new horizons

Postboxes in Visakhapatanam bus station.

Let’s go to Koraput….A gruelling 24 hours of travelling, overnight 3rd class sleeper (fuck!!!) train to Visakhapatnam on the coast, a long hot wait and then a 7 hour bus ride,  turned out to be one of the best decisions I made in India. I totally fell in love with the hill tribe people and their villages in a 80km radius around Koraput, in Orissa. We had an amazing guide – found by chance – in Mr. Pujari. Two days here have flown past and it will certainly be on my list of return destinations. Temples, markets, wedding parties, and street life.

Seriously hard working yet fun-loving people.

Two favourite pictures to set the tone……

 

 

The main (extremely sad and troubling gang rape) story I posted on Facebook at the time appears at the end as a post-script.

I’ll let the gorgeous people tell their own story in the pictures below. They really are as lovely, welcoming and fun as the pictures suggest. Nothing set up just street snaps and portraits. There are a surprising number of pictures but I urge you to look at them all – The changes in different villages was astonishing and some of the mud-built houses astonishing in their style and architecture. The underlying culture here is spiritual, friendly and fun and I certainly felt its presence in a serenity and focus I rarely have.

And of course, as in the rest of India – THE COLOURS MAN….THE COLOURS!

A shot in a tiny temple in the hills – full of tranquillity and love.

“Koraput” My diary entry 23rd January 2018.

Our stay in Koraput, Orissa district has been cut short by the tragic suicide of a young local girl. Only 14 years old and from one of the local hill tribes she had been brutally gang-raped by four men in local military uniforms, in November 2017. She tried to commit suicide shortly after the attack, the case having been dismissed by local police. She hanged herself on Monday.

My heart goes out to her, for the suffering she endured and to her friends and family.

The local people are angered by what they see as a police inactivity and cover up.

Protesters clashed with police yesterday and are putting road blocks on the roads out of Koraput today. Tilly and I continue our journey in India to Kolkata today, so we had to leave Orissa during the night. Protestors hope to bring the government’s attention to this brutal and cowardly act and bring about a new investigation.

I sincerely hope that the perpetrators will now quickly be brought to justice.

Our two days travelling around and meeting the local hill tribes has been wonderful. Gentle, kind, shy and humorous; they have opened their homes and hearts to Matilda and myself and shown us a rare, gentle spirituality from an ancient form of Hinduism practiced here. I felt blessed and at peace in their company and saddened to be leaving under this cloud. I will never forget my time spent here. A remote and special part of India rarely experienced by western travellers. We’ve been touched by their kindness.

My thanks to Mr. Pujari, for showing us around and bringing this region and these people into our lives.

I hope that justice will prevail.