It was at the end part of October and we were on the hills of Malakngiri heading towards Andrabahal village on the hills. A part of the invincible domain of the Bondas where over 34 such small villages constitute the empire of Bondas since time immemorial.

In our search for certain reports, we stumbled upon a smart-looking young man, far detached from the customary look of a Bonda boy. He was short, his eyes small and beady, slightly prominent cheekbones making him look more of a Mangolite than a man from the general hue of the tribe.

His dispositions were different than others. What caught our eyes was his clothing. A half pant and a football jersey with the number 10. It reminded Leone Messy, the great Argentinean striker.

Asked if he was a footballer he was curt in his reply ‘ yes’. He plays football which he had learnt during his three years stay in Bhubaneswar as a student at Kalinga Institute of Social Science. That was a stunner for us!

Up from the inaccessible hills down there in the capital city, making it to a frontline player in football, we cannot grudge the trainers their share of the credit. He is one of the many such youths who have claimed their place in the arena of sports and academics.   

Almost three thousand feet above the sea level, in the woods of the undulated hills, a boy from there made it to the organization in Bhubaneswar. What a quest by the people who do the rekey there, spotting the ones with the hidden talents. Ones who could break out of die-hard life and do the value addition.

The boy with the football jersey, Simran, is engaged as a peon and interlocutor with the state-owned Bonda Development Agency downhill at Muduliguda.

Be it education, sports, vocational trainings or, health & hygiene, hundreds from this place have emerged self-reliant. 

That was not an isolated case. In our two-day-long visits to the hills, we came across several boys and girls from that community who had made their ways to KISS and have gone back meaningful in one or the other way.

Later in a small village, just upon a hillock, from the base, Muduliguda, there were a number of boys and girls those who had learnt few commercial skills after undergoing two years training in Bhubaneswar.

While driving down from a spot called ‘Sita-Kund’, we could notice over half a dozen girls in ‘salwar-kameez’ walking up, each with a back-pack and upon inquiry it was revealed that they were all students of the world’s largest residential tribal school, located in Bhubaneswar and it needs no further elaboration.

To pick up, groom, and then graduate them in life has created an atmosphere more conducive for engagements.    

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