India - The Untold Dark Stories - The Story of Sucomoni

I'm going to share with you a side of the world many don't think can still exist in this age. It can be a bit horrific I'll warn before you read.

One of the things (there are many) I hate about the news coverage in the USA, is their focus mostly on our national news. So much of it is political, which just further divides the country. It's a very USA centric broadcast with little attention to the rest of the world. As one of my favorite groups, Lynard Skynard, sang: " there's things going on that you don't know". And they're not being exposed.

India is a growing economy. In a few decades they'll be a financial powerhouse. But there are issues in the country. It is a large place with over a billion people. Some believe it is the largest country in the world if a proper census was performed. There are many corners in the country where no one looks.

One such place is in Arunanchel Pradesh and Assam Provinces. It is here where I first heard the term "kerosene bride" as I documented in this post:

(https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/most-remote-place-i-ve-visited).

How can people be set on fire anywhere in the world and it not make headlines? Because there are no cameras rolling there. You won't see the press in this area of the world. I don't think popular media considers it important enough. It won't help their news ratings.

I had a personal experience when I visited the area. I came across a teenage girl named Sucomoni. I share this close up photo I took of her with you:

Sucomoni

When I first saw her I couldn't believe she could still be alive. She had been burned so badly. When I heard of her story I was sickened.

When she was much younger she lived with her grandmother who had difficulty caring for her (this is a very poor part of the country). The family held Hindi beliefs, which include the belief in reincarnation. The grandmother knew she would have a difficult life living in such poverty that she decided she would douse her in kerosene and burn her to death. She believed her granddaughter would come back in the next life and it would be better for her. Someone intervened when they saw her on fire and put the fire out. But the damage had been done,

The girl was removed from her grandmother and put into an orphanage. There she was cared for medically and financially. After many, many graft surgeries she has survived and looks as she does today. I don't know what happened with the grandmother but I expect nothing. This is the life in this remote area. It's tribal law.

The smile you see in the photo is very rare for her. It took me much effort to solicit. Normally she hangs her head and doesn't make eye contact. She's quite conscious of how she looks.

In my encounters with her I always looked her in the eye and never condescended to her. I wanted her to feel as normal as possible in an impossible situation. But I admit, this young girl saddened my heart. At first I was very angry that this type of thing is accepted anywhere in the world. But I know such atrocities exist. Anger gave way to sadness in the end.

But what does anger me still is the centric nature of the media coverage in the USA. This country has a lot of influence around the world. The media has the power. But what do they use that power for? Political debates? The weather? Divisive national topics?

You don't hear much of the coup in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Terrorism in the Philippines is not important here. And the horrors that take place in the dark corners are never exposed. The media doesn't think it will sell. It's just not profitable. So the citizens of this country are fed the garbage the news wants to feed it.

Yeah, you can tell where my anger lies. Bad things continue to occur when good men do nothing. I think someone famous said something like that.

I got to come home when my adventure was through and continue on to another. But my thoughts go back to that poor young girl often. She'll never go anywhere the rest of her life. And the life she has there was greatly diminished by a grandmother with ancient beliefs.

Piranha Fishing in the Amazon

How cool is that? To catch these teeth bearing fish straight from the Amazon. Well, I was fortunate enough to do this in the Peruvian Amazon after a trip to Iquitos, Peru.

I'll post more on the other aspects of the trip later regarding the trip and stay in Iquitos. I'll also post regarding securing a boat ride into the Amazon and subsequent stay with an Amazon river tribe. This post I will focus on the fishing expedition me and the some villagers did in the Amazon river.

I'll start by answering the obvious question. Yes these little buggers do have teeth:

This was not something I was expecting on this trip but when approached with the opportunity, of course, I was all over it! Two of the fishermen from the tribal village took me with them on their boat. I only knew we were going fishing, however, I was unaware for what we were fishing. But it didn't take long to find out.

