Economic-Strengthening Pathways for the Bottom Billion

Hello, my lovely readers!  As mentioned in a recent post, it's very exciting to see the literary fruits after two years in my current role at the Grameen Foundation, working with some of the poorest populations of the world.  Of course, nothing beats seeing impact and an improvement in their lives.  As a practitioner, documenting our processes and learnings that allow for these outcomes is becoming increasingly important.  In May 2010, a group of practitioners gathered virtually to discuss how we can intentionally and more effectively reach and service the poorest to facilitate a sustained movement out of poverty.  This report summarizes the main issues raised during the e-consultation, “Economic-Strengthening Pathways for the Bottom Billion: Connecting the Dots,” sponsored by Poverty Outreach Working Group of The SEEP Network, May 17–19, 2011. A complete transcript of the discussion is available at http://tinyurl.com/2011econsult.

The e-consultation brought practitioners from different economic development disciplines together in order to learn about one another’s recent innovations in reaching the very poor and helping them move along an economic-strengthening pathway toward increased economic self-reliance and growth. By better understanding various dimensions of extreme poverty and identifying different segments within very poor populations, e-consultation participants started to lay a foundation for a common conceptual framework for economic strengthening. This framework reveals relevant entry points for different interventions and services along a pathway from extreme poverty to economic self-reliance.


The paper can be accessed by clicking here or copying and pasting the following link in your browser: http://www.seepnetwork.org/economic-strengthening-pathways-for-the-bottom-billion--connecting-the-dots-resources-349.php.

A Place of Travelers and Magicians

I remember one Friday afternoon in Kabul, we had little to distract ourselves with and decided to download and watch a film projected onto our dining room wall.  My very good friend and colleague found Travelers and Magicians, a Bhutanese film, depicting the tensions between the new and the old that the younger generations face.  Nyingma and Khajupa are the two sects of Buddhism practiced here, and while the former allows monks to marry, the more dominant latter limits life to prayer and the monastery.  More and more, monks are choosing to resign from such a life and join the movement towards modernization.  But, this generation is torn between two worlds because while one tempts them with an unknown future with the outside world, the other is a magical one that ties them very strongly to the magnificence of their past and present, woven by who possibly else but magicians.  I was beginning to feel convinced so as I made the two or so hour hike up to the Taktshang Goemba (Tiger’s Nest monastery), and upon reaching my destination, there wasn’t a single doubt left in my mind. 

Massive prayer wheels and strings upon strings of colorful prayer flags guided the way up to the Tiger’s Nest.  The monastery gained its name from the belief that Guru Rinpoche flew there on the back of a tiger, believed to have been a manifestation of his consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, to conquer the demon, Singey Samdrup.  He, then, stayed on to meditate in a cave for three months around which a temple has been built within the monastery.  The last stretch of the journey to the monastery included descending and then ascending a flight of 700 steps, crossing a small bridge under a waterfall, and passing the Singye Pelphu Lakhang (Snow Lion Cave), where Guru Rinpoche’s consort is believed to have meditated.  The views of the monastery grow increasingly magnificent throughout the hike, but once one reaches the entrance, it is a photographer’s torture.  Like with all temples, photography is not allowed within the walls of the structure.  It was painful to bear, but the rationale behind the rule is sound.  The monastery’s temples, like all Bhutanese temples, contain absolutely lovely bronze and gold-plated statues of the Guru, Buddha, various forms of Tara, and many other Buddhist deities.  Because the treatment of captured images by tourists can’t be controlled once removed from a memory card, the government believes the sanctity of the divine would be at risk.  The government established this rule after openings its doors to visitors to pre-empt any potential defamation of their gods and saints. 

