Just 4days, what all could we possibly cover in those 4 days was what I thought before going to Honnavar. However even those 4 days we grasped a lot. Honnavar a beautiful place on the western coast in north Karnataka was a place of great learning. The cultures and the rituals there itself were very diverse. On different islands around Honnavar lived people from different communities all having their own way of livelihood.
Eventually on the first day we had no idea of where to start from. Savita, whose house we were all put up at and her family were very helpful. There was a lot to explore. Each area of research was interesting. We all had an eye on everything going on in our surroundings however each of our focus points were different. I narrowed down to doing research on the need based craft.
Day 1
We had yummy ‘kotte rotti’ breakfast in the morning and we had an experience to the beautiful art Gomakkul community called ‘Shedi Kale’ by Hanumi who belonged to the same community. The paint which were actually a paste made naturally out of clay and different stones and also the brush made of beetle nut husk was something we had not seen before... We participated in using this new tools make the art. The same day we also visited the Mavinkurve islands in the evening. There we learnt how they made mats out of the grass which grew locally on and near the island. The boat ride to and fro was worth after having to meet the family there. Learn their way of living, weave mats, listen to their songs and greet them and the beautiful scenery.
With the day ahead we had a full course south Indian meal for dinner. Each day we were served different type of delicacy from the south.
At the Mavinkurve islands where we visited the Byali Mane family, we learnt what they and many other people in that community did for their living and how they lived(having a tour through their house). How sand mining which was yet illegal was carried o, on a large scale here, also how marriages happened here and about the dying craft of mat weaving and how most of the objects made locally were overtaken by the plastic replicas.
Day 2
Next day started early as we visited the ‘Salvador Mane’ and learnt the way they made their living by making ropes. The entire process of decaying the coconut husk for 9 months, beating it to produce fibres and then drying and turning it into rope was interesting to see. The traditional way of making the rope was with hands, which is now replaced by a machine made locally. It was a sustainable design which worked without electricity or any other power resource. We visited a few more houses in the same area and found out that the people of this community were mainly Christians and made ropes and did agriculture mainly on others farms for a living. Also being a coastal area sea food was a delicacy there.
We also visited another part of the Mavinkurve island which belonged to the Gomakkul community. We visited their houses. We learnt that most of the families living in different houses were related to each other. One of the families invited us to their house to have a sweet dish called ‘shevge hutla’ which is a delicacy prepared especially when a woman is pregnant. We saw the entire process of how the rice was made indo shev and how the coconut milk was prepared. We also tied to make it on our own and tried a hand on churning butter. Later we returned home and had one more surprise in store.
The same evening we had two women from the Halakki tribal community who came to visit us. We got to know about their lifestyle, what they think what they knew, their approach towards life etc. We had a small one on one discussion with them where they asked us questions. It was a different approach towards doing research. Later in the evening the tribal women dressed us in their attire and we had a beautiful dance and music session. The most interesting part of the attire was the jewellery which drew my attention the most. I later decided to make this as the subject of my research further. We had a wonderful day and a tiring one with lot of walking around in the rains. A tight sleep was needed.
Day 3
Next day was followed by a heavy rainfall. The rain did not stop and we did not. We left for a visit to the Halakki village. Each village settlement here is called a koppa which is taken care by a selected head of that community. As today I had focused myself to look at the different jewellery dressing i realised that the current generation did the follow it. The ornaments were only worn by the older crowd. This was sadly a dying ritual. The ornaments worn by the women beautified them even more. I got to learn the story, the custom, and the ritual behind the ornaments.
We spent a long time in the village visiting a lot of houses, talking to them etc. The ladies were very shy. They were not too outspoken but they loved to express themselves in the form of music. One f the house e visited was the one where en sang and played tabla. Their instruments were made of pots covered with lizard skin. A very locally made instrument but very powerful. The voice was raw but yet fresh to hear. They usually sang this during harvest times at nights which continued to till dawn. We also interacted with them and danced on their music while they did their ‘Suggi dance’ on our music.
Left for home for a late lunch followed by a session of learning how to make thread out of the thread for the jewellery out of a cactus leaf fibre and made pouches for filling idly batter of jackfruit leaf for the next day breakfast.
The day ended up with a wonderful meal and some fun.
Day 4
We had discussions on our project to come the next week. Ten we had an experience to the Brahmin meal. We enjoyed the entire experience of the way it was cooked, served and finally eaten.
As it was last day we had a visit to a beach which was fun filled with lot of rain and high tides. We returned home to some hot Pakodas and left at 8 pm for Bangalore with our bags packed with wonderful memories and a lot of experience and learning’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment