The first time I arrived to Bissamcuttack, the urge to stay wasn’t that strong, I left after 4 days promising to come back sometimes later but with a conviction to explore more.
But in no later than 2 months I came back to this land of Niyamgiris, with fresh pineapples, oranges, imlis and abundance of love and learnings.
They flourish with community, live to love and share.
The stories of vaid (ancient doctors) healing people by the usage of ancient medicines and their sustainable practices of survival are enlightening. The tribes in Niyamgiris know at least about 400 medicinal plants.
They know what to eat, when to eat and how to eat which makes their immunity system strong. They are strong enough to carry woods on their back on the hills and so on. They do know how to utilise forest sustainably, for example their technique of drying gourds to make storers for different purposes, be it water storage or ladle to pour dal or sabji, it is a firm example to stay organic.
They don’t milk a cow because they haven’t yet lost compassion to respect a mother child bond, they think the cow milk is for the calf!
They live in beautiful small earthen houses and they often paint it with the colour black and muddy red. They make black colour by burning the oil and they derive red colour from the red soil. It looks simple and beautiful.
One of their festivals called ”Kondulu Parva” which was not exploiting the nature and was full of joy, they celebrate the harvest of their labour, they dance, they sing and they feast at the end of their harvest! Lovely, right?
This is a small poem I wrote when I attended a marriage in the village ‘Kankubadi’.
Like those free-flowing fireflies they dance under the half moon!
Happy as the pleasant spring they rose!
Surpassing every frown and mourn they fly like ancient sages!
Melodious moves and rhythmic sounds that of a nightingale is their oddity!
They flow as the sacred cycle of autumns year after year!
And to them the end is the beginning of a new life!
They are yet to be robotic and they do art with love, like pottery and very famous dhokra art of a village named Jhigdi.
They do intrinsically beautiful bamboo weaving and they make dhokra shawls, a traditional attire, yet left.
They know metal works, how to make an axe or a spade!
They can walk and climb kms, their hospitality is unquestionable and I learnt they are not the ones craving development, development craves them.
I learnt that development feels so insecure because of them and hence development comes in forms of big machines to teach them development!
– Pritu Vatsa (Education Research Apprentice, Klorofeel Foundation)