Prayer wheel at the base of the Taktshang Goemba cliff

More prayer wheels and flags with the monastery in the backdrop

Prayer wheel, situated one hour into the hike

Prayer flags garland the hiking path

Singye Pelphu Lhakhang (Snow Lion Cave)

The monastery is comprised of a series of temples connected by courtyards lined with prayer wheels and walls covered with colorful murals depicting various scenes from Buddhist mythology.  Doorways gilded with gold and other metals with intricate designs mark the entry into each temple, the most breathtaking housing three massive statues of the divine with elaborate and colorful iron-welded backdrops of vines, lotus flowers, and celestial clouds.  Thangkas and multi-colored banners adorn the ceilings, while bronze cups of holy water and brass butter lamps embellish the shrines.  I could have remained there staring away for hours.  With such structural wonders embedded within mountain crevices or just inches from collapsing into stunning valleys, it’s no wonder that many believe Bhutan may be the long lost, elusive Shangri-La. 

Stunning Bhutanese architecture

A view of the Taktshang Goemba through prayer flags

Guru Sungjem Lhakang and Guru Tsengye Lhakhang

Another view of the Tiger's Nest, held by "angels' hairs"

Sun finally shines on the monastery

En route to the monastery

Drukpa playing the traditional chiwang (fiddle)

Before heading to Thimphu, we visited Paro (Rinpung) Dzong, which literally translates as ‘fortress on a heap of jewels.’  The dzong is overlooked by Bhutan’s national museum, which is somewhat rudimentary but still houses a spectacular collection of the colorful masks used during religious festivals.  Dzongs are some of the best examples of Bhutanese architecture and often house both civil service offices and monasteries.  The white-washed walls of the dzong are massive and are also ornamented with those stunning arch-framed windows described in yesterday’s post.  Within the outerwalls, lined with balconies at each level from which monks peer out, is the largest structure of the dzong--- a five story tower housing the government offices at the center of the courtyard.  Dzongs’ monumental size allowed for their use as fortresses from where the military could defend the country from the various invasions throughout its history. 

Manidhar flags along the banks of the Paro Chhu

Monks at their present home, Paro (Rinpung) Dzong

The Wheel of Life mural inside the Dzong

More stunning intricate word carvings

Main entrance to the Dzong

The 'Utse' or 'Central Tower' of Paro Dzong

Monk seated by the dukhang (prayer hall) entrance

LOVE these arched windows!

Guarding the dukhang

During the major festivals, the largest being tsechu, which occurs during the peak tourism season (September/October), the dzong’s courtyard is decorated with vibrant banners and thangkas as dancers adorn themselves in the most colorful of costumes and masks of animals, deities, and celestial beings to reinact significant stories and events from Buddhist folklore.  While unfortunately I’m missing out on observing and even engaging in these unique theatrical events at the heart of Bhutanese culture, I admittedly am thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to explore this mystical land with the sense that I have it all to myself!  

In the Land of the Dragon

It’s not every day that your pilot announces through the intercom, “And, in roughly twenty minutes, we’ll be passing by Mt. Everest, which can be viewed from the left side of the aircraft.”  My side!  Um, wow?  As the aircraft entered Bhutan, the terrain and climate immediately shifted to a mountainous, cold one amidst blankets of blue pine and cypress trees.  The pilot unsuccessfully attempted to pre-empt a sense of alarm in us passengers as we descended into Paro airport, cautioning us of the usual heavy turbulence.  Shortly before touchdown, it appeared we would crash right into the side of a mountain as the plane veered to the left before miraculously hitting the run way in a final moment of perfection.  This was clearly not the first time this pilot had flown into Paro International airport.  Panic was suspended and replaced with awe.  We had reached the Land of the Dragon at last.

Mt. Everest from a Druk Air aircraft

Day one in this breathtaking country has been magnificent!  Paro is a tiny, barren town cushioned in its namesake valley with a population widely dispersed across paddy fields and apple orchards.  White prayer flags for the dead (manidhar) emerge vertically from the pine covered mountain slopes, blowing vigorously in the wind, while the colorful flags of the live (lhadhar), garlanding trees, fences, bridges, and temple courtyards dance vivaciously.  Their reflections can be seen in the crystal blue waters of the Paro Chhu, its banks lined with white pebble stones of all sizes, as it flows through the middle of the town.  Houses built in the traditional style, as decreed by Bhutanese law, are either white-washed or made of stone and are ornamented with intricately carved, wooden arched windows, usually two rows of three arches, one atop the other, painted in maroon, orange, and yellow hues.  The arches are typically filled in with purple, blue, or turquoise curtains or shutters, making each set of windows appear like marvelous ornaments.  The walls of the top level of a home are only of a waist-level height ad used for storage of household goods, straw, and animal feed.  Each home, to me, seemed worthy of being a national monument.

