“Ask them what their names are”, a father manning a street food stall gently commands her young daughter of not over ten years old. The beaming but shy little
girl obliges, “What is your name?” she inquired staring wide-eyed at my friend. “I am Karla and
this is Marky and your name is?” answered my ever responsive friend. The young girl
smiled before telling us her name “I’m
Amara”.
Our local guide and Pench
Tree Lodge’s resident Naturalist Chinmay Deshpande explained to us that young girls in the village are always eager to meet foreign travelers – especially English
speaking ones because they wanted to practice speaking the language. While Karla
talked to Amara, Chinmay further engrossed us with detailed explanation of
the various kind of street food being vended by Amara’s father.
 |
| The very friendly Amara |
Karla even tried making a Jalebi - a sweet food made from all-purpose
flour battered in pretzel and soaked in sugar syrup, then dipped to form
circular shapes into a deep frying pan. We were at a market in the village of Vijaypani in the Seoni district of the state of Madhya Pradesh. The village is
about 15 kilometers from our accommodation the Pench Tree Lodge.
 |
| A cook shows us how to make a Jalebi |
The Haat or Weekly Market
Just when I thought I’ve
seen every concept of markets in Asia, I got introduced to this model of haat souk. A haat is a weekly market
prevalent in many rural areas in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. Haat
bazaars aren't permanent and are set up on specific days in different
places.
In Seoni, haat markets are
held in a different village every day. In Vijaypani, traders set up stalls
every Tuesday. Occupying a few blocks of
the village near a corn field, the small haat seems to have everything a normal
villager would look to purchase for household needs. One row sells fresh
vegetables, another one trades poultry produce and seafood while others are for peddling clothes, spices, and even jewelries.
Like all markets you can
hear loud haggling that raises decibel levels whenever vendors starts competing with each other. "70 rupees
one kilo onion" a hawker would yell to attract the attention of a
buyer and another one would offer a lower price by bawling out a better deal "60 rupees onion one kilo".
It was like the rural version
of a Sotheby’s auction house – only more colorful and animated. What fascinated me is their practice of using
old weighing scale wherein you have to balance your procured items with a 1
kilo, 2 kilo and up to 5 kilo stone, to know the exact weight of your
purchases.
 |
| Chinmay, demoing to us how to use the stone weighing scale |
Sarra-Hirri Village of the Gondi Tribe
On our way back from the
haat to Pench Tree Lodge, Chinmay took us to the Sarra-Hirri Village, which is
located along our route. This small town is inhabited by the people belonging
to the Gondi Tribe.
The Gondi people spreads
across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Maharashtra, Telangana and Orissa in India. They are considered as part of the
"Scheduled Tribes" of India
- a classification given to "historically
disadvantaged people in India" [1]
Ethnic groups belonging to
the Scheduled Tribes classification
used to form the lowest part of Hindu Society, therefore modern literature
referring to them as "untouchables".
Thanks to the new constitution effected after the Independence of India, tribes
classified as Scheduled Tribes and Castes were allowed political representation
and has since achieved 'Positive Discrimination'. This means tribe members can
pursue education and allowed employment to government and private
organizations.
It was almost sunset as evidenced by the rays of the sun emitting sparkling sheen at the tips of golden
corn fields, when we arrived at their small village. The village sits in the middle of a long winding road verged by lush paddies of rice and corn.
At first we only saw a few
mothers mingling outside and a few kids fetching water from the neighborhood
well. As soon as they caught sight of us, more people came out of their house
eager to socialize with us.
Through Chinmay who acted as our interpreter, we learned quite a few things about their way of life. The
mothers all wear their traditional clothes of sari and Patiala salwar. Appearing
very colorful and tasteful, both the sari and the Patiala are the favorite of
the village women because of its comfort and coolness to the body even during
summertime.
Even in this modern times,
the Gondi tribe still live in their own traditional houses made of clay and
roofed with shingles or ‘kavelu’. Outside each home, you can see their farm and
poultry animals such as cows, goats and chickens lazily lounging around.
After entertaining the
kids who crowded us and asked for group selfies on our phones, we bade them
goodbye before pedaling back to our place.
What seems to be a simple
exploration of the countryside surrounding Pench Tree Lodge ended up as a very absorbing
and educational bicycle tour, about facets of local culture as well as
the way of life of the Gondi people.
