Honnavar

¨Four day trip to Honnavar a North Canara district in Karnataka is a home to many tribes. We had no idea what we would be working on over there in 4 days. But we explored a lot about the tribes, their rich culture and living.

¨Day1

We stayed in Dr. Savitha’s house, she and her family where very welcoming and our day started with a delicious dish called ‘Kotte rotte’ and Savitha’s mother explained how it is made and how they use the leaves to make dishes.

We experienced a beautiful art called Shedi kale made by Hanumiwho belonged to a tribe called Gomakkalu. The colors used were natural and she also showed how the brush was made by the beetle nut husk. She also represented her life in the form of Shedi kale.We also visited Mavinkurva islands observed their way of living and also the songs they sing and the mats they make.

¨Day 2

  We visited ‘Salvador mane’ and learnt the whole process of rope making. The decay the coconut husks for 9months and after that the husk is beaten and left for drying. They showed us the way they make the rope with a machine which was locally made. They also showed us the traditional way of making rope by hand which they usually don’t make as now this method is replaced by the machine which is less time consuming. We visited many houses in Mavinkurve islands and observed the way they dresses, their jewellery and also heard them sing. The same day we two women visited the house who were from Halakki tribe. We observed how different the new generation women wore their sari and the traditional way of wearing sari was different. We saw their jewellery which was a very important part of their lives. Later in the evening the tribal women dressed us in their attire and we had a beautiful dance and music session. Their jewellery interested me a lot and I wanted to know more about it and decided to do more research on it and understand how their jewellery was a part of their life.

¨Day 3

We went Halakki village and visited many houses, talked to them asked them about their jewellery and their culture. The halakki women were shy, but the Ankola halakki women were more bold. One f the house e visited was the one where en sang and played tabla. Their instruments were made of pots covered with lizard skin. A very locally made instrument but very powerful. The voice was raw but yet fresh to hear. They usually sang this during harvest times at nights which continued to till dawn. We also interacted with them and danced on their music while they did their ‘Suggi dance’ on our music.

¨Day 4

We experienced a full course Brahmin meal. They say that by looking at a person how he eats, sits and how he places  his banana leaf plate.

We finally visited the Honnavar beach and enjoyed the rain and the water.