I suppose that was the king’s purpose.  Bhutan only recently opened its doors to tourism, and roads, telephones, the internet, and television followed only shortly after.  While its leadership has accepted that an isolated existence is no longer viable, it has, with tremendous thought and prudence, strategically embraced what is considers are necessary aspects of modernization while minimizing any compromise of national identify and culture to the extent possible.  Men and women are required to wear the national dress, gho and kira, respectively, when at work, school, and religious and state functions.  Selling cigarettes is illegal, and Bhutan was the first country to ban plastic bags and smoking in public places.  Most noteworthy is the country’s method of measuring its development--- through gross national happiness (GNH) --- an index reflecting the fourth king’s dream of a country where “compassion is favored over capitalism and wellbeing is measured alongside productivity.”

Paro (Rinpung) Dzong on the banks of the Paru Chhu

Paro Valley and the Drukgyel Dzong

Drukpa chewing paan near the Dzong

General store in the typical Bhutanese architectural style

The country’s history is a vibrant mix of modern fact with an ancient one deeply rooted in Buddhist folklore and mythology.  Many monuments, temples (lakhang), and monasteries (guemba) are hundreds of years old and have origins linked to the most significant and famous saint of all, Guru Rinpoche (also known as Padhmasambhava), who is believed to be an incarnation of Buddha.  My first stop in Paro was to Bhutan’s oldest and most beautiful temples, Kyichu Lakhang, which houses one of the largest statues of the Guru, alongside a red Tara holding a bow and arrow made of flowers.  According to lore, when the Tibetan king, Songtsen Gampo, believed that a demoness embedded in the earth was blocking the transportation of what is now Bhutan’s most sacred treasure, the Jowo Sakyamuni statue, he ordered for one hundred and eight temples to be erected in a single day to pin down the demoness to the earth forever.  The Kyichu Lakhang is believed to be the temple built on the left leg of the demoness, the most troublesome part of her body.

We wrapped up the day at one of Bhutan’s many significant dzongs (fortresses), the Drukgyel Dzong, which has largely been destroyed after a butter lamp accident set it ablaze in 1951.  The Dzong was built in 1659 to commemorate the victory over Tibetan invaders.  I was told that Tibet is only a two-day trek from there, just through the two mountains in the Dzong’s backdrop. 

Prayer wheels of Kyichu Lakhang

Walls of Kyichu Lakhang

Lhradha prayer flags in Paro Valley

Knob of the Kyichu Lakhang entrance door

A Drukpa circumambulating the Kyichu Lakhang 

As we made our way back to the guesthouse, I gazed up at the Taktshang Goemba, perched 900 meters above on the side of a cliff.  The Tiger’s Nest Monastery is Bhutan’s most famous site, and I’ll be exploring it in about twelve hours!

Livelihood Pathways: Sequencing for Sustainable Market Integration of the Poorest

Blog posts have come to be recognized as a form of professional writing that can be consumed in real time and en masse by fellow practitioners.  They, like articles, can be digested quickly and provide a forum for a rapid exchange of ideas, debate, and clarification.  While I’ve written and shared quite a few through various sites, including my own,  I’ve been busy these last two years researching, documenting, and writing more formal technical pieces that I’m thrilled to report are under review for publishing.  On the first day of this new year, a case study on the ‘Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest’ project in Bihar, India was published by USAID's Microenterprise Development Office as part of a series under the Advanced Microenterprise Advancement Program (AMAP).  The publication, titled, 'Livelihood Pathways: Sequencing for Sustainable Market Integration of the Poorest,' details the flow of the integrated livelihoods model and how our interventions, products, and services are strategically sequenced to support the poorest's elevation out of poverty.  Please click here to access the full study.

