Into tribal settlements

So last week I had a chance to go to Mysore for a night. In love with that city, I jumped at the opportunity. I was even MORE enthralled to hear from my hosts in Mysore that I wouldn't be staying in a hotel or even with a host-family. No, even better. Last time I went I suppose they caught on to my deep interest in the forest and "forest-dwellers" in the Nagarhole National Park (also called Rajivgandhi National Park). So they talked with some families, and that night I slept in a tribal settlement in the forest.

After arriving to Mysore in the late morning, we spent some time drinking tea, eating, and just chit-chatting. Then, around 3 or 4 as the sun was beginning to get low in the sky, we got in a car, bags packed, and headed towards the forest.

The drive - even before entering the main gate to the forest - took a good hour, if not more. Over bumpy roads, up hill sides, we got further and further away from civilization. Understandably, I can imagine everyone picturing open fields, open lands with no people. Eh, not quite the case in India. Instead, there are still tiny villages all over the land. Even as we entered the forest there were still small villages on the roads. As we all know - there are a lot of people in this country.

As we rose up one hillside, a man in the vehicle with my tapped my elbow and pointed out the window opposite from where I was sitting. And what a sight. Next to the car the hill rolled down towards small farms, some cows grazing. Raise your eyes a little further and a lake took over the horizon. Probably one or two miles from our view point a huge lake (although I believe it's a reservoir due to the dam that was built there... HUGE problem around Mysore) took over our view. Palm trees hanging over the sides of the lake, leaves reflecting in the water. Hills and small mountains cover the back of the lake, adding some depth to the already stunning view. You can see cows drinking from the lake, some swimming and cleaning themselves - you know, just cows being cows. With wispy clouds that seem to hover above the lake, and a bright sun shining on the water - it was a sight worth gardening at for an extended period of time.

And once again, India throws this in my face. A beautiful site - even Indian's agree that it's a beautiful site. But technically it's not supposed to be a beautiful site if that makes sense. If the dam wasn't there (which everyone hates, but I do not know the details), then the view might not be as pretty.... Again, some beauty, with ugliness underlying it. What a world.

Finally, we arrived in the forest. They wanted to procure some delicacies for the evening in the tribal settlement. Mainly fish and whiskey. The whiskey I didn't care for so much, but the fish... mm - that turned out to be a delicious dinner. But let's get back to chronological order. Driving into the forest, we arrived at a small settlement with the car. After some talking in Kannada, shaking hands and saying "Namaste", talking to leader's of some women's groups in the area, I realized we weren't staying in this settlement. Even better, where we WERE staying could not be reached by a car. This is what I live for, not only forest, but being somewhere that isn't readily accessible.

By now, the light was changing. Colors were quickly disappearing and as we walked off into the bush, everything was turning a light grey. Flashlight still in my back, I reveled in following the trail only using starlight and a quarter of the moon. "Becareful Norm sir" "Norm take torch" "Are you okay Norm?". The questions from my hosts - kind, but annoying and overbearing. Again, I LOVE this stuff, so its time like these that I wasn't as little help as possible. I was also carrying all the blankets - out of choice. They were feeling uncomfortable with this, and on multiple occasions tried carrying the blankets for me. Call me a stubborn American - but I continually refused to give them the blankets. The harder they tried, the harder I clutched onto them. My reasoning? "I'm the youngest guy here, I should be carrying more."

They were just trying to be good hosts - but Indian hospitality can be overbearing. Which leads me another interesting point about hospitality. For the most part, the definition of hospitality is being a good host to your guests. However, I have been more and more finding out that the satisfaction that comes from hospitality is two-fold. One part helping your guest and the other part is your guest accepting your form of hospitality. And if I (for instance) were not to accept their form of hospitality, well then I'm sure they would be less inclined to be so hospitable. Part of the relationship is being a good guest too. Hey, it's a two way street.

So we walked for about ten minutes on small trails in single file lines. It was dark, so it was difficult to see the landscape. We arrived at a small house with some women standing on the porch. Two daughters. A wife. And a mother. Typical India. They took some straw and hay and laid it down on the ground outside of the porch and placed a mat on top. It was on that comfortable (i'm not being sarcastic) floor that we sat, chatted, and ate dinner by a combination of moonlight, starlight and a single candle. Sounds romantic I know, but, well being in the forest in general is a romantic feeling.

