I was on one of those silky snaking roads in the
North-Eastern India. I stopped by to have a hot cup of tea. It was the need of
the hour, you see, it was cold and humid and could rain any minute.
Late in the afternoon and I could hardly feel the sun, as it
was shying behind the clouds. I stopped by a small tea stall and the lady saw
me approaching her. She poured me a hot cup of tea, before I asked her to and
handed it out with a warm smile. The tea in the hills of Meghalaya tastes
entirely different. With no milk and no sugar added to it, it’s a pure brew.
May be it’s the water, or the weather, or the humid air, or the lady’s smile –
it has a very refreshing aroma to it.
“Where from”, she asked me curiously. It was of course easy
for her, to identify that I am not a local. And we started talking. And while
talking, she told me a story of two tribes, a story that stayed with me.
There were two tribes; one lived at the bottom of the hills
and the other at the top. These two
tribes lived in rivalry. They hated each other so much, that only hatred
existed among them and every time there was an attempt to bring in peace, blood
flowed like a river, carrying the dead with it in the valley.
On one night, some men came down the hills, and looted the
village at the bottom of the hill. The villagers were alarmed as they came down
without a warning. And before they could react, the looters fled and went back
to their village on top of the hill. The
village head called for a gathering of the tribe next morning and an account
was made of all the things that were looted. An army of young men was made to
avenge this attack. Men, who were young and agile, well trained in the tribal
war fare for a day like this.
Among the people was a woman who was inconsolable. When asked,
she told the village head that her 2 yr old baby was also taken away by those
men, last night. This angered the tribesmen even more. The small army of the
young and most able tribesmen promised the mother to bring her baby back and
set out on the task.
The self- sufficient tribe was living in fertile grounds and
never learnt to climb the steep side of the hill. They tried hard, but would
slip halfway, and could never reach the top of the hill. So they camped at the
foot of the hill, unable to return to their village out of shame. Their only
hope now was to find someone who could guide them go uphill.
2 days passed and they were running short of food, water and
patience. But yet, could not find a way uphill, nor could find someone going
uphill. Finally, on the 3rd day they saw someone climbing down the
hill. They wanted to nab this guy and learn from him, how to go uphill. To
their surprise the man was walking towards them. As the man approached, they
realized it was a woman. As the woman approached further, they realized it was
the woman from their village whose baby was taken. As the woman approached even
further, the men saw that the woman was returning with her baby, tied to her
back.
All the young and most able tribesmen watched her in shock
and awe. They went up to her and asked, “We have been trying for 3 days now,
and could not find a way. And you are such a frail woman. How could you do it?”
She answered, “Well, it was not your baby”