Ladybug's field notes

About 20 km before Baihar we started the real field travel as I had come to understand it by then. We left the all-weather road soon and took all possible form of fair weather roads. Every possible form that you can think of. They presented themselves as two white lines running parallel  with a patch of grass in between, a white serpentine line with thorns and stones on either side on which the jeep's tire had to balance, a white line hell-bent on falling in a ditch and all the other sorts as well. Sun bade me goodbye for the day behind the Baiga houses on a hill-top.  When we started for Harratola, after Chuka-tola it had turned pitch dark . They told that it was about 12-15 km away. By that time of the evening I started realizing that having women NGO workers around does not guarantee sensitive treatment and took a voluntary retirement from looking for it. This bit of the journey that took us an hour could be completed only by Tempo Trax Gama (my dream vehicle) t...

Rains make me nostalgic about Odisha. No! Not Mumbai, you snob Mumbaikars! Although you happen to be some of my closest friends, I must say you are way too snob on that and I have taken up this sovereign duty on my shoulders to make sure you learn that there can be non-stop rain in other parts of the country too. And no! "Aala..aala paausaa" is not the only song of its kind.  I spent 4 eventful years in Odisha and learnt names of places that my Odiya friends never heard of . That is among other things I mean. What did you think now?! My work involved travelling to various tribal districts of Odisha which included,  Boudh , Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Rayagada, Nayagarh,   Dhenkanal  and Angul. Dhenkanal is known for its educational institutes and Angul generally reminds people of the big factories including National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) but I saw a different Angul and a very different Dhenkanal. This is a post to share that story. Pallahara Blo...

In a winter morning, I travelled from Nagpur to the south western tip of Madhya Pradesh, the heartland of India. Balaghat district is close to 3 other states at least, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Even Orissa is not far away. State borders have their own problems everywhere. Naxalism or violent guerrilla wars in small pockets for changing social order (termed as biggest internal security threat in India by the present PM) is prevalent in the region. Whether it works towards changing the social order or not, this gives the reluctant authorities another reason to keep away from the area. Baigas are a Primitive Tribe Group (PTGs) and has a history of being pushed or rather shoved around. Baigas like to live in small communities in far flung areas and mostly deep inside the forests and on the hill tops. Their hamlets in this area are in and around the famous Kanha National Park.  Baigas are reducing in number every year even in the absence of any govern...

This was in Thane district of Maharastra before the monsoon. I spent one and a half day in the field doing nothing due to mis-communication, in the very begining. I and my colleague spent about 36 hours in a village named Nandgaon. We slept in the open veranda in the afternoon sweating and waiting for rain and did so in the night too. As soon as the sun went down, we climbed up the hillock nearby and stood on top of the biggest rock available and we waved our hands like people stranded in uninhabited islands to get signal in our respective mobiles. My colleague was much taller than me so he could talk normally whereas I had to shout on top of my voice keeping the phone up in the air in loudspeaker mode just to convey home that I was fine (winking)! The incident early next morning was the crowning glory of this part of the trip. A cow followed me when I left for my nature’s call and I do not want you to puke by telling why it did so! But, yes Indian cows of Hindu mythology like variety...