Hill Tribes

After spending a few days in some of the most dirty cities I have ever been in I arrived  at a wonderful place in the restricted area of Orissa and the hill tribes.  I traveled through the Chandoori market today and it was wonderful.  It’s very difficult to get into this region and my small group of folks were the only westerners in sight.  The tribes come down from the hills and sometimes walk 20 miles with these ridiculous loads on their heads to arrive at the market before dawn.  In Chandoori they buy, sell and trade their crafts for food staples and other necessities they need in their villages.  Then at the end of the day they pack up and walk back.  It’s a very typical market that can be seen in Guatemala or Ecuador but it never ceases to amaze me.  The colors of the saris in this market were breathtaking.  Everyone I met was smiling and kind to me as I wondered through.  The lines on the faces told many stories and life was everywhere.  I even caught the strange custom of smoking a cigar with the lighted end in the mouth.  Being in the market reminded me of how we in the West tend to marginalize indigenous cultures around the world.  Watching a fit six foot 4 inch British man from our party try to balance and carry a load of clay was an eye opener.  He then smiled and gave it back to the 5 foot 4 inch indian who weighted all of 130 pounds who smiled back and carried it off into the distance.   Or watching the man repair a motorbike with one wrench and a few wires.  Traveling by road also reminds me that women in the world are still under attack and exploited.  Watching them work on the margins of life while barely being acknowledged by the male society is heartbreaking.   I feel that India will get there but they still have a long way to go and so does the West in it’s treatment of native peoples and their rights to be human beings.