Velutha

'Velutha' the tribal chief had the most intriguing features I have seen in Kerala. He was very short, had Mongolian features, and few long hairs which couldn't really be called as moustache! His language was a mixture of Malayalam and tribal dialect and was such a great guy for all the warmth he was showing on us. We shared our food and asked him about the route to Soochipara from where we were standing.


Which way? Kalakkapuzha

I still remember the way he was laughing for every single question we asked. Those were really stupid questions, but well we didn't hesitate to ask to get some indigenous knowledge ;)

*Are there elephants here? (Yes of of course!)
*Will they chase you? (He he, They are elephants, they will definitely chase you if you are on its path!)
*What will you do when they chase you?( He He, What do you think I will do? I will run like anyone else!)

Considering the conflicting answers he gave us for the directions, these were straight forward answers :)

I still remember how much he was laughing seeing me jumping (falling!) into water after seeing a snake moving swiftly between my legs. He continued to laugh through out our interaction.

Later that night, when we got stuck in the forest and wondering how to spend the night, all his laughter made sense to us! He was basically laughing at our stupidity of exploring an area that we didn't know at all!

© GP 2007