This week has been an interesting one in Koraput. The parab (festival) started on Monday for 3 days this week. The parab is a celebration of culures from across India with stalls selling crafts (many produced by self-help groups), promoting the work of NGOs and singing, dancing and music going on into the night. In fact all through the night. Loudly. It was held at The Stadium here in Koraput, a large playing field that is usually used for playing football and other athletic activities, seen here from my roof. It's only about 5 minutes walk from my house so the activities were very audible at home. My friend and fellow VSO volunteer J came to stay with me for a few days from Kolkata. J spent 2 years working in Koraput and decided to escape the noise and bustle of Kolkata to the rural tranquility of Koraput. She was sadly mistaken. We did not get much sleep.
A group of Scandinavian ambassadors visited Koraput, partly to see this part of the country and the problems that are hard to appreciate when reading about them and also to visit the parab. They joined us in our office yesterday afternoon for a presentation of SPREAD's work partly funded by one of these nations and to discuss what is being done to address the issues faced by the tribal communities to gain a better understanding. I've never been given ambassador's calling cards before.
The session seemed to go very well, generating some interesting questions and discussions.
The only problem with this sort of visitor is that they come accompanied by large groups of security personnel, not often seen here in Koraput.
Relaxing after the visitors had moved on
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