Tha Amazon river is the lifeblood of the tribal villages. It is a major water source for them even though they live in a rainforest. They also get a significant portion of their food from the river along with the farming they do on their lands and hunting in the jungle.

Locals with their fishing boat.

The peaceful Amazon.

I was lucky to be on a covered boat to protect from the sun. Most of the boats in the village was open top. I think they knew a fragile white skinned American couldn't take the heat.

There it is! I caught one.

I handed my camera phone over to one of tribal fishermen to take pictures during the trip. He was happy to oblige as they always were. The tribe people were very friendly and seemed genuinely happy to have me with them. The same thing I later found visiting a tribe in Zimbabwe.

Yeah baby! I'm an Amazonian fisherman now!

The pirhana is not a big a fish. Maybe 6-7 inches long? From all the fictional movies I saw as a kid of actors being consumed by schools of these fish I had a mental picture of them being much larger.

The fishing experience lasted about an hour and a half or a little more. I think they just wanted to provide me with a unique experience which I appreciated. Most of the time it was time in the boat with maybe only 30 minutes of fishing.

The fishing was easy. I assume these fish are abundant in the river. There was little wait between each catch.

Here is the haul.

So, what do you do with Piranha fish? Well, you eat them before they eat you! That's what we did. We brought them back to the village and they fried them up for me. How cool!

And yes I did eat them.

The obvious question now is what did they taste like? Well, since they were fried they tasted like any other fried fish with the lard they used to cook it in dominating the taste. But I could tell it was a nice white flaky type fish that I assume would taste good even baked.

I really enjoyed this experience and appreciated the impromptu invitation to take me out there. Especially since they obvious did this for only my benefit.

Another lifetime experience under my belt. Now, what's next?

The Desert of Wadi Rum in Jordan

I've already posted several stories of Wadi Rum already:

https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/fun-in-the-jordan-desert

https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/epic-dinner-in-the-desert-at-wadi-rum-jordan

Those posts were about specific events that occurred on this adventure. This post will focus on the desert itself.

I had a rental Vehicle to drive to the desert but it was unfit for driving on desert sand, so I parked it in a lot nearby and grabbed a driver and a Jeep to take me to my tent and through the desert. The driver was also my tour guide and photographer for this adventure.

Each day we spent about 4-5 hours exploring different areas of the desert. This is not an area you could self-explore, as I normally prefer, because iPhone GPS was not available and there are no roads or maps to aid. You are reliant on local guide's knowledge of the desert.

Wadi Rum lies about 180 miles south of the capital of Amman. The country of Jordan is not that large and any point in the country can easily be driven in a day. There are few major roads so it is difficult to get lost even without GPS.

The desert is huge. It is over 180,000 acres. Although it does get some rain, it's still pretty dry as you can see.

Looks like a this could be on another planet, doesn't it? Actually the several movies with a Mars setting were filmed here.

It can get cold in this desert, as you can see by my heavy jacket. I was there in January, the coldest month in Jordan. It was quite cold even under the daytime sun.

Jordan is not far from Egypt. As a result it is not surprising to see the same rock type formations as found in the Sinai peninsula as I documented here:

https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/sinai-peninsula

These bridge rocks were very popular photo stops. It's a bit of a climb up the rock face to access, but great views are offered at the top. Too bad I couldn't take any pictures from up there as I gave my camera phone to my guide to photo me at the top!

Looks like I'm lost? I would have been if my guide took off. I had no idea where to go on this 180,000 acre wasteland.

A picture of Lawrence if Arabia carved in the rock. He was stationed in this desert and was a big proponent for the Arabian struggles at the time. He survived the war only to die later in a motorcycle accident.

There are even caves in the rock formations of this desert. These are not limestone caves so don’t expect to see stalactites or stalagmites, but they are rather cool. A nice place to escape the desert sun which can be quite blinding at times.

There is more I can say about this place but the words will just get in the way of the natural beauty. I’ll leave you with a typical desert sunset I took at different time intervals:

I hope you enjoyed your virtual walk through the Wadi Rum desert!