A single clay house is what I leaned up against. Around the outside edge was a 3 feet wide length where we placed our bags. Up two or three uneven stairs there was the main porch. No more than 7 feet long and 4 feet deep, I had to be careful not to hit my head on the cieling. To the left a small room where everyone would sleep at night. To the right, another tiny room where they kept dishes, cooking supplies etc. Behind that room was the back of the house where there was a fire pit to cook etc. All in all, the house could not have been more than a 12'x12' square. Quite small if you think about it. I would even push that 12 to 14 or 15, but then I might be overestimating.

So what did we eat for dinner? For starters they brought us out Ragi Balls and a Sambar with vegetables.

Sambar:
Ragi: (scroll down to the food section and you'll see a Ragi Ball on the right hand side)

They say Ragi balls upset tourists stomachs - however for the most part I have been fine, it's one of my favorite meals. And apparently it's way way more nutritious than regular flour. It is a delicious meal. I'm on my way to learning how to prepare them, but it's slow progress.

From there we sat for hours. Talking about the tribals, the Jenu Kurba tribe (Honey-gatherers) and Betta Kurba (basket-makers). We talked about their situation, how the government is trying to kick them OUT of the forest, yet the forest department is fighting to keep them in. Right now they are at a comfortable stand-still (so I was told) as many organizations support them and they are not about to get kicked out. Government agencies are constantly coming into the forest to asses the situation. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they get to keep their land, rights, and way of life.

From there we moved to another house with a larger "porch". Basically an open air room with a roof. We laid out mats, pillows and blankets. It was getting chilly and there were almost no mosquitoes which was a beautiful thing. I sat out on the ledge of the house in the dark for some time alone. The forest, away from people, sounds of cars, electricity, refineries, dams and all that - it's those beautiful moments in life you gotta strive for. And it's those times that we're alone that are usually the most enthralling. And hell, you might even learn something about yourself.

I woke up early in the morning (6-7am) chilly and wrapped in my blanket. Surprisingly, the clay floor beneath me (there was no cushioning, just a straw mat) didn't get cold, it kept it's warmth in the night. And if that was done on purpose - it's a stroke of genius. Well done.

We woke up, brushed our teeth, and the sounds of the forest came alive. Cows mooing, birds chirping, dogs barking. After a small breakfast, we headed out and thus ended my short time in the forest.

But oh how I want to go back. I am going to try and speak with a family and see if I can organize staying there for a week - now that would be an experience. Get a real experience of how tribal settlements work on a day to day basis. Keep your fingers crossed for that as well.

For now though, in about a week I leave again. There's this rule with Indian visa's that everyone 180 days you have to leave the country and re-enter. Well my 180 days is up on Jan 11th, so this month, for a week I'm going to Sri Lanka. I leave on the night of the 10th, so I'll try and get another blog post up before that, but no promises. More soon!

Train Ride Pictures

So here are pictures from the Puttur Train ride. I wanted them to all be large format because some of the sites are just beautiful. Therefore, if it took a while to load... sorry!

Snake Charmer Video

Well here is the first video I promised to post... it finally uploaded

Since so many videos loading on one page might make some people's computers run slowly, here is the link to the video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1zAIK3ZPYw

And as a second treat, here is the video of petting a Jaguar which I also promised -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbuwe7F2WI0

Enjoy

Finally! The start of Bangalore

What a re-introduction into Bangalore! You've all seen the pictures, so here is the story and description.

While in Mysore, I got an e-mail from my friend from the states, Paul Rosolie, that he was coming to India on Sunday. Paul is person who changed my perception on a lot of things by bringing me down to Peru to spend 2 weeks in the Amazon Jungle. It was the most amazing trip I've ever experienced. The flora, fauna, the beauty. I highly reccomend this to anyone.

In fact, before I begin with my own story I want everyone to be aware of Paul's company in Peru. The name is Tamandua Expeditions (www.tamanduajungle.com) and is run by Paul (the U.S.) and Juan-Julio (from Peru). If anyone is interested in going on an Amazon trip, finding out what Paul and Tamandu Jungle is doing to preserve the rainforest and educate people on the importance of what a big impact the rain forest has on the rest of the world, please find Tamandua Jungle or Paul on facebook, or e-mail him at: Paul@tamanduajungle.com or you can call his U.S. cell phone at: 201-675-5379

He is always looking for interested people, donations, or anything that will support the conservation of the biggest rainforest in the world. The rainforest is one of those really specific places that if something is out of place - a certain bee doesn't polinate a certain flower, or a certain animal doesn't migrate to another specific place - everything is out of whack. It affects everything else. I had the opportunity to witness when I was down there in December, that the biggest causes of these problems are loggers, oil companies and gold miners. They constantly disrupt the wildlife and flora patterns in the area. I would look into his organization, it's vastly important and I fully support all their efforts to make the world a better place. You should too.

But, onto to Bangalore. So while in Mysore, I got this e-mail from Paul and decided to arrive in Bangalore the same day as himself. I found a hotel, got some stuff unpacked and jumped on a bus to meet him at the bus terminal "Banashankari" as we had planned. I got out of the bus, and as if it were all planned out for us, Gowri and Paul got out of their auto rickshaw at the same exact time. It was all smiles and excitment, ready for what adventures lay ahead.

And off we went to eat dinner at Gowri's house. They were also nice enough to let me stay the night. The biggest change for me wasn't finally seeing friends, or being able to talk and communicate with people in a manner I was used to, it was being in a house. And not just a house. A home. A place where I fely physically and emotionally comfortable. I went from observing many different ways of life in India, living on a shoe-string budget, to living with a middle-class family. People that you might see on the street everyday, but never really see their homes.

I imagined Gowri's house as my own. If my parents were living in India, they would want the same quality of living that Gowri's parents have provided her. And it was great. A home cooked meal, a friendly cat that likes to sit on your lap, a couch. I was actually more relieved to hear that they didn't have cable TV in the house. I've gotten tired of watching TV. But I have been able to relax in the morning with a nice cup of home made chai and a paper to read. It's been great.

But being with Paul, a day of that is already too long. Let the adventure begin!!

On Tuesday, out of the blue and with no planning, we decided to go camping. Being in Bangalore, and having no idea where one could possibly go camping, I was confused. It's not like at home where we could drive 15 minutes and go to Harriman and get lost in the woods for 3 days. Instead, they told me about this giant monolithic rock. According to them, it's the second biggest in the world, called Savan Durga. The name might be misspelt. Either way, it used to be a summer home of sorts for Tipu Sultan, and what remains is the ruins of the house, some walls, and an old stable. And of course, being that it is so tall, there is a temple at the top.

So off we went. It was Paul and Gowri, as well as Gowri's sister Siri, and myself.

We took our time and climbed around the rocks, and made our way to the top. In one small alcove of rocks there was a tree with many vines growing. They grew up and down, side ways, snaking their way around the rocks and boulders, some how finding water and soil for nourishment. As amazing as the tree looked (you can see it in the pictures, the one with me crouching on a branch to the right is a good example), for us it was a play ground. Like monkeys we jumped and leaped from branch to branch. We swung and hung and made jokes and climbed around. That is, until we realized the sun was quickly setting and we needed to make it to the top before dark.

Getting to the top was not easy. There was an easier way that skirted around the more flat parts of the mountain, but the four of us were feeling adventurous that day. We decided to try for the steep part. The funny thing about climbing a steep rock face is that when you are clmbing, you exert a lot of effort. And after climbing for five minutes you get tired, and look up, and see still so much ahead of you. But then you look down, and (for me at least), it is ALWAYS surprising how far you make it in so little time. I climbed quickly, looked back, and while I still had a ways to go, the other three already looked like ants far below.

So climbing rocks that are perched at 45 degrees from flat ground, it's best to be on all fours. Not on your hands and knees (a giant gash on my knee shows why not), but using your hands for balance, and your feet to keep pushing you up. It's actually kind of fun. You feel like a monkey running up a steep cliff.

