Night Stay at a Gujjar village: A totally unique experience

So I think I’ve mentioned a little about the Gujjar riots and strikes going on in the state I am in. In the middle of this mess, we planned to go stay in Bhisenpura, a completely Gujjar village. We were assured that it would be completely safe. The only problem was a planned Gujjar meeting in Dunni (the town I’m staying in) on the morning when we would return, making road blocks possible.
In the evening around 5ish we packed for a night stay (packing has now been condensed to throwing a tooth brush/tooth paste/hand towel and heading out, as compared to before when we would actually pack). We came to the office to find Pankaj and Laxmikantji (the vet) standing around a bucket full of this very liquidy green plant/algae (which was supposed to be planted in the village, to be fed as protein for the buffaloes). They both looked up and said, “so who is carrying this on their laps on the motor cycle”. I tend to fall for everything and was convinced this was a joke. I laughed and said, “no really, that’s funny. It’s an open bucket of green stuff. I’m not going to fall for this.” After going back and forth for a while, I realized they were serious. I felt bad for making fun of this and offered to carry it on our hour long trip. So there I was on the bike, with my bag on one shoulder and a bucket resting on the other leg. Fun times… My favorite was a huge speed bump which caused some of the algae to fall on me and Pankaj. Haha, that is what you get for making me carry this. I’m still not sure if that’s the main way of carrying this or whether they wanted to see whether I’d do it.
We got to the village before Tanvi and Laxmikantji. So we went to the house it was supposed to be planted it. Let me tell you, the village is built into hills, with every house at a different level. For example, where we ate dinner, right near it was the ROOF of the next house, downhill from ours. The rocks were called bata and are extremely difficult to climb (especially at night with no electricity). But first the house we arrived at: After chatting with the family and clearing space to plant/grow the algae, Pankaj asked if the lady of the house would take us around to meet women with young children, so we could survey. She immediately said no, she doesn’t talk to anyone in the village. It’s the first time someone has refused to help us. Both of us were confused and said fine, we’ll go find another family. We then climbed up a steep hill to another house, where we would eat dinner. There we met Bhagchand, a cute little boy who said he’d come with us house to house to have us survey. So Tanvi and I set off with Bhagchand and surveyed a couple of houses.
We came back to have dinner at the house to find the food excellent (read between the lines: not spicy). Yay for people telling them beforehand that I have issues with spicy food. After a nice glass of cool buttermilk we headed off to the house where we’d sleep (apparently a different one with more space since it was Tanvi, Pankaj and I – Laxmikantji is married and apparently that also means no night stays – he has a family). So we got to the house to find a large open space where we were to sleep. A lady lived there with her baby and her husband worked in the city. We got situated and in about an hour it started to rain. The usual dash for covering happened although we were still in the porch – open, water blowing in (so cool) and animals all around us. Now usually I pass out as soon as I hit the cot. But two things happened that freaked me out that night:
- In the middle of the night, I heard this strange cat-like sound coming from very close to us. It was so scary, especially since I knew there were cows, buffaloes, dogs, mice, lizards somewhere near me in the house. Convinced a demonic cat would jump on me, I couldn’t sleep for a while. In the morning Tanvi told me it was apparently the baby crying. Now it didn’t sound like any baby I know, but it was. Talk about strange crying
- Later in the night I heard someone walking towards us – freaked me out of course. Then standing outside the house, the man literally screamed for about five minutes (10 or more times): “Pankajji!!!!!” He sounded very urgent. In the morning I asked him, so what did the man want? He said, “what man? I didn’t hear anything.” I just hoped it wasn’t too urgent cuz apparently he sleeps through anything.
When we started surveying in the morning, Bhagchand found us again and came with us to the last few houses. He was so patient and didn’t mind hearing the same questions over and over. He even translated questions for us, including “what complications did you have during pregnancy?” He was such a sweetheart. Unfortunately we couldn’t find him at the end to give him some candy (what we carry for random children that help us in villages). We finished surveying and set off home.
On the way back I found out two things I glad I found out after we left. The house we’d gone to initially and who had refused to help us: they had four men in the family recently released from jail for killing another man in the village. That is why no one in the town was talking to them. The family had borrowed a music cassette and hadn’t returned it on time and before the other family could come ask for it, they went and killed the man. That was the official story although most likely it had to do with land or some family feud matter. I highly doubt the murder happened because of borrowing music. I’m just glad we didn’t stay in that house. Also, the man who had come by in the night for Pankaj might have been pressed into joining the riots scheduled for the next day. In the morning his wife said he was missing and couldn’t be reached on his phone. I wonder what he wanted in the middle of the night.
Near our town we encountered a road block. We had seen remains of others on the way (piles of stones and sticks by the side of the road). But this was a road block, manned by Gujjars. They saw us and clearly knew they would gain nothing from stopping us. Most “foreign” people in this area work for our org and are not involved in any matter. Therefore, we were not stopped. Needless to say, it was an interesting trip to the village. The funny part is, people hear Gujjar and are frightened. But the families we encountered were very peaceful, just trying to make it from day to day and worry about feeding their children, like everyone else. It shows what role the media plays in blowing up a particular issue and how its usually a handful of “goondas (goons)” and politicians who build the image of an entire community. With that being said, Gujjars are clearly poorer and less educated/aware than the other castes. Therefore not that I want to take any side, but their demands seem somewhat justified. Once again, a great experience…