Title:  My Life Among the Paniyas
of the Nilgiri Hills

Author:  Hans-Henning Mündel

Price:  $25.00

Language:  English

Publisher:  Carpe Diem Mündel Publishing, 2007, 159 Pages

ISBN:  978-0-9783593-0-0

Bonus offer:  A PowerPoint presentation is also available which contains 40 photographs of the author's time among the Paniyas Tribe, 38 in full colour, for an additional cost of $5.00. These pictures are in black & white in the book. 

Extra:  Buy 10 books get one free. 

Also Available: 

EBook format on CD ($25.00) or by email ($20.00). 

The EBook features colour photos. 

In all the trials and tribulations in trying to assist the members of this hill-tribe in southern India, these Paniyas, described by anthropologists as being of pre-Dravidian origin, with limited shared language, humour often helped Henning and the Paniyas relate.

 On my way back I met Nunjan, …- all alone! - on his way to school.  He talked to me quite excitedly … but I managed to understand that the rest of the children had run away. ….  Naturally I was curious! ... I was able to ascertain that the government vaccinator (for smallpox)  and his helpers were about, and had been spied by the Paniyas. Vella, the “chief,” had suggested to the children ...that it would be wiser for them to run into the jungle to hide.
Find out the drama surrounding this vaccination and why CUSO-Delhi named Henning “Mother Hen.”

It’s so ridiculously hilarious, the situation I find myself in! - a tropical thunderstorm, after a few days without rain. The rice-straw thatch of my hut naturally was dry and shrunken – so the roof was no help!  While outside it was pouring, inside it was raining.…. Life for Henning was certainly not boring.

Hans-Henning Mündel by then a young adult aged 24 to 25, and a freshly-minted Masters of Science in Agriculture, joined the Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO) as a volunteer from Canada to India for three years. Most of the first year was spent as farm manager among the Paniyas of the Nilgiri Hills. That was from 1966 to 1967.  The Paniyas had just been moved to that land donated by the Madras Government to the Nilgiris Adivasi (tribal) Welfare Association (NAWA) when CUSO made arrangements for Henning to join NAWA. Agriculture was just one of the areas Henning found himself involved in: others being various areas of social-welfare, schooling, treating the sick, and all while living in quite modest circumstances himself.

Sampler

I had become the object of a practical joke. The (tapioca) rows had been made into the shape of a man with his arms akimbo, his hands on his hips….this was reflected in a 40- to 50-foot long “person”. As soon as I noticed this, …, everyone looked expectantly to see what I would do. …. Then Vella, the self-appointed Paniya leader, smilingly took up the posture represented and burst out laughing. …. I really never know what I will meet with next.