Sipnaa Part 4

There was a lull as..I have finished one more yatra in the mean time..which i will write about later..but let me continue writting about Sipna yatraa further..
Th water flow at the origin spring is very small,shallow and can not be used to perform any work like washing clothes or taking bath etc..so there is an immediate reservior made like a small well guarded round by rocks from where the water could be used like well..

Reservior for usage..next to oogam

i also noticed a big bark of a tree with a long slot ..and came to know that it is for the cattle who come to drink water...this is how the care for animals around is built in the culuture..so anyone using water has a duty to keep this natural tank filled with water fro the cattle and also wild animals..around..there are a lot of bears around..

water tank for the animals..

at the oogam we had our first sipna panchyat..let me tell you about this..every village we came across in our journey, we used to have what is called a panchayat..which is basically an interaction with the local villagers..we asked them about the history of the river and came to know that from this point there are 2 rivers which originate..one which flows east and another towards west of the mountain..the one flowing east is known as sipnaa and the other khandu..sipnaa connotes female which Khandu is a male river...top of the mountain is like ardh-nari-nateshwar..as they say...we actually wanted to walk thru the riverflow..but it was dangerous even for the localites..they said we will take atleast the whole of the day to reach our next point where we were supposed to have our lunch..we changed our plan ...and decided to go by the vehicle..on the way back we saw coffee gardens..which require particular weather conditions..

The coffee plant

we also saw one old..100years +types rest -house which aparently was used by the britishers and now by the desi sahebs..for recreation..(we still live "raj")..back we came to a village..reached very late..but all villagers gathered waiting for us ..and we were asked to straightway head for lunch..in the courtyard of a house..in paper thali..hot rice and chapatis with hot pumpkin vegetable with yello dal in it..little spicy but very tasty..we freaked out so much that when we were going back..i just saw some villagers only having rice with red chili and oil..(we had all finished the subji)..no issues..life moves on...we start out journey forward...thanking bhavai villagers with our slogans..all curious mothers and children watch us with a smile on their face...more... as you share your "likes"

Lunch At Bhavai Village

Sipnaa Part 3

The first official starting point was village Kukaru from where the actual Pad-Yatra begun.

The Pad-yaatra Begins..

The Villagers were already told about our arrival and they were waiting for us since morning.On the way we walked on the road..through the farms..a bit of jungle to reach a plane..form where another river Khandu originates.We rested the Sipna maiyya-Idol for a while..drank fresh water out of the  habshi(handpump)…the real mineral water..the taste was so good that we could feel the oxygen flowing into our blood and freshening up every cell of the body..

Resting before going for the oogam

The oogam of Sipnaa

The ada patel of the village(I will tell you more about this self-governance system later)personally guided us to the origin.And down a village called jambukheda , in a place called maulzira(“zira” means spring) we were shown the origin of the Sipna…first time in my life I saw the origin of the river and was wondering how this small spring cathes momentum to become a big river..

we had a local artist(I can write an epic on this man!) whose creativity started flowing on seeing the Sipna oogam, which he also saw for the first time..we started preparing for the puja and hey..where was the diya..one fellow..quitely went to the side dug some mud and started making a beautiful lamp..the diya!..use wht you have … no cribbing!!his fingures quickly helped the lump take a shape of simple and elegant lamp and we start our Puja..the Sipna maiyya was offered Chunari by the senior local citizens and the aarti for Sipna was sung…

The person holding the Idol actually made Diya

Puja of Sipnaa Maiyaa

the whole environment was charged with emotions..some curious villagers

..bystanders actually unconsciously joined us in the rhythm of the dhol and dafali and the aarti was evolving..i think this was the starting point of connecting with the localites and also helping them connect with their own jivan-dayini the Sipna..more later.

Sipnaa Part 2

I forgot in the last post that the inspiration for the "live in the moment" came naturally, not from us, but the local team, who when the vehicle arrived ,allowed us to sit(about15-20 of us) "in" the security of the vehicle which looked like the land cruiser of trax and they very easily got on the top carrrier(abt 8-10 of them).We had to cover about 10-12 KMs of ghat and here again teh rains start

pouring..we despite of being compressed in teh vehicle were getting wet..imagine what must be happening on the top.The ghat road, the rash driving and the rains..what could happen...nothing!!!the songs which were sung on teh road , now started coming from the top!!the driver was so used to this that he did not blink an eyelid..(he also couldn't afford one, as he was half on the seat, half outside..still driving , may god bless him with longer life!!)they knew that we could not accomodate them in the jeep, the singing continued....,we stopped, they alighted , just shook the water off their wet clothes and let them dry on the body..imagine walking in winter(though cloudy) on 3600ft with wet clothes...no problem!!Now isn't this , their view towatrds life?...just flow...just be part of the whole!!

Sipnaa Part 1

So here i plan to share my moments during the sipna yatra.this yatra was planned jointly by Sampoorna bambu Kendra , an organisation which works in Melghat working with the tribals there for sustainable livelihood through bamboo crafts and housing, along with 4 different organisations in Vidarbha working in environment , rural development and alike.I plan to use this space to give you the highlights of my tour everyday as it was a long 6 days of work including travel and closing workshop.

The sipna yatra was a 100 km long shodh Yatra with about 60Km walk thru the river and adjoining jungles.The idea was to trace the river thru its origin till its sangam into Tapi.we were divided in 6 groups for study of water,land,People,animals,plants,birds of about 10 members each.each group had one expert resource , one group leader and team consisting a local resource also.Total participants about 75people.The age group was from 14 to 62years,with the youngest member none other than my son, Advait.We were all fed by the villagers on the way.They were too happy to see us city lads trying to understand them and their own heritage.In the whole journey one thing came up very strong-The local community- majority of them Korku are a living example of living in harmony with the nature.I will be putting some more info on this in future..

On the first day, when our vehicle broke down and we had to wait for about an hour, there was no place or trace of the anxiety or the stress of getting late..we all learned to live in the moment-just sit on the road and start singing all those inspiration songs..It started raining ..but no issues..spirits were so high that nobody really bothered..(to be contd...)