A home stays to savor for life: Saoroli, Maharashta

A twenty-minute drive or a one hour walk from Warkhanda leads one to another Warli village, Saoroli. On entering the village one is greeted by the paddy fields and the numerous date and tamarind trees.

Saoroli is much more developed in comparison to the other Warli villages of Warkhanda and Uplat. Many of the young people work in the industrial states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Very few of the village people rely wholly on agriculture.

Like Warkhanda, Saoroli also has the church building located at the centre of the village with the houses of the villagers built around it. A unique feature of the village is the fact that every evening all the villagers gather in the biggest house in the village to watch a movie or a cricket match together as a community.

There are Masses held in the village on Fridays and Sundays. The priest comes from Uplat to celebrate Mass which is in Marathi. The priest says Mass as well as sings accompanied by his playing the dholak, as there is no choir in Saoroli during Mass.

The houses in the village are made of mud and every house has a cow. Every clan in the village has a unique bamboo gate. There are a few home run shops in the village where groceries and other household items are sold.

There are no hotels or motels in the village and homestays are the only option. It is much easy to get a homestay here as compared to the rest since it is easy to communicate with the people here.

The food of the people consists of dal, rice, rice roti, chicken, vegetable and fish vegetable. A unique feature here is before and after eating the women of the house come with water and make everyone wash their hands. For dessert, there is fruit like grapes and bananas.

At night, people of the village women and children included sleep outside the house. Only the older people sleep indoors.

A great way of mingling with the village folk of Saoroli is to play a game of cricket with them. Cricket is played every evening by the young and old in the village. Saoroli is a great stopover for a backpacker to experience the true essence of a homestay. One is really made to feel at home with the warmth the people provide in their interaction with travelers.

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