Stories from Wayanad

 Stepping out of the transport bus at four in the morning, little did I know that I had landed in a place that was going to change  my whole perspective on life.

Nestled in the wide green canvas, Wayanad is a place that a free spirited person would find hard to leave. Once you are there, chances are that you get hooked to the place. Home to rich and diverse flora and fauna, the place is listed as one of the biodiversity hotspots. Known as the land of the paddy fields, Wayanad attracts nature lovers from all corners of the world. Since my purpose of visit meant some serious academic field work, I started off on the journey with no intention of writing about the travel. So I consciously turned off my mental note taking mode and donned a scholarly demeanor, a fake one though.
A few days on, as I look back, I can't help but write about my travel. Such were the experiences that the place and its people gifted me with.

While the rest of Kerala is coping hard with the rising mercury levels, the inhabitants of Wayanad find solace from the trees and the mountains that the region so proudly exhibits. I had the most comfortable stay at this place where the cool nights, the bright mornings and the engulfing mountains fueled bundles and bundles of energy into me. Pazhashiraja tomb and museum took me back to the time when the pristine landscape of Waynad became the backdrop for some historically significant battles.

Meeting Ramettan who is renowned for his cultivation of around forty one varieties of paddy was an enriching experience. The aura around his hut played with my senses and left me with the spirit of a child. Sitting on the cow-dung paved floor, I listened to his age- old knowledge as a small girl would to her grandparent.

lending a curious ear to Ramettan

 Ramettan's hut 

 The first drops of rain hit me while I was breezing through the calm Jain temple. As I  stepped on the cool rock floor of the empty shrine, divinity in its purest form was experienced. The place looked vibrant with many colours when spells of rain made an unexpected visit in the evening. Passing through the narrow lane with the car windows pulled down, I allowed as much as water to splash on me, trying to dissolve in the simple beauty that the rain drenched tea plantations exuded.

  blooms that surprised us

Since my field work involved personal interactions with the largest tribal community of Kerala, it was them I spent most of the time with. Four days were just too short a time to gain an ethnographic understanding, but during those days I learnt and realised things which I never had all these twenty five years of my life!

I met a bunch of large hearted men and women. I met their hunger- starved children who refused to go to schools. As I ate from their plates, I literally tasted an other world that was largely happy and content with the simple, aspiration-less life they were leading. As we talked, I knew what the 'excruciating pain' that I had read only in books really meant.

The old lady who shied away from telling her story and was busy making her paan

What I saw was only hunger. And the life-long struggle to combat hunger and to survive. When I left their huts with my unfilled questionnaires, my mind was filled with many more questions, most lacking answers. My mind became burdened as I fumbled for solutions to a whole lot of critical issues. As the smiling faces waved goodbye to me after our day long chatting, I felt the pain of leaving something dear and near.

Sheeba chechy and all her family members

  To all the adivasis who shared their stories with me,
             You touched my heart in ways I can't explain. My presence wouldn't have meant anything to you, but time spent in your midst have impacted me hugely. I saw hunger from the most closest quarters. You made me understand what it is to live with the most meager needs and hopes. You helped me re-think on life.
When I sit at my table to eat, it's your faces and your lives, punctuated by your constant paan chewing, laughter and the classic brawls, that I think of.

I felt a lot of pain listening to you. And I'm sharing it with the world which you know so so little about.