Where the 'Integrated Livelihoods Model for the Poorest' (ILM) Stands Today

The Value of Group Savings and Lending to the Poorest People

Happy new year to my readers! I've lagged yet again on keeping the blog updated on recent travels from India to Qatar to Montreal and Quebec City that concluded 2011- a tremendously active year on the travel and professional front. I hope to eventually write 'catch up' posts over the coming weeks. In the meantime, I'd like to share a very touching story from the field in Bihar, written by one of our field executives (equivalent to an officer), Sudarshan Behera, which was posted on the Grameen Foundation blog, 'Creating a World Without Poverty' in December 2011. In this post, copied below, Sudarshan shares how nominal savings has proven to be a tremendous resource for our clients in Bihar:

Sugia Devi was a changed woman on November 7, 2011. She had just left the free cataract clinic in Bodhgaya in India’s northern state of Bihar and was grateful for her improved eyesight. She couldn’t wait to thank the people who had made it possible: the members of her adapted self-help group (ASHG), Durga.

The group is part of Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest, a joint project of Grameen Foundation’s Solutions for the Poorest group and BASIX/The Livelihood School that is designed to enhance the skills of the ultra poor, link them to income-generating activities, and build their savings habits.

Sugia lives in Khaneta village with her husband and her son, and his family. When she first heard about the ASHG in August, her husband did not want her to join the program because of mistrust and a lack of understanding on the benefits of participation. She persisted and began attending meetings and saving a small amount each week. Starting with an initial deposit of Rs. 10 (US 2 cents), by November, she had saved Rs. 130 (roughly US$2.40). But it still wasn’t enough to pay her fare to get to the free clinic in Bodhgaya some 30 kilometres (19 miles) away.

That’s when Sugia turned to the members of her ASHG. In addition to providing a safe place to save, the groups also provide its members with quick access to short-term loans. Sugia’s group members approved her loan of Rs. 100 (US$2), enabling her to cover her transportation costs for her operation.

Today, Sugia’s husband has a better appreciation for the value of the self-help groups, and she knows that her family can rely on the group when they need help. As her husband noted, before the ASHG, the family would have had to borrow from moneylenders who typically don’t lend less than Rs. 500 (US$9) and at very high rates.

Sugia has recovered from her operation and now Friday – the day her ASHG meets – has a special importance in her life.

Building Skills, Building Confidence: Ultra Poor Women in India Are Taking a Step Toward Self-Reliance

Until our households are able to build their skills to engage in more productive livelihood activities that can help them to generate increased income, through the Livelihood Pathways project, we have identified ways to help households meet their immediate consumption needs in the interim. The first is to link households to government welfare schemes that provide them with a minimum guaranteed wage employment or the equivalent wages, food rations, and other cash tansfers. The second is to train members of the household to engage in low skill activities, such as kitchen gardening and incense stick rolling, and link them to these local markets to generate relatively small but immediate and stable incomes. Avinash Kumar, our project manager in Gaya, blogs about these activities here. Special thanks goes to Julia Arnold for her immense editing contributions.

Building Skills, Building Confidence: Ultra Poor Women in India Are Taking a Step Toward Self-Reliance

Asha Devi’s eyes sparkled as she rolled agarbatti (“incense sticks” in Hindi) for the first time. Asha is a member of an adapted self help-group (ASHG) in Pali, a village in India’s Bihar state, where the Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest, a joint project of Grameen Foundation’s Solutions for the Poorest group and BASIX/The Livelihood School, is being implemented. The sparkle in Asha’s eyes reflects newfound self-confidence and pride that by selling handmade agarbatti, she will be able to supplement her family’s income.

Women from the program hold up their newly-rolled agarbatti (incense sticks) during training

Nearly 100 women from six village ASHGs participated in our week long training. Agarbatti rolling, which is a common activity in almost all of the villages in the Gaya district of Bihar, is one of two income-generating activities being promoted through the project. These activities require simple skills and provide modest increases in income to help households meet their immediate consumption needs. As the clients’ confidence levels and skills increase, the project team will transition them into entrepreneurial income generating activities, such as poultry farming and goat rearing, which require higher initial capital investment and skill sets but can significantly help fill income gaps throughout the year.

