A Warli good story

Au00a0three-hour ride from Thaneu00a0takes you tou00a0Walvanda, a Warli tribal hamlet thatu00a0is a refreshing insight intou00a0allu00a0things simple. The Trip lived life king-size over a weekend of art class, cow dung plastering, sunset chasing and tarpa dancing

Unless you have jumped off the technology treadmill or live in a time bubble it's difficult to avoid the bustle and din of the daily grind. The constant challenge remains to seek out time within this rat race. Thankfully for us, a weekend trip to a rustic village in Thane district played succour for the soul. While it didn't give us a 'Eureka' moment it inspired an alchemy that emerges when you step into uncharted territory where one breaks out of self-sustained moulds.



Case in point -- When we took generous blobs of cow dung to plaster a stranger's home, instead of the expected cringe-in-disgust mindset, we carried on, chuckling at our task at hand. Sold already? We were in Walvanda, a cluster of seven padas (hamlets) situated between Vikramgad and Jawhar in Thane district, which is home to nearly 14,000 people. Most of its residents belong to the Warli tribe that is best known for its unique art form. About 22 of city folks descended over the isolated village on a Saturday in April, thanks to a trip by Grassroutes, an organisation that seeks to connect an urban dweller with rural India.

After a three-hour bumpy ride in a rusty jeep that was peppered with interesting conversations with fellow travellers, we disembarked at the Bosco Samajik Vikas Sanstha. This organisation works closely with tribal and rural communities across Thane district. Their premises were our home for the weekend. One can choose from compact, dome-like tents or rooms with adequate sanitation facilities. Even before we could manage a full stretch to slip into relax mode our guided tour of the area had begun.

Of nachni rotis and rotten tomatoes
After an orientation by a resident on the medicinal plants and pulses that grow in their area, our rumbling tummies were appeased with lunch; it was a delicious meal cooked by a few locals and comprised of bhendi, urad dal and nachni roti. Post lunch and after we admired the papier-m ufffdch ufffd created by one of the resident kids, Inir Pinheiro, one of Grassroutes' co-founders, assembled us to break the ice with a game called Rotten Tomatoes that was anything but rotten. The fun had well begun.


Layering a village house with cow dung wasn't as bad as we
thought it would be

Art as it should be
Since the afternoon sun can be torturous, the group was introduced to an indoor session in Warli art. It was time for us to seat ourselves on 'flying carpets', as Inir labeled them and attempt what we hadn't done in nearly a decade -- attend an art class. Warli artist Dinesh Rao began his class on the famed art form, with some help from a translator. Soon, we gripped our sharpened Natraj pencils to replicate the designs that Dinesh was drawing, rather effortlessly, on his white board. A square, a triangle, silhouettes of human figures involved in manual labour or dancing around, a sun, a moon, some plants, some animals -- the simple, daily life of the Warlis came alive on our white drawing pages through this basic graphic vocabulary, save a few crooked lines and a difficulty to tell a crab from a human. Many had made this trip to learn theu00a0 monochromatic art form, and as we dipped into the ochre poster colour bottle, we realised how easy it was for these guys to shun all influences of modern urbanisation.


Trying our hand at Warli drawing

Off the beaten track
As the sun waned, it was time to slip into our trekking shoes to race the setting fireball and reach the summit atop a hill. We walked for about two km with another Grassroutes volunteer, Vijay, who hoisted one of the kids on his shoulders during the trail. Since Warlis consider nature to be their all-pervasive, all-consuming and all-protecting element, we had to offer watermelons that were lugged uphill by a few village boys, to the sun god before indulging in these slices of bliss. This scene had to be right on top in our list of favourite moments. As soon as the sun had moved over to the other side of the world, we raced down to avoid tripping in the impending darkness. It was then that we stumbled upon an abandoned snakeskin, our lone souvenier from the trip.

