag I wanted to see that side of Punjab Which, despite spending my youth here, I had never even heard of Some people believe this sport is animal cruelty But I didn't want to make a judgement
till I'd seen it for myself To learn more about this I decided to come to Punjab, despite a broken shoulder You're here, bro Finally! How does it feel to be back in Punjab? We've just got here, man But I like the vibe Xulfee, should we take one of the dogs back with us? You take one, I'll take one On this trip, we will experience Punjab through The eyes of a racer dog This is my friend Xulfee He likes to call himself a director He found Sukhmeet Singh Whom people lovingly call 'Jugnu' Jugnu owns a 'shikari' (hunting) hound And often, these owners like to
be called 'Shikari' themselves He'd racing his prized greyhound in a race And the dog's name is Commander Judging these dogs by their size would be a mistake These skinny looking hounds Can easily run at speeds of up to 60 kmph Jugnu's brother, who lives in Canada, is a veteran Shikari And founder of a group called Hunter Brothers They train their imported greyhounds together These Shikaris get together On specially created tracks in the fields
to train their greyhounds Greyhound races have been around since the British era Back then, these hunting hounds
would chase live rabbits But when this practice was banned The shikaris found a solution Now, these hounds chase a mechanical lure Which is just a plate with a rabbit skin on it One person cranks the machine The lure sets off on the track And two hounds set off after it, like horses on a track They move so fast That you wouldn't be faulted for thinking
their spines were like coiled springs How are you? All good I'm here to meet Commander Okay, he's this way I've heard a lot about him, and I just had to meet him 24 month old Commander has been
training hard for the past year And he is on his way to becoming Punjab's
Dog Racing Champion This is Commander's... Turf? Yeah, this is his spot What's up, Commander? Come Don't worry You can touch him, put your hand forward Should I? Go for it He won't bite me, right? Not at all! Don't worry Where did you get him from? We brought his father down He was called Big Mac We got a female from here to mate with him What was her name? Her name was Lady Shooter Hahaha Big Mac and Lady Shooter He's their child Commander He's so well built! The rabbit and the greyhound It's like there's a blood connection between them The moment he sees one Something starts to happen to him Jugnu, buddy How does he eat the bones? We'll take the bones out We're only going to feed him the flesh The food for racer dogs in Punjab Is as magnificent as the food for humans Commander has his own home,
with a bed and ceiling fan Just look at him! Chilling out while getting an oil massage And living life large Like a nawab People can't find a house this big in Mumbai When are you going to get him married? Marriage? Let him win a race first Then he will get married really soon Maybe by next winter They're going to celebrate their honeymoon In this room After checking out how Commander lives It was time to meet Jugnu's Shikari brothers Their chief, 'Santy Paaji' is a senior Shikari And an important part of the history
of greyhound racing in Punjab Today, he'll give me a 101 on the history of the sport Sometimes, I wish I was a grehound You get good food, someone to give you a massage Then you get to sleep You just have to run 3-4 races in a month After the partition Some enthusiasts from Pakistan
who came over to this side And formed the Punjab Coursing Club here Punjab Coursing? Yes, Coursing Real rabbits were used back then for the races There was no ban Why did it get banned? It comes under cruelty How long ago was this? This was the year 1992-93 That's when it was banned But our passion was alive nevertheless We wanted to keep the dogs Otherwise there's no use of these dogs
if you don't make them run Our Chaudhary Mohammad Habeeb
from Malerkotla He got a dummy rabbit track from Pakistan The track has a dummy rabbit That runs with the help of a wire Then we started having all
our competitions on that track So this is a pre-Partition sport So what do you think is the future of the sport? When it comes to the future The biggest problem is that
you can't just import these dogs They've put a ban on it That you cant get them on a commercial basis Or make profits out of it But there's no profit in this This is just passion Nobody has built houses out of this Nobody has bought plots of land Rather people would have lost money pursuing it But the passion for this is rooted in our blood The families that live here We don't even spend as much time on our kids As we have invested in these dogs You've even put a bed in your bedroom for your dog! Yes, I have Some of you may have seen me On episodes of 'Dinner With The Dons' This is the first time I'm having 'Lunch with the Shikaris' There's a saying: In this world, a man only eats what is in his destiny In this world, a man only eats what is in his destiny Whether he eats it in your home, or in his own Well said! Thank him, who eats in your home Because he got what he was destined at your doorstep Please do me a favour Record this on WhatsApp and send it to me Sure Me too I'll give you my number, send it to me also Jugnu, Xulfee is after my life to ask you Please tell me, is all this legal or not? What, dog racing? No, there's no legal issue at all Nothing to worry about If it was illegal or banned, why would
there be so many tournaments? Why would people spend Rs. 5-6 Lakh to import these dogs, if that was the case? No one would ever do it There's nothing wrong with it These dogs are bred for racing Good morning, Jalandhar It's 9 am, and my name is Doctor VC.
