Settlers of Konkan

I think it is very important for people to run away...from home, from the mainstream, from their family, from the culture, from the society that produced them...because the moment I have to learn something new, like new habits, new languages, I myself have something like a rebirth. I reduce myself to the lowest denominator and this is very healthy. To start all over again.

I traveled to the hills and the coast, the roads were winding making me dizzy, and the heat was bearable because of the thick cloud covers. The slow life of the settlements slowed my mind. Every settlement behaved differently but looked the same whether farmers, fishermen, or temple centric. The tiled hip roof houses tucked between the forests, farms and rivers thrived on nature's abundance. Mangoes, forest fruits, rice, fish, veggies, millets, and mobile phones thrived. Farmers' settlements were mostly found on flatter beds. From far the village looked like a herd of cows sitting together harmoniously. Most houses had quick access to their farms where they mostly grew rice. Settlements of fishermen lined a river. It was long with houses along one main road usually abutting a river. Every house had access to the waterfront and boats lined the backwaters. They knew people from the opposite bank. They transported utilities daily and caught fish.

Another type of village was around a big temple usually on a beach or in the middle of the forest. The rituals of the temple dominated daily life and people flocked to get their Darshan's. These temples are associated with people from many nearby villages by lineage and long traditional associations. Shiva and Shakti are worshipped with utmost peace and devotion. Every family had their traditional ritual that was performed by the temple. The houses and shops organised around the temple. It was clear to see how a core function organised peoples lives. Cities are completely taken over by builders!

I did not plan my day, my route nor my stay, occasionally I relied on some apps to get a place to stay for the night in few occasions. Somehow Google maps outperformed AirBnb in all angles. First of all, connectivity. Google maps worked magically on low bandwidth. To find a place, I had to tap just once for phone number and directly book a place in the last minute. The success rate was over 70%. AirBnb is great if you are a planned traveller in India. Did not work even a bit for me due to low connectivity.

The landscapes made me wonder "Why did they settle here?, How come the size of this settlement is approximately same as the next village? Is it because the farms become like the circumference of the village and if the farm is far, its common sense to settle in next village!. Why is fishermen village along the edge road? Why cant they have floating village?, Why does temple village has complex like feel? Where do people feel more secured and sheltered? The settlers revealed a life that I could barely see in the city. The settlers of the village had their rhythms, functions, work, expressions, communication and purpose all tacitly understood by each-other. They did not need LinkedIn profiles to connect and keep finding new jobs every day as it dint exist!. Settlers of villages had accepted and thrived on the abundance that nature gave them. They nourish their life by engaging with families and following traditions. Modern economics challenged this thousand year old system. Farmer today gets paid the least making the rich village poor. He aspires that his child can go to city for find better opportunities, easier ways to make money, without realising the subtle connection of his family and tradition with the land. What happens to these settlements? I could not imagine, nor I wanted to.

Above all I was interested in character of the settlers who are capable of living this life of need regardless of whether that life is made in the name of social obligations, spiritual values, or for the sake of someone else, or of his own salvation, or of all these things together. There is conscious balance of the materialistic and need based social worldview with these settlers that get expressed in these villages. The settlers sang and danced their heart during festivals. Like J Krishnamuthy said - "You cannot reconcile creativeness with technical achievement. You may be perfect in playing the piano, and not be creative; you may play the piano most brilliantly, and not be a musician. You may be able to handle color, to put paint on canvas most cleverly, and not be a creative painter… We have technique…how to put up a house, how to build a bridge…how to educate our children through a system…we have learned all these techniques, but our hearts and minds are empty... Creativeness is not found through technique. If you have something to say, you create your own style; but when you have nothing to say, even if you have a beautiful style, what you write is only the traditional routine, a repetition in new words of the same old thing… So, having lost the song, we pursue the singer. We learn from the singer the technique of song, but there is no song; and I say the song is essential, the joy of singing is essential. When the joy is there, the technique can be built up from nothing; you will invent your own technique, you won't have to study elocution or style. When you have, you see, and the very seeing of beauty is an art."

As a designer who is eager to make schemas quickly, ideate, disrupt and motivated to change the workings of existing culture I was humbled to learn to be silent, to listen, to watch, to include all to enjoy the harmony and expression of Konkan villages.