Getting all Bruce Parry on your ass - Tribal tour, South West Orissa


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March 20th 2012
Published: March 20th 2012
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For the next 4 nights and 5 days we would be bush camping in the remote hills of South West Orissa visiting local tribes enroute. I had mixed feelings about the next few days, I was looking forward to camping and getting away from the crowds and chaos of the plains and into the relatively tranquil and remote Orissa hill villages, however I was very much worried about not being able to shower for 5 days, a potential hygiene/stench disaster given the daily temperature was on average close to 40 degrees. My biggest concern of all though was that 5 days of ogling the natives might get a little repetitive, especially as I’m not a massive fan of ‘tribal tours’ in the first place as I find they can be a little patronising and voyeuristic.

The roads in Orissa were completely different to anything we had been on previously. We were now well and truly up in the hills and away from the usual madness, passing traffic became a rare occurrence rather than the usual panic attack inducing norm. However, while the roads were much quieter and immeasurably more scenic they were not necessarily any easier to deal with. The roads were steep, windy and narrow which meant progress was painfully slow, on a good day with about 8 hours driving we would cover about 150km, a distance I could probably cover on my bike (at a push). The roads were rather badly maintained or in some cases were simply just rough dirt tracks which meant the ride felt somewhat similar to that of bike with square wheels and a concrete saddle. We were well and truly off the tourist trail, one benefit of the poor quality roads was that not many tourists (we were the only we saw for 4 days) make it out this far so in many places we were viewed as a genuine curiosity.

We started off our ‘tribal tour’ in the village of the ‘some name I can’t remember’ tribe. It was a stark contrast to the India we were used too, this was a proper tribal village just like the ones that Bruce Parry on the tele goes to visit, it even had houses made of cow manure and everything. You could tell this tribe did actually genuinely maintain a traditional lifestyle and that this wasn’t just put on for tourists, in fact they looked pretty surprised to see us and were as curios of us as we were them. There were as always of course a few signs of modernity, for example we noticed a few satellite dishes connected to TV’s which invariably were playing cricket or a dreadful melodramatic soap depending on the sex of the viewer. However things were generally very traditional and all the tribes we visited had in fact decided to stick to their traditional lifestyles despite being offered the opportunity by the government too ‘advance’ to a more modern lifestyle. For example in the village of the Daruba tribe where we spent our first night the national government was in the process of building some modern style homes for the villagers to live in, however the local villagers told us that they do not want to move into the properties as they prefer their traditional homes which are better at staying cool in the sun and warm in the cold. This made me think about how often you find designers looking at traditional methods/nature for inspiration these days and how not all ‘advances’ are necessarily a good thing. The main industry of the first village we
Homes being built by the government for the Daruba tribeHomes being built by the government for the Daruba tribeHomes being built by the government for the Daruba tribe

The Daruba tribe told us that no one would live in these homes once they were finished as the local people prefered their traditional homes which they believe are better at staying cool in the heat and warm in the cold
visited was clay pot production and everyone in the village helped in some way. While living conditions were basic the villagers seemed happy and contended, the children in particular seemed to be loving life and having a great time playing in their beautiful natural surroundings. A tire or a tree branch became props for exciting games which kept them entertained for hours, this was really nice to observe although it made me feel a little sad at how little freedom children have at home to play outside.

The main religion and source of tradition and culture for the tribes was based on an animist take on the Hindu faith. Each village had a shrine to the nature gods, the centre piece for each shrine was a rock and around this would be a Mango and Tamarind tree, both are considered by local people to be sacred. Sacrifice is also an important part of the tribes we visited beliefs and in each village a female buffalo would be sacrificed once a year to please the local gods and ensure a good harvest, up until Victorian times some tribes would sacrifice a female human being! Banning this was one of the
A short tribal lady and myselfA short tribal lady and myselfA short tribal lady and myself

India is a great place to come if you a short and want to feel tall.
few decent non self serving things the British Raj did in India. We did at one point stop at a sacred point in the forest, here you are given a bunch of leaves on one side of the road which you then place in a pile next to a shrine on the other side of the road as an offering to the nature gods. This seemed like a bizarre thing to do, why simply move the leafs from one place to another. Our guide Jittu explained the reason for the seemingly rather odd ritual rather nicely; “when I receive a sweet (present) from my children it makes me twice as happy”. Some of the group found this ‘offering’ to be a little comical and completely pointless, whilst I don’t completely agree I could see where they were coming from.

