Woodsmoke and Leafcups Quotes

“pathar pocha’, a leaf-wiper, an Adivasi. The manner of cleaning one’s bottom is stronger than any other custom in a culture. Most Adivasi people, left to themselves, use leaves. I pursued the rather neglected science of examining the qualities of various species of leaves; even sent my findings to the Kew Bulletin for publication but was turned down as their editorial board found it ‘rather inappropriate’.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“A society’s self-reliance is usually in inverse proportion to its reverence for the state. In some inexplicable way, the Adivasi of the deep forest showed his disdain for the sahib by wearing less; the threshold of shame increased as one neared the towns where he showed less of himself.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“Adivasi is only an incidental factor; a collateral that barely contributes to the GDP shrine.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“Most meals that came from the forest were brought by the women – fish, mushrooms, crab, bamboo shoots, some kuccha or the other. The staples, rice and millet, came from the land.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“Food should figure in the writing of Adivasi identity. In villages far off the road, all the food – meat, fish, kuccha, yams – comes from the forest. Having complete independence in procuring one’s food allows a people to disregard all outside interference, even apparently relevant NGO (non-governmental organization) or government programmes. Consider, for instance, the luxury in food choices and tastes”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“Without the waist string, kita todu, and a name, a child does not belong to human society: the passage from nature to culture has not occured.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“An Adivasi home fashions several kinds of leafcups each day: dokpa for rice; chokni for the side dish; koondu for the chava; and chipdi for the mel. If there are any ceremonies, there is the kadan chokni, in which rice contributions are served, and the addom chokni, made of two sal leaves placed across each other and used to make offerings in a shrine.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“it was the civet who taught us about toddy. Civets nibbled at the flowering stalks and caused toddy to drip. Men saw the civets drinking this and, following suit, found it to be good. They began to tap their palms, and later achieved perfection in the art of making the flow of toddy even and strong.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“When you’re travelling ask a traveller for advice, Not someone whose lameness keeps him in one place. —Jalaluddin Rumi,”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“cowherd who is alert to every change in the forest; a daily newsletter. How does the water flow down the distant Tarlong waterfall? Have the deer moved on the Kiam Hills? Have the wild dogs had their litter? Has the bitangi flowered? Have strangers come into our forest for bamboo? I”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“The absence of cowherds and the presence of the tractor have edged out other sounds from many Adivasi lives. The sounds of men waking up to grey monsoon dawns, getting ploughs and yokes ready, and then talking”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“the subtler impact of not having one. The effect of a few hundred cattle grazing unrestrained, every day, within and around the village is terrible for regeneration. Having no cowherd, some people have sold their cattle and resorted to a tractor to plough their land.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“Indeed, cheap rice has only made the availability of cowherds more difficult, if not impossible. People who tended cattle for payment in kind (food every day and grain at the end of the year) did not do it any more.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“the Adivasi is not viewed as ‘a person’ with individual attributes and character, with specific roles and importance within his community, but lumped into a convenient category like Scheduled or Primitive Tribes.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“Wants have no end, the forest does.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“The kotwal is the perfect mouthpiece of the village, saying exactly those things that the police want to hear. The kotwals have perfected this peculiar mixture of qualities – so unvarying in their response to the State that entirely different individuals can behave almost exactly alike in similar circumstances.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“all paid for in stone money. There is much tomfoolery and people play-act, overdo the bargaining and generally have fun. Coming home from churcha and chutok haats, everyone is served a few rounds of landa and mel before all the stone money is counted, while the base flute is played for the puda if it is to be invited home. A net increase – there is never a loss – signifies that the family will prosper.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“the child is taken into the market and introduced to the world, and the puda, the spirit, is invited home. The child will enjoy good health and frequent the haat through its lifetime. There is usually a small pot of landa and some mel, and the family celebrates the occasion at the fringe of the haat.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“A child’s first visit to the haat, known as haat paithanow, ‘going to the haat’ is an important event.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“Illness is no reason to separate the patient from society.”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People

“. Sarkar teen parkar: Adei thindana, narpitana Auru jiyam noipitana. (The”
― Madhu Ramnath, Woodsmoke and Leafcups: Autobiographical Footnotes to the Anthropology of the Durwa People