A bit about food

I was fed very well while staying out in Khajuripadar.  There may be little money, no electricity, no piped water and nothing in the way of mod cons but they know how to cook good meals and look after their guests.  The feminist in me was very gratfied to see most of the cooking being done by men, there seemed to be no expectation that this was women's work.  Sadly I missed out on the feast that was being prepared on my last day in the village.  A couple of the team had gone to another village to buy some chicken and this had taken longer than anticipated and we needed to set off back to Koraput before the meal was ready.  The preparation of the chickens was a bit delayed by one of them making a bid for an escape and being chased around the village by men waving sticks and trying to catch it.  However, the racing chicken was brought to a humane conclusion.

Singeing off the last few feathers after plucking.

Dismembering the chicken ready for the pot

A kadei of dali simmering away on the stove.

The Khajuripadar equivalent of a 3-ring stove, carefully attended by Malati, one of the main tribal leaders in this area.

Gopal took me into Ramagiri a couple of times to get a hearty breakfast of idli, made by steaming a batter of fermented black lentils and rice flour, served with some sort of savoury dali type of mixture.  I had almost got to the bottom of my leaf-bowl full of 3 large idli + dali when I was presented with another 3 to munch through.  I did not need to eat again for a long time after.

I managed to take a photo of the main street in Ramagiri after swabbing myself down, having got breakfast all down myself.