The agarbatti rolling training was unique not only because it was the first time women from the poorest families were receiving it, but also because it was the first time local women were given a leadership role to train their fellow community members. The experience of having a local woman train them in this skill helped increase the participants’ confidence, leaving them optimistic about their prospects and ability to contribute to their families’ income. While agarbatti rolling is common in the region, many of the households participating in our project had never done it because they live in relative isolation, making it more difficult for them to access agarbatti agents and vice versa. Instead, they have depended largely on wage labor from agriculture production, construction work, and road building.

Faced with very unpredictable and insecure income sources, these families have not had the luxury of time nor the opportunity to experiment with an entrepreneurial activity. In fact, these households often lack the necessary self-confidence to take up and learn a new activity, even such low-skill ones as agarbatti rolling. One of the aspects of the project is building the self-confidence of the members and, which, thus far, has been successful.

This training is the beginning of a change in this aspect of these women’s lives. As their self-confidence grows and they see their income rise, this positive change cycle will encourage them to seek out other opportunities. As they move forward, our team will work with them to continue on this path.

Take A Walk In Her Shoes

The Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest project was featured in this month's Grameen Foundation newsletter. The piece can also be viewed on the Grameen Foundation website.

We all know the old adage: you don’t really know someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. This has taken on greater meaning for the Grameen Foundation team helping to build income-generating opportunities for poor people in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states. Together with colleagues from The Livelihood School at BASIX India – a noted livelihood-development organization – they have been slogging (sometimes barefoot) through muddy fields and monsoon rains to meet with clients of our Integrated Livelihoods Model project. One of team’s most challenging tasks involves understanding and working through the daily challenges of clients, who have faced a lifetime of chronic poverty, as well as the sacrifices that everyone in the household has to make to survive, irrespective of age.

The project’s goal is to identify and build immediate and long-term support for these households, which have been organized into groups. Over the past few months, the team has been working with the local government to link households to existing support programs that are available to them, such as child and women’s healthcare and short-term employment. These state services, which many of the poor did not even realize they were eligible for, help the households meet their immediate needs, while the livelihoods team develops and tests products and services that will offer long-term support.

In addition, we are working with groups to create an internal savings process that will give members access to funds in cases of emergency. Some of our more advanced groups have a savings box with a lock, which is held by one elected member, often the treasurer. There are also two sets of keys that are held separately by other elected members, typically the president and secretary of the group. This balance of powers allows no single person access to the group savings.

Two months ago, our team visited the group of Sunita Devi, whom you met back in April. The 35-year old widow and mother of two young children is her family’s sole breadwinner. Her sporadic work as a laborer earns her 21,600 Indian rupees (about $462) per year. Though her fledgling group still needs a higher level of support, she is already benefiting from our work with the local government. As a widow and head of household of a family living below the poverty line, she is eligible to receive a stipend and other services she didn’t know about. Our team will continue to make household visits, hold meetings with the village and provide concentrated mentoring to help strengthen her group, and will continue working with them to start their group savings plan.

Once our team’s target households have stabilized and the groups are further strengthened, we will begin training and introducing them to more high-skilled activities that generate stable yearly income. We hope this gradual transition will lead to a more effective and committed uptake of entrepreneurial activities and a very different approach to life itself. To ensure this, the final piece of our project will focus on financing products that support livelihood development, such as microloans and microinsurance.

Luckshmi Sivalingam, our program officer for the Integrated Livelihoods Model project, has been working on our project in Bihar since April 2010. Read her blog to learn more about her experiences living in and traveling through these poor communities.

Learning from Different Approaches: Grameen Foundation's Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest Pilot

I'm very thrilled to share a blog post that was recently published on the website of a prominent economic development initiative, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), funded by the World Bank. CGAP is an independent policy and research center dedicated to advancing financial access for the world's poor. It is supported by over 30 development agencies and private foundations who share a common mission to alleviate poverty. Housed at the World Bank, CGAP provides market intelligence, promotes standards, develops innovative solutions and offers advisory services to governments, financial service providers, donors, and investors. The full post can be accessed here or on the Grameen Foundation blog. Happy reading!

Luckshmi Sivalingam, Program Officer within SfP, overseas the Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest (LPP) project at Grameen Foundation and has been working with the field team in Gaya since April of 2010 to design the livelihood and financial products, services and methodology comprising the integrated livelihoods model.

