On Sunday we drove north on the only road, winding through assorted roadside villages along the way. Conditions don't allow for speed, about 25mph maximum as we navigated the jeep among bicycles, cars, cows and other creatures and machines. This is considered the highway, and it is also the only way. Bamboo and teak forests surrounded us as we passed occasional brick manufacturing facilities.
Brick and rubber are the major industries around here, and both are intensely low tech operations. We passed a few security check points on the road as well -- it turns out that no one is allowed on certain stretches of the road after 6pm due to occasional militant attacks. We were welcomed at the mission school in the tribal village with a great ceremony by the kids. They performed traditional and modern-jazzed traditional dances for us.
Then they asked one of the honored visitors to make a greeting speech. John and Sandy (my traveling colleagues) chickened out so I had to do it. I made tree quick points: First I explained the meaning and importance of "yes we can." (Obama is already a hero around here). Secondly I spoke briefly on the importance of education, and lastly I told them to be nice to each other. It went over very well.
The absolute best moment of the day for me was during our visit to the girls mission hostel, the sisters had the tribal children gather about -- they were quite shy and looked kind of sad -- one by one they started coming over the shake my hand and cautiously say hello, and as I realized that this would take a while and would not really be adequate for how I was feeling, I just broke out and offered a huge group hug.
That was great, they absolutely loved it, and so did I. The smiles after that were huge, enthusiastic and joyful, and they did not want us to leave.
We stopped at a famous Hindu temple to the god Cali. Here the men go down to the water of this ceremonial lake and try to touch a fish or a giant turtle, that are incarnations of the spirit of Cali. It was amazing to see. People would drive up on bikes or walk, buy some thing to feed the fish (or themselves) then wade into the water and touch these giant carp in the lake.
We drove a couple of hours south for another wonderful day among children at a mission hostel
and school deep in a tribal village of southern Tripura. We were welcomed with a song, and then each of us was asked to give a message to the school children. That went over pretty well, although I am not sure how much they understood us. We tried anyway. Then we visited the sisters who were watching over the younger kids. The pictures are of the 3-4 year old bosy who were absolutely great . I also took a picture of the kitchen, an old wood stove
with two big pots. One pot was full of cooking rice, and the other full of a delicious smelling masala -- lunch was just about ready. Out back was a big pond where the fish are "grown" and the kids catch them as needed for food. Overall, the sisters were a joy, the children
so cute I wanted to take them all home, and life was kind of tough but full of love and community.
Brick and rubber are the major industries around here, and both are intensely low tech operations. We passed a few security check points on the road as well -- it turns out that no one is allowed on certain stretches of the road after 6pm due to occasional militant attacks. We were welcomed at the mission school in the tribal village with a great ceremony by the kids. They performed traditional and modern-jazzed traditional dances for us. 
Then they asked one of the honored visitors to make a greeting speech. John and Sandy (my traveling colleagues) chickened out so I had to do it. I made tree quick points: First I explained the meaning and importance of "yes we can." (Obama is already a hero around here). Secondly I spoke briefly on the importance of education, and lastly I told them to be nice to each other. It went over very well.
This was a very impressive young woman. She had trained in a form of tribal dance for one full year, and she is only 5 years old.
