A visit at the local market is an authentic experience of the indigenous way of life. It is an adventure into an Indian fairytale and it beams you back in time where life was simple and connected to the forest and nature as a whole.
At home, you open the fridge to see if there are any vegetables left. If there is not enough available, you go to the local supermarket and get what you need from the rack. Or maybe you visit your local farmers market and get organic fruits and vegetables from there. For some it is as easy as scrolling through the corresponding app on the smartphone. A couple of clicks and everything is delivered directly to your door. This simple act of buying food in the modern world is an act of about 20mins. For us and for the many villages around the Kanha National Park, it is a weekly adventure to the local market.
Every Wednesday, the villagers walk, cycle or drive to Mocha, where the weekly local market is set up. Once you reach Mocha, you can feel the buzzing activities of the market. Many people with bags full of organic vegetables, fruits, grains, lentils and all kinds of other goods, are walking towards the market to set up their stall. A splendid chaos in which you could easily lose yourself. But give yourself five minutes and you will feel comfortable in this great whirlwind of what seems like a time long past .
The experience of this market can be summed up in two words: colorful and original.
The market, although a novelty for us, is a luxury for the villagers. Sometimes they have to travel miles, just so they have supplies for the coming week. This beautiful market experience, which has not changed for decades, gives us all the opportunity to experience being a part of Kanha`s indigenous way of life, it`s culture and history.
