Saturday, November 29, 2014
Friday, November 28, 2014
The Bamboo Temple
Still on the way home from Kunduli market, we stopped at a rather interesting temple - it is a bamboo grove that doubles up as a temple to Durga. There is no idol, as in conventional temples, the bamboo trees serve as a representation of Durga. Here is the entrance to the grove: it is the only bit of masonry in the temple.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
A village of the Mali Tribe
After Kunduli market, we stopped over at a village of the Mali tribe. The Mali tribes people are great agriculturists. They have been doing crop rotation, rain water harvesting, water conservation and all the latest fads for several centuries. They have amongst the most productive fields in all India - and it is all 100% "bio", as we would say.Here was a woman painting her hut red.
The Mali do seem to like glitzy colors, unlike the relatively more drab houses we saw in villages of other tribes.
The ladies of the village in conference. Were they discussing us?
A lovely painted door...
A girl with Mhendi on her hand - much like in the rest of North India, but note the tribal motifs...
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Onkudeli Tribal Market
On Thursday, we went to what was supposed to be the highlight of our Orissa Trip - The Thursday Market of the Gonda tribe in Onkudeli. The Gondas are supposed to be one of the oldest tribes on Earth. We went there early morning, and stationed ourselves on the banks of a narrow stream, from where we could watch the Gonda tribespeople walking over meadows and hills and fording the stream to get to the market. It was a lovely sight, with some funny moments. A tribal man was herding his goats over the stream. In the melee, one clever goat slipped off and hid himself in the bushes. The goat had no intention of being sold. The tribal went off, none the wiser. Whoever said goats were stupid? Another little old lady was carrying an enormous fish, still live. It slipped off her shoulder and fell into the stream. She grabbed at it before it could swim away.
But, sadly... no pictures. The good old Govt. of India has forbidden photography of the Gonda tribe. The silly thing is that this ban came into effect just a few years ago - the Internet is full of pictures of the Gonda taken before that. So the ban seems kind of pointless. Also, foreigners need a special permit to visit the Onkudeli market, and need to be accompanied by a licensed guide. Since Blandine is technically French (although she claims to have been Indian in a past life), we had to get the permit and guide. There are horror stories in the Internet of foreign tourists being turned away from the market because they did not have the permit. There are also stories of cameras being confiscated when tourists attempted photography. There are even scarier stories of how the Gonda are allergic to people photographing them, and can become violent of you point a camera at them.
We found it all overblown. We did not see a single policeman within a 100 km of that place. No one checked our permits. We were rather disappointed, having gone to all the trouble of getting one. There was no one to stop us pulling out our cameras. Far from being allergic to cameras, a couple of the Gonda approached us and offered to let us photograph them - for the payment of the nominal sum of Rs. 100. Unfortunately, we could not take them up on the offer. Our guide acted the spoilsport. He insisted he would get into trouble if he allowed us - he could lose his guide license.
Now I'm a law-abiding citizen. I kept my hand firmly off the iPad. But Blandine, being French, hates laws of any kind: she sneaked off a couple of photos of a Gonda tribeswoman when the guide wasn't looking. Here they are: very poor quality because taken in a hurry, from behind a concealing paper bag.
Dear Govt. of India. If you see this post, please don't blame our guide. He did his best to stop us. Don't blame me either. I'm a law-abiding Indian citizen. Blame my crazy, lawless French girlfriend, if you must.
But, sadly... no pictures. The good old Govt. of India has forbidden photography of the Gonda tribe. The silly thing is that this ban came into effect just a few years ago - the Internet is full of pictures of the Gonda taken before that. So the ban seems kind of pointless. Also, foreigners need a special permit to visit the Onkudeli market, and need to be accompanied by a licensed guide. Since Blandine is technically French (although she claims to have been Indian in a past life), we had to get the permit and guide. There are horror stories in the Internet of foreign tourists being turned away from the market because they did not have the permit. There are also stories of cameras being confiscated when tourists attempted photography. There are even scarier stories of how the Gonda are allergic to people photographing them, and can become violent of you point a camera at them.
We found it all overblown. We did not see a single policeman within a 100 km of that place. No one checked our permits. We were rather disappointed, having gone to all the trouble of getting one. There was no one to stop us pulling out our cameras. Far from being allergic to cameras, a couple of the Gonda approached us and offered to let us photograph them - for the payment of the nominal sum of Rs. 100. Unfortunately, we could not take them up on the offer. Our guide acted the spoilsport. He insisted he would get into trouble if he allowed us - he could lose his guide license.
Now I'm a law-abiding citizen. I kept my hand firmly off the iPad. But Blandine, being French, hates laws of any kind: she sneaked off a couple of photos of a Gonda tribeswoman when the guide wasn't looking. Here they are: very poor quality because taken in a hurry, from behind a concealing paper bag.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Kunduli Tribal Market
The following morning we headed for Kunduli village, where every Friday there is the weekly market of the Paraja, Mali and Kuvi Kondh tribes. It is also the biggest tribal market in Orissa. Here we are, just at the entry to the market, watching the tribes people coming over with their goods, walking over through meadows from their own villages..
This is the cattle market.
This is the goat and sheep market
Monday, November 24, 2014
A Village of the Paraja Tribe
After the pottery village, we passed by a village of the Paraja Tribe. We went in and confabulated with the denizens. We dropped in on this lady pounding millet and tending to her baby, by turns.
Here's a little old lady wearing a traditional dress made of a thick rough cloth that she had woven herself from wild cotton, many years ago. She is the oldest citizen in the village. No one has the time for that kind of work, nowadays. They buy saris in the market. Even this old lady takes out this dress only when there are foreign visitors in the village.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Friday, November 21, 2014
A village gone to pot
Winding our way back to the hotel for the evening, we made one more stop, a village of tribal potters. Nearly the whole village indulges in pottery, whether legitimate or illicit. They have, in a word, gone to pot. As always, here's a bit of the countryside on the way...
The makeshift potter's wheel...
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Nandapur Tribal Market
The following day, we rode over to the Nandapur Tribal Market, frequented by the Paraja, Mali and Dom tribes. It takes place every Wednesday, near Nandapur village. Here is a bit of the landscape on the way there...
In the market, we came across this chap selling dried tobacco leaves...
Monday, November 17, 2014
The temple of clay horses
After Kotpad Market, we stopped by an old Shiv Temple, very popular with the local villagers. It is a suitably mysterious place, in the midst of a forest with banyan vines all over it, on the banks of a still lake. It looks like something right out of an Indiana Jones movie. But the most striking thing about it is this enormous pile of clay horses...
... and this ancient banyan(?) tree with an enormous vine that forms a natural swing...
It seems that when you pray at this temple for something, and your wishes are granted, you gift a clay horse to the temple. Over the centuries, this enormous pile of clay horses has built up, that looks like a piece of abstract art.
You can spend hours staring at those horses. There is something fascinating about them, all layered on top of each other, each with a different expression, some broken, some not, some new, some mossy, each representing somebody's hopes and dreams...
But the temple has a dark side as well. It houses leprosy patients. When someone in one of the local tribes develops leprosy, they are banished to this temple. Here they are, looking at us from a distance. We contributed some money to their benefit fund.
The lake beside the temple.
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