Going around in circles
Back at base camp for dinner, we dug into another simple but fulfilling meal. A jeep filled with Warlis from the vicinity had arrived; they carried a phallic-shaped wind instrument called the Tarpa. Made from a hollowed bottle gourd and bamboo sticks, it requires massive lungpower to blow create music from it -- we gave it a shot for seven seconds. The end result -- we were left soothing our stiff cheeks for a half hour.


The Tarpa dance is performed as soon as new grain is brought
into the village after threshing. It is played from November to
May and stopped before the sowing and transplantation

Young girls and boys alternated themselves and formed a circle by holding each other's waist as the Tarpa player picked up a rhythm that sounded similar to those that emanate from a Spanish bugle. The leader of the circle lead with a staff, rhythmically tapping it as the circle went from slow to fast, clockwise to anti-clockwise, with the young villages belles and boys never missing a beat while the rest of us falling out of tempo, every other second. The circular dance, which finds place of prominence in commercial Warli art and festivities, seemed like a way for the village youngsters to socialise (and probably familiarise themselves with the opposite sex) and is a great way to unify villagers.

Starry, starry sky
As the rest unfurled their mattresses to doze off after a beautiful but tiring day, few of us decided to lounge under the starry sky. We hoisted our cameras and walked towards the side of our campsite that was in total shadow, shutting out all possible light sources around us. And then we looked up. There it was -- the vast universe twinkling and winking at the nothingness that is us. We snuggled on the grass, under the blanket of stars. The thought of slithery snakes lurking around made us leave those serene moments behind, to ensconce ourselves in our tents.

Gaav ki chori
Next morning, we slipped into villager avatar for a few memorable and hands-on experiences. We chopped firewood with an ax (our wrists were sore next day) and de-husked rice with the help of a long wooden staff.


Trekking through the woods to catch the sunset from a
vantage point

Then, we got into filmi mode by muttering the iconic dialogue from Sholay --"Mausi ji... chakki peesing and peesing" under our breath as we grounded grain, the old-fashioned way. But the highlight of this slice of rural life was our scoop side story -- we had to cake out freshly offloaded cow poop to layer the floor of a house. We tried to wriggle out of this chore as some others had, but duty called.

Soon, we realised that it wasn't as bad after we rooted out all thoughts of the origins of this natural coolant. As we headed back to the city after a well-spent weekend, the crippling heat and a Lewis Hamilton-esque driver who sped over nasty bumps couldn't dampen our spirits. We'd just received an invaluable lesson in living the simple life.

Log on tou00a0www.grassroutes.co.in or Call on 8108133016/ 9820128208 for more details. Grassroutes will resume its scheduled trips after summer, though they can organise trips for groups through summer. Cost Rs 2,200 per head (minimum of 10 people)

Getting back to the grassroutes
Grassroutes' raison d' tre is to help the urban world meet and discover rural India. By creating employment opportunities on the rural level, promoting exchange of thought and helping to conserve local traditions, Grassroutes helps curb rural migration to the cities in search of employment. Another village they have adopted is Purushwadi (about 220 km from Mumbai and Pune) where you can go trekking or fishing or help out in the fields. Their next trip takes place in June, after the first showers, when thousands of fireflies emerge, making it a magical place.

Did you know?
The word Warli is derived from 'warla', meaning 'piece of land' or 'field'.

Howu00a0to getthere
>> If you are going by train, take the Dahanu shuttle train service from Virar and reach Palghar. Hop on any bus towards Nashik, Shirdi or Jawhar and book your ticket to Valwanda. Alternatively, request Grassroutes to organise for a village jeep for a pick-up from Palghar.

>> If you wish to drive down by road, follow the directions given in this map. Take NH8 towards Ahmedabad and drive through Shirsad, take a right from Manor telephone exchange and drive towards Jawhar. Walvanda is 12 km after Vikramgad.

>> If there are enough number of people from Thane, these guys can also organise for a jeep from near the check naka. It's a three-hour ride from here.

Must carry
>> Bathroom essentialsu00a0(soap, towel, etc)
>> Change of clothes
>> Cap and sunglasses
>> Sunscreen
>> Comfortable trekking shoes
>> Mosquito repellent