“Freedom is my biggest income. As long as ‘the humanity’ within my heart never subsides, I will continue to remain happy. This is our home. We will try and make our life better here. We all have dreams but not all of us know how to turn them into reality,” said Kumar as we drove […]
Read more "Day 34 (Final Part): ‘Sometimes, you don’t need to speak the same language’"Unknown faces would pass by Kali all day. Some waited for him to finish his story. Some left without listening. Nonetheless, he stood there everyday making his voice heard, his presence felt. “Today, I tell his story. It’s the least I could do to keep his memory alive. My father died five years ago. His real […]
Read more "Day 33 (Part 3): ‘We have learnt to draw boundaries on water today’"The next day we woke up early to continue our journey towards the eastern coast. We took a detour through the hills of Kodaikanal instead of the charted route. On our way, we asked some policemen patrolling the area for directions to Madurai. “Up ahead, you will see a yellow house with a red roof. […]
Read more "Day 32: In search of unspoken tales of a ghost town…"We drove from Attapadi towards Dhanushkodi. As we traversed the uplands through long and arduous roads, we said our final goodbyes to the forests, hills and its inhabitants. We decided to make a quick stop at Kodaikanal before heading to the ghost town situated to the South-East of Pamban Island in Tamil Nadu. On a […]
Read more "Day 31: En route to the ‘Gift of the Forests’"Crumbled pages fluttered in the light breeze amidst piles of books. Some sat forlorn, stacked on the shelf. Some were discarded. And, then there were those that once held records of importance. It didn’t matter now. For, they were all just gathering dust in the offices of a department that left no stone unturned to […]
Read more "Day 30 (Final Part): We are all to be blamed for tribal downfall"Sheen and Radhakrishnan visited us early in the morning. They suggested that we make a trip to the Attapadi Hills Area Development Society (AHADS) quarters since it has been instrumental in augmenting the lives of tribal families for years. Considered by the State Government to implement the Attapadi Wasteland Comprehensive Environmental Conservation Project, the society’s […]
Read more "Day 30 (Part 1): ‘The first thing the government did was take away all the computers’"The Irinjalakuda boys surprised us with an early morning visit. Since, we had been travelling to tribal hamlets for the past few days, we decided to relax and explore the hills today. After a quick breakfast of idli and appam, we headed towards Joby’s farm – a secluded paradise situated away from town. It rained […]
Read more "Day 29 (Final Part): ‘The problem lies with human beings’"