But enough games and monkey business, we finally made it to the top. And by now, night had fallen. In fact the last 10 min or so of climbing was in the dark. And since we were clamboring up this giant rock, our hands were too tied up to grab head lamps. Oh well, it makes the climb all the more exciting. You just have to pray that your footing is secure.

So we arrived at the ruins. Plain, with some graffiti, we weren't there for aesthetic value. What amazed me aesthetically is when I turned around from facing the ruins where we were camping. What lay at my feet was a vast forest of lights. Bangalore, in all it's glory. Unlike New York, which is on a relatively small space and grew up towards the sky, Bangalore is located on the Mysore Plateau and has space to grow. Even now, Bangalore is expanding out wards. There are very few 10+ story buildings, but instead, like a giant amoeba, Bangalore had spread out in front of us on this pleateau. You could almost touch it. The fortunate thing about seeing Bangalore from where we were was that you could not hear it. Thankfully it was silent except for the howling of wind on that rock.

As is standard in camping, the first thing we did was search for firewood. It was begining to get chilly. We made two fires, one inside the ruins and one outside. Both were... well, not the best to say the least. The one inside, while it was windy, produced so much smoke that you couldn't stand being inside the ruins without hacking up a lung. If a fire was going all night, there was a good chance we would have all died of asphyxiation.

I'm kidding.

But it was quite windy outside, which made the one we made outside hard to maintain. We had to move some small boulders and rocks to keep the fire protected from the wind. We talked, we jumped around, we explored a bit, and we ate Cup Noodles. After a while, we laid down and attempted to sleep. That, however, did not come easy. If you can believe it, it got so cold at night that it actually kept us from sleeping. Eventually, I think I got 2 hours of sleep or so before 6 am.

At 6:30am though, our day began anew. This time, we were going for the small forest located in the center of this rock. We climbed rock faces, and down vines. We hugged boulders as we inched our way across ledges that had just enough room for a foot. Looking down, with the wind around you was not always a good idea, as many drops were over 20 feet in depth. We leaped from boulder to boulder, branch to branch and without an planned route, made a trekking, rock climbing adventure on the rocks.

At one point I had gotten a little ahead in climbing and decided to round his one rock. Inching across quite a precarious cliff... I mean this cliff got my heart racing -I heard a strange sound. Like squeaking? Or a lot of people talking but really far away. I yelled for Paul to come hear what I was witnessing. He came over, and that's when it hit me and I understood what I was listening to. He looked at me and understood too.

Guano! That's spanish for Bats! Tons of bats! It sounded like there must have been over a hundred bats in a cave some distance away. Unfortuneately, we couldn't reach them from where we were. We were going have to descend from that cliff, and head in the general direction to try and find an entrance.

Clamboring down we reach a chamber of rocks right before the bat cave entrance. It was more of a small cathedral. We had to crawl under rocks to enter it, but once inside, it was magnificent. A giant rock created one wall, and in a dome shape went 30 feet into the air. Smoothly it curved and connected to another rock on the other side of this "cathedral". It was magnificent. But we couldn't be distracted from the task at hand. The sound of the pats was growing.

We found a narrow passage that was acting as a sort of wind tunnel. How did we know we were heading towards the bats? Well this wind tunnel was blowing air from the bat cave towards us. So it smelled. Bad. Horrible. All the feces and urine of the bats were just sitting in that cave, and the fumes were blowing in our faces. We pressed on.

The passage got tighter. And steeper. But now, in the distance we could see the shadows of bats on the ground. They were talking and flying and doing whatever bats do. Then, the passage was too tight. As we got to this point, as if the bats knew of our presence, they grew in volume. The passage was like this. It got really steep, and a rock was lodged about 4 feet above the ground. So to arrive in the cave, one would have to slip under the rock, and between the two tight walls into this small tunnel. The bat cave lay just beyond that.

First Paul got down and tried to squeeze through. His hips wouldn't make it through. Being a little smaller, I tired next. I lay on my side, kicked away debris in front of me and began to slide down. I also had too much girth to slip through. We climbed ontop of the rock that was lodged above the ground and sought out a way to get down on that side. Since it was getting steep though, we would have had to jump 10-15 feet from the rock to hit the ground. And in such a small space the danger was greater than the benefit of seeing a bat cave.