Grameen Foundation’s Solutions for the Poorest program has been working since last year to implement its own “ultra-poor “program , which takes inspiration from the BRAC graduation model, Fonkoze’s Ti Kredi program, and BASIX’s Livelihood Triad Strategy, as well as social enterprises that are experimenting with models to reach poor AND poorest households sustainably. The model we are testing – the ‘Integrated Livelihoods Model for the Poorest’ – combines financial services and livelihood support, sequentially providing these services to our target households as they gain confidence and momentum in the program. Our services are designed to have some measure of cost recovery as we aim to build a program that makes business sense for a double bottom line institution to implement.

Sunita Devi, a participant in Grameen Foundation's Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest Pilot

The current pilot – dubbed “Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest” – is operating in partnership with BASIX India’s The Livelihood School (TLS), in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar and is reaching two hundred very poor households. We designed and implemented a composite targeting tool to ensure the inclusion of households currently excluded from microfinance services and government social welfare schemes. Another fifty households of similar demographics are being monitored to make a comparative assessment of the impact of the products and services against a set of socio-economic indicators.

Developing a process to define and identify who the poorest are was a challenging one. Who are the “very poor”? What does poverty look like in their context, and what are its propagators? What are the needs of the very poor to propel them on a pathway out of poverty? It seems like it was only yesterday that I was in Gaya for the second time, working closely with the BASIX TLS team, trudging through our target villages to design and implement a targeting methodology to help us identify the poorest households and help us answer some of these key questions. Last August, our team of three slogged through kilometers of muddy or flooded lanes through villages absent of sewage and waste management systems. The monsoon rains, albeit short-lived, were particularly heavy those few days we worked to test the targeting process with a sample group of the target population before the final process would be scaled up across the entire project area.

We began by holding a community meeting to share the project goal and objectives with the entire village and its leaders before engaging in Participatory Wealth Ranking (PWR), an interactive and inclusive method of rural appraisal, whereby the community members themselves define what poverty means in their own context and categorize individuals according to local definitions. Shortlisted households in the bottom wealth category were visited individually and further surveyed to collect the Progress out of Poverty Index® (PPI®) score, a tool commissioned by Grameen Foundation to determine the likelihood of a household or individual falling above or below a specified poverty line. A household survey also captured a range of data, including their cash flow, livelihood portfolio, food security, health, and other indicators. The final data was measured against selection criteria that helped us identify the poorest households in a given community.

Such a multilayered filtering process ensures that interventions are reaching households not only living on less than $1.25/day, but also well below localized definitions of poverty. While an institution can target clients of varying poverty levels, the products and services it offers must be customized to meet the unique needs of these clients. Poverty targeting can strengthen market research outcomes and better inform institutions on how to service different gaps through appropriately designed products and services. In the case of the ‘Livelihood Pathways for the Poorest’ pilot project, this understanding proved invaluable in executing subsequent key activities such as product and service design and identification of viable delivery mechanisms.

For more information, you can refer to the full use case on this process here or on Grameen Foundation’s Solutions for the Poorest website.

Orissa: A glimpse into the past, perhaps history in the making

Imagine the land of India as it once was, not as a single nation, but as a mosaic of a plethora of kingdoms and tribes whose people and traditions had not yet been touched by even Brahminic or Vedic influences. Imagine a time when the divinity of the cosmos, earth, and all within it was an acknowledged force that was inseparable from soul to soul of all life, whether it be human, flora, fauna, or the forces of nature. This animistic and/or pantheistic life philosophy, prevalent in indigenous traditions, embeds, then, a moral imperative to respect and recognize the life force or spirit in all. Hinduism today, I believe, is predominantly a hybrid of this indigenous outlook coupled with the Vedic philosophy. The Hindu greeting, ‘Namaste/Namaskar/Vanakkum,’ for example, literally and very humbly means ‘I bow to you’ and essentially expresses one’s acknowledgment of the same divine force in the other. The palms pressed together symbolize this concept of oneness. As I traveled through the eastern Indian state of Orissa (commonly referred to as Odisha by the Orya people), I observed in awe what appeared to be history unfolding itself all over again—the transgression from the untainted, animistic tribal populations to the in-between state when one world has touched the other to finally, today’s India as I’ve known it.

