India is a heart opener. Have I mentioned that already? I realize that more and more, and I remember how much happiness was also in my heart when I visited this country the last time. My heart and soul has been opened, and my body as well, after eleven days of ayurvedic bodywork from Dr. Vijayan and the students of the Bodytree organization.
Ana and I are on a local bus without windows up the mountains from Trivandrum in Kerala. Kerala is the state where Malayalam is spoken. The language sounds and looks very round. Just as well that you can read Malayalam in both directions. Its pouring down rain. Ana is taking up two seats with her big backpack while the bus is getting more and more crowded. I find a tiny little space of "seat" by the window in the last row and sit down in a puddle of rain water. I feel sweaty, sticky and dirty, but all the smiling, beautiful Indian women around me look so fresh, pretty, clean and graceful. They always do, even in the dirtiest, stinkiest places.
After two hours of rattling and wetness we arrive in the small village of Kallar at the Bodytree organization. I have been so excited and curious about getting here! My dear friend Paige, who has visited the Bodytree a couple years ago, has told me wonderful things about it, then stopped and said, "Uli, you have to go to the Bodytree, you will have a wonderful time there! I am not going to tell you anything more about it. I don't want to take away the experience for you." So here I am now. We enter through a gate made out of an old cycle and are welcomed by Hima (like the Himalaya), who later turns out to be the "lady that keeps the household together." I notice right away all the animals that mingle in the court yard and kitchen - cats, dogs, chickens (one keeps visiting me in my room. I never had a chicken in my room before), ducks (they always walk in a row), a goat and a water buffalo. The kitchen, which is the place were everybody converges, is amazing! It's dark in there, but everything is very open and cooking is being done on the fire. It feels ancient and tribal. I am actually at a tribal place in a little piece of tropical paradise! Bodytree is run by Dr. Vijayan and was set up in 2004. It addresses issues surrounding access to health care and the disappearing traditional medical practices amongst isolated indigenous communities. Bodytree trains young people from different indigenous communities to become adivasi ayurvedic community health workers and operates programmes of health education for community groups.
Here in the first section about Bodytree. I want to introduce the wonderful people that live together in a community and let me into their lives as a friend and with my camera. They are (almost) all Adivasi tribal people who come from the forest. Adivasi means "first nation." I included photos that I took as well as some photos of Ana.
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