My Journey to Kothagiri in Nilgiris

I have been to Kothagiri, Nilgiris (Popularly known as Ooty) recently and I spent four enchanting days there. I have been to Ooty earlier as a tourist as well as for some work. Ooty is also beautiful but too crowded and too commercialized to my comfort. Walking through the tea estates was fun. But the real excitement started when we walked beyond the private estates (owned by wealthy classes and politicians) and entered the forest area. The local person who accompanied us was also some sort of a historian. He told us that the name Kothagiri means Kothar’s Giri (Mountain of the kothars- a primitive tribe in the area). Now most of this mountain ranges are owned by the wealthy and the politicians. Yet another long and dreadful story of exploitation of the Tribal over the centuries! Thanks to the British; they initiated the ritual of chucking out the tribal from their lands unceremoniously. And the mighty Indians followed it shamelessly. The local person explained to us with specific names of the politicians or the industrialist who owned a particular part of the mountain.

My trip was to meet the tribal, original inhabitants of the mountains, who were pushed towards the interior forests. Trekking through the thick woods breathlessly was fun as the ambience was enchanting and breathtaking. The forest was infested (I mean inhabited) by bison and also bears. The accompanying person narrated interesting (bizarre) stories of encounters with bison and bears. People would howl, at the top of their voice, or would throw huge stones (not in the direction of the bear but in a different direction, basically to create a huge noise) when they accidently met with a bear. And at nights, the tribal see to it that they ventured out in a group. The most interesting fact that I heard from the tribal leader was that, earlier, they never had the concept of fencing; they considered the whole forest as theirs. There was no need for a fence. Now they do have fencing around whatever little land they hold; but the community shares most of the things (even if it is a jackfruit from the forest). It is unheard of among us the ‘cultured’ and ‘civilized’ people. Thank God, we did not encounter any bears on the way. But only once, my leisurely walk ended abruptly when we saw a couple of bison hanging around a tea estate. It was too close to comfort.

The deforestation and climate change have made the lives of the tribal and the wild animals miserable in a similar way. They both lived harmoniously with nature for ages. Now the loss of the forests and lack of rains together have disturbed the balance of the eco system and as a result the wild animals do not have much to eat in the forest. They encroach into the agricultural land of the tribal and destroy whatever they see. Animals also come out looking for water. The tribal are not able to cultivate the traditional crops/grains which had given them a balanced diet. Yet another issue is that of rice having become the staple diet thanks to the free rice distribution by the government and the appalling disappearance traditional food grains. The shift away from millets to rice has certainly contributed to incidence of malnutrition in the region. Man animal conflict is frequent now. The animals do tread into the city sometimes

Tribal hamlets are small, around 20 to 30 families. I met the tribal women at their hamlet and we had a long chat about their lives, tradition and their aspirations. It is really sad that they no longer practice the traditional medicine and a number of persons who know the wonderful secrets of the plants and herbal kingdom have reduced into just a few. This exceptional knowledge may vanish from them (as these are typically transmitted through the oral tradition; no records are kept) forever, if efforts are not taken to preserve it. I felt happy that their music has not left them so far. The drums talked loudly. It was their festival season and they will travel a long distance through the forest to visit their kula deivam (traditional deity) drumming throughout the day. And they will have a special puja and a social feast will follow.

We trekked down silently listening to the whispering of the huge trees and the slow whistling of the wind hugging the tea estates. I am confused now; totally confused. What is development? Who are we to define development in our own terms? What is education? Is there something called culturally sensitive education? How the present education system is going to help them when the schools and hostels are not providing quality education and work only in name ? There are lots of questions to be answered. Well. It’s unfortunate that the answer is not blowing in the wind. The answer is not blowing in the wind!