Hospitality

The one thing I would like to emphasize is the genuine hospitality and friendliness of the villagers of Hallusarige. I honestly have never met such a welcoming community in my life, who are so willing and eager to allow complete strangers, foreigners who don't even speak their language, into their homes. And not only that, the first thing they do is offer you a seat, banana chips, and some of their delicious tea, which honestly is the best tea I have ever tasted.


The only comparison I have to this type of hospitality is my Italian grandmother, who loves to cook, but loves feeding people even more, and who will talk to a complete stranger as if she has known you her entire life (which can sometimes be quite embarassing if you're the topic of conversation). However, for an entire community to take the time out of their daily lives to accomodate and welcome a group of foreign, college students into their community is unparalled to anything I have ever witnessed.

When we first arrived to begin fieldwork this morning, we discovered the villagers had a surprise for us: they had arranged for one of the workers to harvest an areca nut. Okay, so right now, you might be like "you saw someone harvest a nut. What's the big deal?" Well, by "harvest," I mean this man climbed a 15 m high tree (it might have been higher, I wasn't very adept at estimating the height during agroforestry) with simply some rope around his ankles. He then swung from tree to tree until reaching the actual areca nut tree, and then proceeded to pluck a bushel of nuts and slide them down a long rope to the people waiting on the ground. Besides this being absolutely awesome, it will quite humbling how the villagers provided us with this demonstration simply because a few of the Terrascopers voiced their interest in seeing how they harvest the areca nut.

The hospitality did not stop there. As part of Team Vanilla A, also known as the "dream team" or "team awesome," I helped conduct household surveys. I was astonished at how eagerly the owner of the house welcomed us into his home. He immediately offered us tea and banana chips, and quickly replenished the chips once they diminished. During the survey, we learned his financial situtation has forced him to take out a loan of 50,000 rupees (which is rougly $1250) in order to ensure his son can recieve an education. Despite the little he may have, he was so willing to share with us, to give us a tour of his home, and to help us learn about his farming situation.

Following the fieldwork, we reconvened with the entire group before we headed over to another household to observe some of their cooking practices. After seeing the simple tools and stoves they use to prepare the food, we were served a feast consisting of all locally grown products. When I say feast, I literally mean a feast, an Indian thanksgiving if you would like a comparison. I seriously thought I was going to die from eating so much, while many Terrascopers fell victim to a severe food coma. The main course of the meal alone consisted of three different types of curries served with rice. The villagers walked around almost continuously, enthusiastically serving you more and more until you thought you were going to explode. It was astonished and awe-struck as to how a village who has so little was so willingly to give us, complete strangers, so much of their food and resources. It makes you stop to think about all the times you've said "no" to someone in need, when you have simply walked by a beggar without a second thought. We have so much, yet we (I am generalizing "we" as American citizens), are often so unwilling to share.

Before we began our meal, we answered some of the questions the villagers had for us. One of these questions was: "What discomforts did we face while in the village?" I was completely taken aback by this question, as I, along with the rest of the group, hadn't even thought of any "discomfort" we faced. There wasn't one thing I could name, yet here the villagers were, after giving us so much, wanting to know how they could have done better. One of our classmates responded perfect, telling them not to worry about what discomforted us, but thanking them for their warm hospitality and genuine friendliness, uncomparable to anything any of us had ever experienced before. The villagers also asked "What does America think of India?" I know that after today the first thing that will come to my mind is the villagers, their warm smiles, absolute humility, and complete selflessness. I will think of how much I enjoyed India and how much I love and appreciate its people. I think this sentiment is shared by my fellow Terrascopers and I know we all have just one thing to say, Dhanyavada Hallusarige.


Laura