There are roughly sixty-four tribes residing in Orissa, each with its own traditions, rituals, style of attire and décor. Women still drape their saris as they have done for hundreds of years without the blouses introduced by the Mughals and the British. Many other tribes live unclothed and use beads, grass, and other “cloths” of nature of various local significance and symbolism. The predominant tribes are the Desia Kundh, Koyas, Oraon, and Dongoria Hill tribes, who gather and trade once a week in a common market in each of the major tribal centers. They survive off of agriculture, hunting, and fishing, and the produce is sold at these markets along with tobacco, jewelry, and other locally produced items. One morning, we visited the Majhiguda market about 40 kilometers from the small town of Rayagoda. As I walked through the market observing in fascination at scenes that seemed to come straight out of the past, I was hesitant to take out my camera and erect that barrier between what felt like two worlds. After some thought, I did manage to capture a few images when granted approval by the subject. Often, the Dongoria women requested no photos be taken of them for fear that each photo snapped reduced their lifespan in some proportion. It was an opportunity to mingle and immerse myself in a traditional, vibrant marketplace of what I had thought was of a time past. Though we drove hours and hours each day exploring the different tribes and their ways of life, the tribal culture, in its purest state, can only be found in the far more interior south of the state, moving towards Chhattisgarh, which required far more time than I had made time for on this trip. But, who knows for how much longer? In the villages we did visit of the Desia Kundh, I noticed an interesting fusion of indigenous and Vedic practices. As government welfare schemes and modern technology slowly creep into these regions, so do the traditions and ways of the old gradually dissolve or assimilate with the modern.

Dongoria and Desia Kundh Tribal Groups at the Majhiguda Market and Rayagoda:

Shortly before visiting Rayagoda, we had broken journey in the small town of Gopalpur on the Bay of Bengal. Gopalpur is a local tourist destination which attracts visitors with its tiny boardwalk and long stretch of beaches. When we reached there, I found it to be more of a struggling, dilapidated little town. I hadn’t realized how close we were to the Andhra Pradesh border until I observed the large fisherman community residing on the beaches. If they hadn’t started indulging in the local toddy liquor and passed out in the sand, I made attempts to communicate with them in Hindi. When I realized that they didn’t understand Hindi, I asked if they knew Orya, and before I knew it, they were expressing to me that they were from Andhra Pradhesh in their mother tongue of Telugu. Many Telangana people live along Orissa’s coast, as their livelihood is rooted, or shall I say, anchored in the sea. Each evening, they sell the day’s catch which can be enjoyed fresh in nearby restaurants or transported in ice-filled storage boxes to neighboring cities and states. After three months in landlocked Bihar, I completely indulged in fresh, delicious prawn and crab curry at every opportunity.

Before starting the drive out of Bhubaneshwar to visit some of the tribal groups, my driver was adamant that we stop to worship at the Kali temple just on the outskirts of the city, a tradition followed by most travelers for protection and to preempt any potential calamities. I was pleasantly surprised by the good conditions of the main roads until we reached the periphery of the tribal areas some 40 kilometers outside of the capital. The state of the infrastructure degraded the further interior we traveled, taking up to 7-8 hours just to travel 150-200 kilometers. Our first stop of the day was to Chilika Lagoon, the largest lagoon in India and the second in the world. From here, we took an old wooden boat to Kali Jai Island, known for its abundance of rare species of flora and fauna as well as an old temple, again dedicated to Kali. Here is one of many places where one can observe the transition stage from tribal to current practices of acknowledging the divine and practicing Vedic rituals to evoke life into the Kali deity. As I exited the moolasthaanam, where the main deity is housed, I was instructed to tie a set of black and red bangles, a part of my prasaadam, onto a part of the temple as I thought of something I would like to either leave behind or realize once I left the grounds. A man struck my head with a bouquet of peacock feathers “to ward off evil eye” as I made my departure from the main shrine. As I looked upon the external face of the moolasthaanam, called the vimaanam, I was surprised to see one of the oldest symbols of the divine to be discovered on Indian land, a yoni, symbolic of the female or life force. As we traversed through Orissa, I was soon able to identify the older temples from the new by this symbol. It was mind blowing.

