tribes and temples in orissa:
the road
walking into a travel agency in india, you never know where it will take you. this is what happened to me in the small office of heritage tours in puri, just outside the mayfair hotel. i wanted to check the possibility of changing my flight dates, and ended up with a 6-day private tour in orissa tribal areas. the deal was 50 u.s. dollars per day, for which i got transportation in a comfortable ambassador taxi, a driver, a guide to the tribal areas that just came back from another tour, local guides to arrange things with the tribal people, and basic hotel accomodations.
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narayan ("naru"), the driver
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the guide, gopi
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to take care of the car, narayan decorated it with red and golden cloth and flowers, tokens of the goddess (on the car front and on the inside and outside mirrors). it was a new car, and he said he cared about it like it was his mother. on the steering wheel he had a small metal image of hanuman, the monkey god - this to protect his own well-being. each morning he applied a red paste on it, and then took some and smeared on his forehead. meanwhile gopi, who is a brahmin, sat in the back seat, chanting devotional songs whenever he felt the mood.
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just outside puri, we started the jorney with a puja (personal worship) at the roadside goddess shrine (in her forms as laxmi, goddess of wealth, and durga, a warrior goddess). the goddess' blessing is considered beneficial for a good jorney, as indeed we had.
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after a long day drive from puri, we reached the old town of jeypore in koraput district, one of the main tribal areas.
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