People are just about waking up People are looking at me like 'who is this guy?' I've specially bought new sunglasses
and a new pair of shoes for this Because I want to treat it like 'desi derby' Punjabi Dog 'Darby' 'Darby' So yeah, let's see, it's going to be an exciting day I want to load myself up with parathas Xulfee Will you take me? We are going to a small Punjabi village called Roni Who would have thought that
a remote village in Punjab In the 'back of beyond' Would be home to 'Desi Dog Derby' Is Commander well rested? Yes, Commander is well rested and fit Commander is in the back,
he's resting before the big race Commander will command... ...Respect And victory And a lot of bitches! Look, now I'm f**king excited, bro Hello, hello 010 Channel is here India TV. 101 India presents... Dog Racing In Punjab! When this curtain is removed You will witness India's first dog lounge Look at this! So many greyhounds! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 These dogs have been muzzled So that they don't accidentally
bite each other during the race Is this any less impressive than
a fancy dog show in a big city? Before the race began,
a plough was attached to a tractor To loosen the soil and make the track soft So that the racing dogs don't get hurt on the track With me is my brother VC.
People know him as VC, but his name is Vishal Chopra As the time for the race drew near The organisers decided to start drawing lots And their advanced, high-tech system to draw lots? Chits! What could be better? What does this say? Twenty five! Who is number twenty five? How much time will it take to make this? The race has to start, don't waste time! Off they go! Shit, they're fast, man. And then, it was time for Commander's race That's why he's been resting till now Jugnu and his gang were looking a bit nervous Their hopes and prides were riding on Commander Next: Hunter Brothers group's striped dog - Commander With every race, Commander's impressive legs brought him closer to becoming the champion Mr. Chima is here Mr. Chima, tell us your story in one line I'll tell you later, when I'm free We're a little busy right now Are you giving Commander water to drink? Yeah, I have to go take care of him now I'll be back Commander will win, I'm sure of it I don't know, I can't say The dog against him in the next round His race in the next round His opponent is a female He's had a 9 course race with her What's her name? Her name is Black Power or something like that Quarter final, semifinal and final Three rounds more to go for Commander Number 1! On the one had, we saw these old school techniques And on the other, a live broadcast van was standing by I was told that they were here So that the Punjabi diaspora around the world Could connect with their roots back home But wait, these dogs aren't even really Punjabi! Like every competitive sport, this one has disagreements too Sometimes even fights The losing party was not happy with the decision And their anger was coming out in full steam He didn't stop! We asked him to stop for 2 minutes! What is this? The issue was resolved by
a replay thanks to the live TV team But I still felt bad Because watching them fight
was very entertaining for me Look at them! Poor guy! All day long, they've been bringing
in the dogs by car from so far And here, he's lost in a minute and a half! There was now just one race left
between Commander and the trophy All eyes were on Commander Commander tried his very best But his tired legs had run their course Commander lost the race So the dog that defeated Commander was called Black Stone He won the race So Commander is now in third place Come, Commander.
Well played! At this level it's always close There's not much difference between
those in first, second and third place After a Desi Dog Derby, there has to be
a post-match ceremony All the Shikari winners were
present to collect their prizes But more interesting than the award ceremony was the lighting arrangement Punjab is the land of innovation No lights? No problem! We'll fire up the SUVs But the ceremony has to have lighting! And photos! Commander finished third in the race And won his owner a consolation prize At least the prize money should cover
the diesel costs for Jugnu's SUV. Somehow, these dogs had managed to make me forget About my shoulder which was broken in three places How I wished I could just stay there
in the fields driving a tractor! Just listening to my favourite Punjabi songs But the people demanded it So I had to come back to Mumbai Till the next video on 101india.Com Ok, ok wait Let's just make an official announcement We request everybody who's watching the video If you like the video Go and watch it again on 101india.Com My brother VC wants to say something We're on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too @101india Go, subscribe and follow Once again, we pray to God That 101india prospers Thanks once again, brother Thank you very much!.
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