Orissa is a mystical place saturated with some of India’s most stunning architecture and art forms. The land is referred to several times throughout the Hindu epics, the Ramayanam and the Mahabharatham, and in the 3rd century BC, flourished as part of a Jaina empire. Significantly, it is also where the bloody battle between Kalinga and Akhoka of the Maurya Empire transpired and ultimately turned Ashoka onto the path of non-violence, leading to his embrace of the Buddhist philosophy. Monasteries, temples, and other structures from the 3rd century BC through the 12th century AD pepper the state’s landscape, mostly so in its capital city, Bhubaneshwar, aptly referred to as the Temple City. The temples of Orissa are unique in structure, erected vertically in a rectangular shape before rounding over at its peak. The entire façade is covered with an overwhelmingly intricate set of carvings depicting scenes from the various Hindu texts. Most notable, however, are the erotic carvings, primarily from the Kama Sutra, that I’ve only seen on the temples of Khajuraho. There are several interpretations or explanations of these images that range from philosophical to mythological-cum-superstitious ones. As I walked through each temple complex, sliding my hands against their intricately carved surfaces, looking up in awe as many peaked high into the skies, my breath as well as my mind were taken away momentarily.

Udyagiri Caves, Bhubaneshwar:

Lingaraj Temple, Bhubaneshwar

Gangeshwar/Yamunneswara Temple Complex:

Parashurameshwar Temple, Bhubaneshwar:

Sidheshwar Temple Complex, Bhubaneshwar:

Mukhteshwar Temple Complex, Bhubaneshwar:

Hirapur Yogini Temple:

Chilika Lagoon:

Gopalpur, Bay of Bengal:

The next stop was Puri, the holiest of Orissa’s cities, where the renowned Jagannath temple is situated and attracts thousands of pilgrims each year. About a half an hour’s drive from there is the most spectacular of Orissa’s architectural feats, the Konark Temple, in honor of Konark or Surya, the Sun god. They say it took twelve thousand sculptors twelve years to complete this stunning structure, full of symbols and carvings. On the way to Puri, we stopped at the village of Raghurajpur, home to the community of Pattachitra (silk) and Pothichithra (palm leaf engraving) artists. I was surprised to learn that all such paintings come from artists from this single village, which is now deemed a heritage site. I met with master craftsman, Maga Nayak, whose sons are also now engaged in this art form, which like many ancient arts is passed down from one generation to the next, skills and patience honed from a young age to generate some of the world’s most revered artists. As I saw the master painter engaged in creating a Pothichithra (engraving followed by painting on palm leaves, the ancient method of record keeping), I was nearly overwhelmed to tears by the beauty of the art form- the patience, devotion, and skill required to create something of unfathomable beauty. After this experience, each time I laid my eyes upon a finished product, I loved it deeply and respected both the art and its creator. A short morning encounter transformed into a day’s immersion with the artist’s family as we discussed and reviewed art before enjoying a thali lunch on their rooftop, surrounded by the green and calm of the palm trees and the lagoon. As I departed for Puri, we passed by a small river running alongside the village, where crème colored garments dried on the surface of a small peninsula protruding into the river. The artist’s son relayed to me that the revered Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one of the most beloved saints and devotees of Krishna, stayed here for some time with his devotees during their travel through the region. Another tiny piece of history was stamped on my experiences venturing through this magical state.

Guardian of the Jaganaath Temple, Puri (photos not allowed)

Master craftsman, Maga Nayak, in Raghurajpur

Konark Temple:

After only six days of exploration through Orissa, I left feeling it was one with immense depth, full of unforgettable interactions and memories, and yet, I also felt I had barely scratched the surface of what the land and its people had to offer. It was an accidental, last minute trip that was meant to substitute the one planned in Darjeeling and Sikkim. Last month’s earthquake, its epicenter being in Sikkim, changed that plan, and ultimately, me along with it.