"One drop of water helps to swell the ocean; a spark of fire helps to give light to the world. None are too small, too feeble, too poor to be of service. Think of this and act.”
—Hannah More (1745-1833), writer
Dear JY,
All tied their towels on the head….resumed our Journey to the Community; As Shadows were lessening; took long steps…. ‘Adhivaasi Moopan’ walked in the front….who knows the language of forest…
(Journey continues…)Extract from Travelogue to Man and nature…
The Sun was spitting heat on us without any mercy…I poured a bottle of water over my head to lessen the hot…I leaned forward so that water couldn’t fall on my shirt…The thought of reaching the forest village by noon time compelled us to put long steps….In the Far we could see the Idamalayar dam just as a small wall, through the thickly populated trees…In the left side of the Road, there is a Tribal School…pupils were running around the compound…some among them were looking on us with freshness…and strangeness…The Road is extending towards the Dam… As we were moving forward… tan(y/x) was increasing, Then the road was taking a hair pain curve…we didn’t go on that way as it consumes more time. There was a short cut way (like a staircase) which we felt as a blessing… There were a hundreds of steps for the way; so steep, which made us tired at the middle way itself… Reached at the same road towards the Dam…
We took some long breath of air there and found some space to rest… Rubbed the sweat with the Towels…‘Hey, ingane irunnal karyangal nadakkilla.. onnu usharayikke’, Sudhante upadesham…Hmm Again moved by the side of the road by seeing the beauty of the Banyan Trees…One side was hill covered with Thick forest ….Valley at other side…On one curve, a small fresh stream was flowing down to the Road; It was transparent like a Baby’s Tear…Trees alleviated the joules of the heat…cool breeze were fondling us …. “If we were taking the main road for the Journey…It would take more time..”. Kaani told in Malayalam…So he lead us to a route which is through the forest…from the road we could see a 2 feet wide way to the jungle…Rocks were placed like steps…like an amateur mountaineer we held the rock and moved up…people reached first to the forest way, pulled up others…Felt the splendid nature for the first time…herbs, shrubs, plants were moving like a kindergarten children…Birds were singing on their own pitches…Nature was setting a brilliant orchestra like a Mozart’s Symphony… ‘Adhivaasi Moopan’ cleared the way with his stick…As the time passes the way became more and more wide…we had seen people who were coming against us…going to Kothamangalam market with their fresh vegetables…
Small chats and jokes kept away the tiredness of the journey…All were contributing their own jokes….Manoj and Sreekanth were walking in the front ….Others were walking asif going to the church…dead slow…ithinidayil, Sebin was pushing himself up… ‘Enikku Bhayangara Dhairyam Aanu…I can walk alone in this forest, No problem’….Njangalu Avane onnu Aakki chirichu…Athe Athe…The way was covered with the dried leaves…so when we were putting our leg in the ground…leaves a sound like ‘pappadam pollickal’…After a while Ajjo scremed out… ‘Snake, Snake’….Atheeva courageous aaya ente friend Sebin…jumped on my shoulder and Ayyo evideya ! (vepralathode)… ..Njan Pattiche…Ajjo Chirichu…
On the way…. Two things worried us….One was ,After a long walk still we were not reaching the Community…Other was the peoples(Mr. Manoj & Mr. Sreekanth) who were walking in the front of us were missing…
When we were taking a curve….With a loud roar, two ‘animals’ jumped infront of us…Again the ‘courageous’ Sebin stumbled there and he couldn’t even move his legs back…
These two ‘animals’ were none other than Sreekanth and Manoj…All others smiled at them as their (watered) cracker ‘cheetipoyi…’ So they made another big roar!...Podei podei…But (Paavam) Sebin, Avan veedum Njetti…But it was clear that everyone had a little fear in the mind ,since it was the first experience through the dark forest …(Pedikkathirikkan Veerappan Allalo)..
On the way Moopan was telling the story, about forest, about life styles, government policies, cultivation, incomes, of Aadivaasi’s.. .We had given him a keen attention. And interfered with some queries…He was telling there were two Aadivaasi Communities… One is ‘Idukki Kudi’ and other one is ‘Ernakulam kudi’…(There was some other name for the place. I forgot)...All the time some public service people would come and take the details of us and after that there were no news… ( Moopan Njangale onnu iruthiyathu aayirunno ). Now Government posted our people as securities of the Forest , A small relief…At last, we saw the ‘water’, .A house in the middle of a cultivated area…Moopan Told.. ‘That is my House’…we stood on the muddy road in front of his home…
First House…
We went to his Home, neatly constructed with earth bricks, a small courtyard in the front…Two goats were tied on a coconut tree….A good bunch of green coconuts on the top….Some of us were standing, others were sitting on their legs…asked about his family….two sons and a wife…He gave us some water to drink....At the end we asked what you were expecting from us….Main problem here was the scarcity of pure water…The Panchayathu constructed one Big pond to solve the problem…But you know water was not good to drink...He showed us the piping system and water tank…
We moved to the next home…Again we sat down near to one Manger (Goat shed)..There we took our lunch…Four pieces of bread and a little fish gravy from that house…I had never taken before such a delicious ‘Meen curry’. After had our lunch and expressed thanks to the family, moved to the next door…There we saw the Men’s greatest effort to survive…An young man alone was digging a Well for his family…Working hard on the rocks to find the drops of water…His wife showed the water pipe in front of the home and the color of the water too…Yellowish. She showed the Pond to us and pointed her fingers towards the hill where the water tank is…There, we took a decision to clean the Pond and Water tank…Man’s One of the basic needs shall be answered…They have the right to drink pure water…
We visited some more homes on that day…got a little awareness of their religion, habits, relations….We didn’t know the time was up for a ‘Kattu irakkam’….Time was around 4:00 pm…had seen the ‘Kaani’ b4 the departure…Told…Will Come Again..
Ennu Snehapoorvam
Subin
On the way back, we got an young Adhivaasi…We ‘stabbed’ him with our small ‘knife’ …He was telling…Once a Mason came to the ‘Kudi’ to construct one home…While coming through the forest…He was telling… “I’m not afraid of the wild Elephants…Elephants were grass to me…They cannot put even a little sand on my body…Ente Adutha Aanakalude okke kali”…On the same day, evening…Elephant caught him on the way…Aadivaasi told…. ‘You know, He ran with out any clothes through the Forest …..’ Aana yude adutha avante oru kali’….Animals gets the smell of your attitude…So take care!
Chetta, Sebine ingane ittu pedippikkathe. .Akaala charamam prapikkum
We said bye to him at the Idamalayar junction…..Hey, Come, on next April; it is a season of Wild Fruits and Honey……
(Your soul...is a dark forest. But the trees are of a particular species, they are genealogical trees.)
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