“Stand still. Become aware. Stop and listen more deeply when you are lost. Here, everything means something. The rustle of the leaf, the call of a bird, the break of a branch – they all speak to you. The forest – she’s powerful, yet a kind stranger. She breathes. Listen.” – the most profound wisdom I gained as I walked alongside them. In the remote rainforests of Anamalais, accompanied by its native inhabitants, the Kadar tribesmen, I saw the forest in a way I have never before. Through their eyes, it made more sense.
As a naturalist and tour leader, my favorite part of the rainforest expedition with The Papyrus Itineraries (a travel company based out of Pollachi), is sitting down with the elders of the Kadar family, sip black tea and listen to stories and engage in conversations to the sound of the crackling fire that lingers late into the night. Stories not just of their close encounters and brushes with elephants, sloth bears, and tigers, but also folklore passed down from their ancestors.
Stored in their memories, is an enormous treasure trove of wisdom and these conversations around the flickering fire helped me glean insights about their traditional beliefs, their acceptance of nature’s authority and their deep respect for all life forms. That’s why, we ensure, that the native tribal people constitute a key aspect of Nature and Wildlife tours organized by The Papyrus Itineraries across the various ranges and habitats of the Anamalai Hills.
Over the years, the indigenous people of Anamalai Hills have thrived in remote forest areas, adapting sustainable ways and solutions to survive in the rainforests without destroying the delicate balance that maintains the ecosystem. In conditions that are still primitive and sometimes even harsh, the Kadars live in close harmony with nature. They possess unique knowledge about these jungles and the way of animals that live here, most of which are not given space, in today’s popular culture.
After the time I spent exploring the dense, bio-diverse rich rainforests with them, I realized that Kadars have not just survived in these jungles, but have thrived. Living among wildlife, large and small, walking through the leech-infested forest floor, braving heavy monsoon downpour for more than half of the year, they pay more attention and continue to gain wisdom about the place they live in, for daily survival.
It pained me to think, how the outside world had considered such knowledge primitive and dismissed it, given to science and technology. I strongly believe, especially in these times, honoring and respecting their conventional wisdom and traditional beliefs could be the very way of returning to the ‘golden age’ when humanity lived in perfect harmony with the rest of nature.
Kadar, the film, is a result of the very urge to highlight the conventional wisdom of these indigenous tribesmen of the Anamalai Hills, whom we rely upon to navigate through the thick dense jungles, rainforests while exploring the remote forests, in search of wildlife spectacles and natural wonders.
Watch the film here:
In collaboration with Faraway Originals, an award-winning production company that informs its audience of real-life journeys of people from walks of life, we aimed at delivering a message from a belief system and way of life that does not understand concepts like conservation, ecology or environment but one that embraces the simple idea of respect.
We hope the film will not only resonate with nature enthusiasts but drops a simple message in the hearts of any viewer, a plain yet significant message from the elders of the jungle in the remote areas of Anamalai Hills about how their traditional wisdom can help address the world’s wounds.
After all, indigenous worldviews around the planet share a common perspective: the world is alive and meaningful and our relationship with the rest of life is one of participation, communion, and co-creation.
About the film: ‘Kadar’ is a story that softly calls to you from the jungle. In the Anamalai Hills, where the ‘Kadar’ tribesfolk or the ‘People of the forest’ step gently alongside creatures that inhabit these wild slopes, an unspoken bond exists since the beginning.
Loganathan, in his childhood, was taught to walk the wilderness in reverence for all the life that thrived here. This has been the way of the Kadar people. Every once in a while, perhaps unintentionally, boundaries are crossed and chaos comes calling in the dead of the night. This is the story of that night in the jungle, under a moonless sky, when a lone male tusker elephant broke down Loganathan’s door and stood right before him.
We at The Pollachi Papyrus collaborated with Faraway Originals, a Bangalore-based, award-winning production company that aims at bringing unheard stories of unheard people from all corners of India. In this film, we aimed to highlight the conventional wisdom, way of life of the Kadar tribesmen and their importance in the long term conservation efforts in the Anamalai Hills.
