Portraits of a society part 1

Here are just a few of the adivasi (tribal) people I met at the Tribal Convention at the weekend.  They were all there for a good reason - talking about the issues being faced in different blocks (political divisions of the area), what they are doing or tryuing to do about them and also to celebrate their culture and way of life.  It's rare that I've had the privelage of meeting so many people, unable to speak each other's languages but who have still made me feel so welcome and part of their society, if only very briefly for a couple of days. I was wandering round in my salwar kameez, enjoying the cooler air that we are having now here in Koraput.  However, if you have been brought up in the Indian climate and accustomed to much warmer temperatures, you feel the cold.  It was only when it came to trying to sleep in a village house that I felt a bit chilly.  At least my house didn't have the big mouses that my colleague told me about in the house that he had to sleep in!