Then Gowri spoke up. "I'll go." Excellent! We thought. Gowri, so you know, is a small girl. Weighing in at about 80-90 pounds, she just barely slipped through the crevice, through some mud and feces, and down into the bat cave. All we heard from our position were "Oh my gods!" and "You guys should see this."

She hurried back through the tunnel to tell us what she witnessed. She told us it would have been bad to enter because bats were just flying around, defacating and urinating all over the place. She wasn't under neath them, but she said if we went in, it would have been impossible to dodge it all. And we didn't have an umbrella. But more amazingly, she described how there must have been hundreds of bats just hanging from the cieling, all talking and squaking, and doing what bats do best. It really shook the stereotype that bats sleep during the day. The sound of them all at times was deafening.

It was a crazy experience. Too bad we didn't get to see them that day (the rest of us) but Paul and I want to make a point to go back and make an effort to really see the cave. It was crazy that we found it in the first place. From there we continued to climb around and have fun, but that was by far the most exciting part of the experience. We eventually made it to the temple at the top, where (as you can see from pictures) it was windy!

We also found some trees with definite leopard scratches on the tree. And from the position of the tree, it would be impossible that it was a bear. Only a leopard could have the agility to climb to that position.

Sorry for the rushed post, I am trying to get through responding to e-mails and phone calls, as well as writing this. However... there is more to come! Tonight, Paul, Gowri, Siri and I are heading to Pondicherry until next week. According to everyone ever Pondy is an amazing place. A place where everyone rides their bikes, where the atmosphere is calm, and it has beaches. I'm excited to relax on a beach with some friends for the next week. So hopefully I'll have some good stories for when I return.

However, on the blogs next episode: Hanchehalli, The Archimedes Rock, and Pondicherry!

More soon!

Pictures of Hanchehalli

Hello everyone! Sorry about the delay on blog posts, I've been busy as you can see. These are all pictures of the adventures I've been on since arriving in Bangalore. I'll describe them briefly, but full story-style posts to explain all these pictures will soon follow. For now, enjoy the pictures!

For the record:

Hanchehalli is a small town about 3 hours south of Bangalore. Gowri's parents own the farm, and a family lives there year-round to take care of the crops and the house. We luckily have the opportunity to visit the village and farm from time to time and climb the rocks, explore for snakes, and enjoy some time away from the city.

For the previous post: Savandurga is (so I was told) the second biggest monolithic rock in the world. It's only about an hour and a half away from the southern part of Bangalore. It used to be a summer post for Tipu Sultan where there are now ruins from an old stable, temple etc. We were able to camp in one of the ruins. More details to follow.

Rock formation just up from the farm at Hanchehalli

Sunset. In the zoomed out picture you can see Savandurga looming in the background (to the left).

A market on the way back to Bangalore

The road home... beautiful

I can't really describe these pictures... just wait to see the video that accompanies these pictures. Lets just say that that rock is no longer on that cliff.

Relaxing above the farm. If you look closely, just to the left of me there is a small patch of trees way below. You can see the roof of the farm house.

Rock climbing near the farm

Lotus flowers in a pond right outside the house. They only come out at night and close up shortly after morning arrives.

Enjoying the view... the bottom picture was taken first... soon after the clouds and storm rolled in, and the second (top picture) was taken. It's dark but you can see Paul and I standing on the rocks.

Rock jumping.. from right to the left

A view at Hanchehalli

AWESOME LEAF BUG

Praying Mantis... sweet

Crazy Catapillar

Pictures of Bangalore and Savandurga

Paul and I at the Nandi temple on the top of Savan Durga, the second biggest monolithic rock in the world.

A view from the top

Just to show you how windy it got at the top... standing was a challenge

Leopard marks on a tree. You can see the scratches on the right and left side of the branch.

Roots growing through rocks... and we think rocks are tough....

Climbing down a rock wall using these conveniently placed roots. The only precarious thing was some of them were rotten, so falling 24 feet onto rocks would have hurt.

