An Unexpected Party.

Mistakes can be glorious. This happened during our district visit to Amaravati in January 2013. We were in Melghat, totally isolated from rest of the world except intermittent but weak mobile network signals. The trip was going really good, both on counts of academics and fun.

 It was a hectic day when we visited Bairagad which is on Maharashtra- Madhya Pradesh border. While returning we came across an indistinct milestone which showed a way to some village Katkumbh 3 km away.

                We were told by some friends to visit Katkumbh to study public health system. But the map showed we were on wrong location. Out of mobile phone coverage and totally disconnected from the world, we had no means to verify. Finally we decided to take the plunge and go ahead to that village.

               As we entered the village, our fears came true. We were in the wrong Katkumbh. A shy tribal woman told us that we were about 100 km away from the other Katkumbh.  We had two options: to return back on track or to explore the mistake. Fortunately, we chose the latter one.

        By now we had realized that we had an unexpected scene to welcome us. Almost the whole village was gathered at a place for some purpose and they were amused to see us. This added to our amusement too. Destiny was playing games with us!

       The gathering of villagers was not a coincidence. It was a party celebrating a tribal marriage that took place two days ago. We got to know about the tradition in Korku tribe where the would-be-bride elopes with the would-be-groom before the marriage, spends some time with him and returns to get married only if she finds him good enough. The groom’s family compensates the bride’s family with money- kind of reverse dowry.

      

          The whole village celebrated the marriage in their own way, completely oblivious to the traditions of the so-called educated world. Men and women of all ages were happy to be under influence of Mahua liquor- an essential ingredient of tribal culture. Women were merrily chirping songs and dancing in round with occasional rounds of liquor. The bride and the groom were in another room with a few people busy in some ritual.

                People outside were served with special meal- mashed boiled corn and lamb meat curry. Starchy corn and delicious but minimally spiced curry made everyone go crazy there. The tribals insisted us to taste the food. We were lucky to taste the simple yet mouth watering meal (and luckier to resist the insistence to taste liquor!).

                Then came the turn of the mandatory photoshoot. Everyone wanted to be captured in our cameras, though they knew they won’t see the photos again. An old lady had a special request to take a snap of her daughter. Till the time we left, all the attention was on us, the uncalled guests. Poor newlywed couple!!

                I am happy we made a mistake that day and went ahead to explore it. We would never have got such a close insight in the lives of the tribals had we returned back immediately. Mistakes teach us a lot. Not every mistake is a crime. Because as I said earlier, mistakes can be glorious….