cool title hai na??well,i went to ooty last month for an industrial visit.and apart from seeing the industries we also happened to take a small tour of ooty and kunoor.we went to the botanical gardens in ooty.now the real cute thing abt ooty is that nothing is at 180 degrees thr.everything is at an angle.so to go around the garden we had to climb a lot of steps carved out of the mountain rocks.it was real nice.i've been to ooty before but that was wen i was real young..so officially,this is the first hill station i've been to!ya,we climbed the mountain to see the glass house,beautiful and rare plant species..lots of beautiful stuff out thr... altho we were 60 of us in class,in the garden we were allowed to go arnd with friends and we agreed to meet up at a specific place at an allotted time.so vauhini,hema and i left to 'explore' the garden.way up the hill,we came across a sign that said,'way to the mund'..now none of us knew wat a mund was,so we asked a gardener thr wat it was.he told us nonchalantly that it was where the tribals or aadhivasis lived...now the first thing that came to our mind wen we heard this was this:completely uncivilised ppl who dont wear clothes,hunt for food,and hate civilised people like us .vauhini was not quite ready to take this risk,so i had to persuade her for a long time and tell her that the gov wud never let us near anything harmful.i personally like exploring the unseen.i like getting lost,getting caught in a tight corners, adventures...i want my life to b colorful,and end with a big bang!that's Tina for u!!!.so i was ready for an adventure.now i told u already that the garden was a hill.and to get to the mund we had to climb the hill right to the top of it.now the best part of this 'expedition' was the uncertainity it posed to us.we had no idea of wat we were to behold.we three girls were alone and even if we were to shout,thr was no one who cud hear us and come to our rescue.coz as we went higher up the hill,the crowd grew thinner,and finally,it was jus us three up the hill.we were out of breath wen we reached the top,and on top this is what we saw.the slopes of an adajcent hill cast a shadow on ours and while we were standing in cool darkness,the hill before us was flooded in a sunset's brightness.it was beautiful!and ya,the slopes of the hill near ours was ploughed ready for cultivation.can u imagine the sight?a flush of green and brown greeted us...it was really awesome!!now lets get bac to the main story..thr was no one in sight but for a little boy playing with a tyre and a stick..i went right upto him and asked,"can you tell me where the tribals are?".i sounded very polite and all..but he gave me a blank look and said,"we r the tribals" and ran off.i felt like a complete idiot!these weren't the aborgine kinda tribals,they were normal like us,with ancient roots,thats all.then i looked around and saw an old man milking a cow.now this is something that i havent seen in a long time.and a little far off thr was this one weird shaped building or a hut as i wud call it.thr was a foreigner and two tribal men standing there.so we went to them.the tribals had adapted to our language and can talk fluent tamil apart from their THODA language.so i asked them about the place and people and how long they've been there and stuff.i personally take a liking to interviewing peple.mayb i'd become Jr.Simi Garewal someday!!!!!!the foreigner was pretty interested in this interview and i translated it for him.the 'hut' was a temple of the tribals-they called it the temple of the 5 pandavas.they worshiped them and a feast was held thrice a year during which a priest wud come and perform the rites and stay inside the temple.now this temple was pretty small,and the door way to it was just big enough to let a 9 year old in on all fours(u can c it in the pic).but the old man assured me that the entire clan wud fit in there pretty well.strangers r not let in and the temple is open only during the feast times.trust me ok,it was too small for the entire clan to get in,and i still havent gotten over the surprise.i even walked arnd the temple to chk it size..hmmm...we took pics with the foreigner(doesnt he look smart?he is Mr.Creece from Switzerland and he's on an all India tour!) and the tribals.now all that happened after this was completely unexpected.vauhini sat on the grass and her dress got all muddy.we had to get it washed lest the stain doesnt come off.we went into one of the tribal houses and asked them for water.we dint want to offend them so were very cautious in choosing our words.they cast suspicious looks and directed us to the most interior of their colony.from what i know of the world,i know that people like these involve in trafficking for money.so we were pretty scared wen we were sent so inside,and finally we were asked to go and ask for water from a particular house.we jus peeped in and wow!the house that looked so poor on the outside was so well furnished inside.their traditional colours are white,black and red.so all of the inside was made up of curtains and drapes in these three colours.we finally managed to wash off the stain,and we thanked them profusely for their help while feeling pretty guilty inside for doubting them.we almost left them wen we realised we cud ask for a picture with them.we were still pretty cautious not to offend them treating them like artifacts in a zoo.so we went up to one of them who helped us for a pic.she called about 10 women for the picture including the oldest lady in the clan.now it so happened that they were leaving for a wedding and were dressed in their traditional costumes.call it luck!we took pictures and climbed bac down the hill with them,while talking with them.they must hav found us pretty funny running behind them taking pics and asking wild questions..but trust me,we found it pretty hard to keep up with their speed and expertise in climbing down,and soon we had to halt for rest and let them go on.they even invited us for the wedding and told us that we were always welcome to their homes!!!wow!wasn't that nice??and by the way,in all of my class we three were the only ones who got upclose with the tribals,for the others were too lazy to climb up the hill.and it seems that the wedding was telecasted on TV the following day...well totally it was real fun,and a lot of learning too!!
