Monthly Archives: May 2010

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting Thambatty to attend a wedding. After a long time, I saw a Badaga lady, Mitchi Hethay with all the Badaga Jewellery [Kivi Chinna [ear rings], mookkuthi [nose rings], Saradu[necklace-chokker] and Bay [Bangles]. She made a wonderful sight in her spotless white ‘thundu – mundu’ [Badaga traditional dress].

Mitchi Hethai

mlle Sumathi writes : What a pleasant picture ! Thanks for sharing it with all. Mitchi Hethai is reminding of my own grandma who is no more , my grandma used to wear the same type of jewels .
Just a small question, do they make these traditional jewels even today ? In Ooty where can we order them ? Though not for immediate purchase , just gathering information for future use . Also , where can we buy those waist belts with a small bag  in woollen which our hethais wear ? Happy monsoon season to all our site visitors .

Hello Sumathi, we were able to lay our hands on Badaga Jewellery both at Ooty and Kotagiri. Surprise is that you can have Badaga Jewellery made in Bangalore, yes Bangalore. The waist belt – are you talking about the colourful ‘Satta’?  The sattas used to be the first woolen article any Badaga girl would knit when she started learning ‘how to knit – ‘pinnodhu’ in those days. I am not sure about the present – Wg Cdr JP

Dear Sir,

I visited Nilgiris recently and was starting to wonder about Badagas and Thodas.

Having seen your website about Badagas, here are my thoughts on their origin.

To start with and to be frank I did not know much about Badaga culture except for the fact that they are unlike general “hill people” that one could see. That is, I was aware that Badagas were much more advanced in culture and civilization (should not misunderstand that hill people are of less culture; I am just trying to contrast two different things and hence nothing is inferior here) than normal tribal population. Now that I am trying to understand the origins of Badagas, my theory will be as below.

Read the complete article here

There are a few highly talented entrepreneurs among Badagas who have succeeded in their chosen fields. One such person, who is closely known to me is Gopal, son of Late Thatha Gowder – a police Officer, from Mel Bikkatti. He is the CEO of  RESURGENT  SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES. With his dedication and hardwork, he remains as a motivator to others.

‘Resurgent Software Technologies is one of the Resurgent group companies established in 1980’s having global presence. It has its headquarters located in Chennai, India.Few of the members and their collaborators are ‘numero uno’ in their respective field. Our activities include design, manufacturing, erection of power plant equipment and auxiliaries. Software is also one of the products. Initially the software’s were developed for in house application. Having successfully implemented and used, they have been commercialized.

Resurgent Software Technologies provides software services to Small and Medium sized Enterprises. Its enterprise solutions, with their unique software capability of rapid customization have proved to be very economical. The ERP and Remote power monitoring systems are key areas of focus’.

Read the complete post here

Sashikumar N.C. [ sashinc71@gmail.com] writes :  Please add the following info in the First Badaga .

Vivek. M, son of  Mohanraj from T. Mynalai, who is the

1. First FIDE rated (Chess) player from the Nilgiris. FIDE ID: 5064139
2. National Instructor (FIDE certified Chess Trainer) – One among 67 in the  world.
(Vivek’s e-mail ID :  vivek.chess@gmail.com Phone #: 09787808000)

[Refer website: www.fide.com & www.getchesstraining.com for more details]

Congratulations to Vivek – Wg Cdr JP

As I sit down to ponder over the ‘burning issues’ that are bothering the Badaga Community, three issues pop up as very important. The FIRST one is the inequality with which we seem to be treating our women today. Though, this malaise is affecting all the communities in our country, I am concerned that the Badagas who treated their women folk with so much respect and love in the olden days, are slowly but surely pushing them into the second class citizens category.

In earlier days, the girls were married off at a much younger age [Kannu Hoottadha Henga] but with the firm understanding that they [the girls] could seek divorce at any time if there was matrimonial disharmony and that they would be accepted back into the society without any blame and reservation. Getting married again was no big issue. She, always, had the backing of her parents and her brothers as ‘guru mane’ gave unflinching support in all respects mainly financial. This was probably the main reason that the girl children were not given any share in the property.

Read the complete article here