Kondas on the Sullippokkan Hill
Philipose Vaidyar
Konda or Konda Dora is a native tribe who live in Andhra
Pradesh and surrounding parts of neighbouring states. Konda Dora people are mainly seen in the Visakhapatnam,
Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and East Godavari districts.
Konda Dora people are animists and worship spirits
of their ancestors.
They are also well populated
in the Arakku valley. Let’s go over to one of their most difficult settlements
on the Sullippokkan hill.
Sullippokkan village is 80
kilometers away from Vizag or Vishakapatanam. There are good roads, winding
through the Arakku hills and valleys. But to reach Sullippokkan, we need to
trek at least an hour through the steep hill.
The terrain is tough and the
single foot path is too difficult to climb.
There are about 40 families
living on this hill. To have living
here, everything had to be carried as head-loads. There was no electricity here
or a well to draw water from. Open wells dug in the past had no water. A rig
cannot climb up here to dig a tube well.
However, the Konda Dora
people do a little farming here- paddy and tobacco- depending on rain and the
thin stream that passes nearby. They also tend cattle and goats.
There is no
shop here to buy anything. To buy some salt or a match box, they need to climb
down the hill.
There is a small stream uphill
but it cannot reach the village. It dries off in the summer. The only way out
seemed to be building a bund here to store water to last through the summer.
Viji, my friend and guide to this
village, had been helping them to build a bund to store more water. Electricity
lines had come to the village by now and they could pump it to a tank in the
village. But more often the lines lack current.
Their plight during this summer
is still to be known. The Khonda Dora
people on Sullippokkan village need water, living and sustaining water.
philjy@gmail.com