Some tribes were very happy to see us and extremely welcoming and friendly, often with people actively seeking a 30 second photo shot. These tended to be in the more remote areas where I guess they have less contact with outsiders and certainly western tourists. Other tribes were more cautious and looked at us with interest but from afar and preferred not to have their pictures taken whilst some tribes looked surprised but not upset to see us. Just one tribe we visited seemed to be very commercialised, our visit here was in many ways similar to the experience of a standard Indian tourist destination i.e we had children continuously asking us for money/shampoo/food etc and we also had every man and their dog trying to sell us something we didn’t need, in this case baskets made from bamboo and yes I did buy one, two in fact, what a saint. I was initially surprised that most tribes did not sell any products for tourists to buy, but on reflection realised that this was because they don’t see many tourists so had no incentive to start such a trade, which in a way is good as these sort of places can become cripplingly dependant on tourist money. Our payment for visiting the tribes was 1 biscuit per child (and occasionally per adult if they requested it), no expense spared, 1 whole biscuit, I kid you not. Jittu our guide administered these biscuits and to my surprise this payment system seemed to be accepted as acceptable by the tribes. I think in all honesty what really helped was the fact that Jittu had been visiting these tribes for 15 years and as such had good relations with them which meant they were more accepting of us than perhaps they would have been with a guide they knew less. Did I enjoy the tribal tour, well yes and no. I did actually enjoy the experience more than I thought I would and didn’t find that it was done in bad taste, our guide and our group (on the whole) were very respectful of the locals and their culture and didn’t for example take photos when requested not too. I also found it interesting learning about the history of the tribes, some had been in their villages for 1000’s of years and had originated from some the earliest groups of human settlers. I also really enjoyed the camping (as always), we stopped in some very scenic locations, our first night on the edge of the Daruba tribes village was particularly pretty, the only issue was the incontinent dogs that pissed on our tents, Michael and mines twice in fact. One of the very best things of the tribal tour was the food, oh
Traditional fishing nets used by locals tribesTraditional fishing nets used by locals tribesTraditional fishing nets used by locals tribes

The fishing nets are very similar (but smaller) to the Chinese fishing nets used in Cochin.
the food! Our personal cook “whats his name” was a machine. For dinner he would prepare a soup, two snacks e.g. packoras and fried panner before making the actual dinner which would consist of flavoured rice (his Jerra rice was particularly delicious), a dhal, a meat curry, a vegetable dish, chappati and a salad. All of this prepared by just one man in an impressively short amount of time. His lunches would be marginally less extravagant but still a fine feast. There would be no weight loss for the next few days, oh no.

There were a few issues with the tour however, namely it was too damn long. 3 days would have easily sufficed, by day 4 the repetition of the tribal visits was getting boring and it became a real effort to get off the truck and wonder round a village. This was a shame as it meant we weren’t giving Jittu our full attention and weren’t interacting with the villagers with the same vigour and friendliness we had done previously. A bit of variation in the itinerary would have helped, perhaps we could have visited some waterfalls or done a walk of some variety?

We
My favourite photo from my taking photos of people taking photos projectMy favourite photo from my taking photos of people taking photos projectMy favourite photo from my taking photos of people taking photos project

Wonder what the girl is thinking with all those cameras pointed at her
did on our third (of four) nights have an unscheduled stop at a hotel, the reason being our truck needed urgent maintenance work doing to it which could only be done in a town with a garage. While I was a little disappointed not to camp I was much more excited about the opportunity of a shower, by day 3 I was well and truly ready for a wash and was very happy that we didn’t have to wait until day 5 to take it. It really is remarkable how much better a little bit of soap and water can make you feel, It is equally remarkable how quickly the effects of that little bit of soap and water can disappear leaving you once again sticky, smelly and artificially brown.

I won’t go into detail about each tribe we visited as it would very dull and also in all honesty I can’t remember every tribe we visited, especially those we visited at the end by which point I had well exceeded my lifetime quota of tribe tours.

Despite only being 270km away it was a long full day drive to Puri (our next stop) as the road were so bad. We had a free day in Puri which I used to recover from the exhausting tribal tour and catch up with some messages on the internet. While in Puri we visited the Konark sun temple which was despite my temple fatigue actually a very impressive, beautiful and serene site. It is also a very interesting site as it is one of the few Hindu erotic temples famous for containing carvings depicting scenes from the Kama Sutra. Jittu our guide for the tribal tour took us around Konark temple and explained the meanings of the Karma Sutra carvings and how the Karma Sutra relates to everyday life. He did a good job of explaining the carvings but at the same time those of us who are less mature (just me and Becky really) couldn’t help but snigger like teenagers at the more risqué carvings. Despite my childishness I did however learn one thing, being a king in ancient India wasn’t all hard work!

The following day we set off at the extremely upsetting time of 6am to start our 500km journey to Calcutta. The final destination for my good mate Becky and sour very nice not so new newbies Nate and Tracy. It would also be the beginning of our journey to Darjeeling and Sikkim, the part of the trip I had most been looking forward too..........

I would like to finish today’s entry with a quick announcement that my blog now has over 20,000 (over 21,000 in fact) words, not a bad effort I hope you agree.


Additional photos below
Photos: 32, Displayed: 30


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Jenny taking a photo of ginger at a tribal marketJenny taking a photo of ginger at a tribal market
Jenny taking a photo of ginger at a tribal market

After realising my photos were rubbish I decided I would start a new project of taking photos of people taking photos.
A very quiet and relaxed temple we visited during tribal tourA very quiet and relaxed temple we visited during tribal tour
A very quiet and relaxed temple we visited during tribal tour

Although the temple was nothing special it was one of the best temples I have visited in India simply because it was so peaceful and clean.
Children having a great time playing with a tyreChildren having a great time playing with a tyre
Children having a great time playing with a tyre

This was also the site of our first bushcamp
Some local observers at a lunch stop in a woodland areaSome local observers at a lunch stop in a woodland area
Some local observers at a lunch stop in a woodland area

Even in places seemingly devoid of human life we manage to draw a large and curios crowd within minutes of stopping.
DSCF1339DSCF1339
DSCF1339

Part of my taking photos of people taking photos project
Photos of Dave taking a photo of JohnPhotos of Dave taking a photo of John
Photos of Dave taking a photo of John

Part of my taking photos of people taking photos project


22nd March 2012

Excellent blog Poindextor!

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