The view from the ruins where we camped for the night

Myself, Siri, Paul and Gowri at 3am because it was too cold to sleep. Who would have thought that it could get too cold near Bangalore

An insane tree on Savan Durga

A tree growing amongst the rocks. The first one you can see me crouching amongst the vines on the right hand side, and the bottom one is me looking up at Gowri.

And then there was one...

In an interesting turn of events, Jared, Mark and I decided to go separate paths through India earlier than expected. The other day, before leaving for New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, we wanted to make sure there was going to be a hotel available in Darjeeling. Jared was on the phone all day looking for a hotel with nothing turning up.

It was strange, many hotels didn't answer, many said they were closed - but way more than seemed normal. We finally got a chance to talk to someone in Darjeeling and asked if they knew why...

Apparently Darjeeling is on strike.

The whole city has been closed down for the past week or two because of this strike. Darjeeling, (for supposed economic reasons says my informant in Sikkim) wants to be a separate state. I suppose there is more government funding if they are a separate state and have decided to stop working. Even buses aren't running to the city.

No matter, it makes life more exciting. They spent the next 3 hours planning trips into Nepal and going on treks. I decided I was going to stick to the plan and head as far north into Sikkim as possible. So at 6:30 pm on Thursday I left for the train station Mugal Sarai, 16km away from Varanasi. A 9:00pm train (arriving 45 min late) picked me up and off I went. Albeit a little nervous as I had no plan of action, but excited for the same reason.

On the train I had a met a very interesting person. Pawa Gupta, a devot Hindu, and his nephew, were on a train back to NJP (New Jalpaiguri) from the nephew's father's (his brother's) funeral. Clad in white, Pawa spoke almost perfect English. Even his 16 year old nephew, who was still in school spoke English very well.

We spoke about many things over the course of the next 16-17 hours. Life, religion, spirituality, economics, Indian education and reform, Indian government and it's corruption, the list goes on. Thinking back on it, it was like one of those conversations you hear in novels. It was very invigorating.

When I arrived in NJP at around 1:30 pm, I had heard that you can share a jeep for Rs. 150 a seat to Gangtok. How convenient, exactly that happened. So we packed our stuff, waited for more people and in about 2 hours we were off. How fun I thought - until I realized we were cramming 10 people into a 7 person jeep. I was also quite discouraged because I had not yet seen one mountain, and I was already getting pretty far north. (NJP is on the northern end of West Bengal).

So we drove. Crammed, we drove. I listened to music, no more than 5 inches space between my knees, and we drove down bumpy roads. And large speed bumps. We hit our heads and fell asleep on each other. When we stopped, we prayed for a strong wind to blow the heat away. Thankfully at certain points, some people got off. Certain points.... in the moutains!

Yes! They arrived! We drove through the mist and the clouds and the dust, and we began going up. But let me correct myself. They weren't mountains... apparently, considering the Himalayas are just some more kilometers north, these are the hills. But compared to American hills (NE America) these are mountains. Wet, forest covered, dense mountains. With more flora than you care to trudge through. Winding roads up the sides of these cliffs, foliage on one side, gorge and river on the other.

So we climbed, following the Teesta River to Gangtok. 90+ km from NJP. 4 Hours and we finally arrive, and it's dark. I have now been traveling by land for 24 hours, and I am TIRED. And I was discouraged. I forgot I needed a permit to enter Sikkim. And that Sikkim has semi-strict nature and camping and trekking rules. So I opened my book to see what I could do. Tourists are barely allowed anywhere! And you can't really go anywhere alone - buses don't run to villages, etc. Discouraged, I closed the book and hoped that it was wrong (since it had been before).

I arrive to a hotel I found in my book with Dorm style rooms. Nice and cheap, Rs. 70. It was right for once. To top it off, its not peak tourist season, and there is only one other person in the room. Who leaves at 6am tomorrow. So for Rs. 70, I have a room to myself (we were paying Rs. 500+ before for triples). To top it off again (here's the cherry), I spoke breifly with the clerk at the hotel about what treks they offered, how much etc., and he was saying how the price all depends on how many other people go.

And then he said - "But we do offer solo treks."

Let's just hope it doesn't rain tomorrow.