The Uchoi people is one of 21 recognized subgroups under the Indian Indigenous people called Tripura. Most of them living in the Tripura region in North -East India, and some groups living in the area East of Sylhet in Bangladesh and a smaller group living in the fare Eastern parts of Chittagong Hill Tracks also in Bangladesh.
Some of them are still speaking their native language called “Tiperah” but most have learned “Bengali” and are also wearing the Bangladeshi clothing.

The overall Tripura tribes are a minority in Bangladesh and the subgroup Uchoi even more so, not only because of their foreign traditions but also because they used to be animistic and many have also converted into Christianity.

The men are traditionally recognized by their turban and loin cloth, and the women by their colorful woven dresses. Both men and women wore silver earrings, and women have silver bracelets and other types of jewelry around their neck, wrists, ankles, in their noses and hair.

The Ushoi are open minded and as such could fit in with the more modern way of thinking. Even though the parents are arranging the marriages, they are not paying any dowry and they can marry cross culture. However the groom must work and live in the brides home for two years before he is allowed to move, together with his bride. However the two will be allowed to sell some of the crops and keep the money, for a new home.

The eldest son will have the right to inherit the family property, but if he leaves the home while the father are still alive, he will not inherit anything. The inheritance will eventually go to the eldest of the sons living at home, when they father die.

Their livelihood is traditionally simple farming as slash and burn agriculture, but these days it is discourage by the government who have taught them to use plough cultivation and to grow crops such as sweet potatoes, cotton, maize and various kinds of fruits, rice and melons. They are also growing some of the World’s best pineapples. They have some livestock such as water buffalo, pigs, sheep and goats.

In India, the Uchoi People are officially claimed to be Hindu, but in reality they are still animists. They also have shamans who are playing around with the more clandestine World and their spirits and with it, comes a lot of superstition, such as the bad luck of crows on the roof or building houses where other houses has been burned down.

The Uchoi are the smallest group of all the Tripura tribes, the Tripura in total are counting less than 20.000 people all together. They are originally animists, but most has been forced to take on one of the main religions, and many choose to become Buddhist and a few to become Christian.

I meet up with my very good friend Mikko from Finland and his friend Taneem in Chittagong, we had decided to venture into the Chittagong Hill Tracks to see what we might find in this desolate area. Taneem had an old but still functional car, not the most suitable to use on the roads going through the Hill Tracks. It should be said that at the time, the local police in Chittagong was not too keen on having people of white skin traveling in the area, as kidnapping often occurred, mostly in a local context, but recently also towards people like us, but somehow we got permission, (or maybe we didn’t ask) and hence took off into the wilderness.

We drove towards east as long as it would be possible, which were close to the Indian border towards East, where the road simply disappeared, there were no way, we could venture further, not only because of the road, but also because of the lack of a bridge at the bottom of the road.

We had to turn around  and go back to Chittagong, and had chosen a different route back which, fortunately, lead us through  Harmunpara, a very small hamlet, with only one proper building and 3- 5 houses made out of bamboo, seemingly used for living.

The concrete building contained a small weaver, where two ladies were sitting on the floor, weaving their wonderful fabrics. It was not a sales outlet, and it didn’t seem, that they made products for sale and if they did, they would have to take them to Bandarban which would be the nearest city, and not exactly a city with any kind of tourism. In fact, Bangladesh, at the time was not a place for tourists at all, and anyone believing that you would be able to see, tourist activities for foreigners outside Dhaka, must be very ignorant to the situation at the time, where there were absolutely no infrasture to take care of international tourism. Anyway, it seemed that the weaving activity was mainly for the locals in the area.

Through the years as an adventurer I have learned, that careful planning of at trip can be good, and increase your chances of finding those small jewels, moments and places you will never forget, but curiosity towards any and everything will also increase your luck to meet the unexpected, and really unique things in life, and the best part is, that you will never know when you will stumble on these really fabulous gems in life, and you will not know what shape and form they will take, but you must always be ready, with a childish open mind, to seize the moment.

This was what happened to me, many years ago, in a small bamboo hut, in the smallest of hamlets, I had such a moment, and I believe it was mine, but would of course be happy if my traveling companions also made a note of the rarity of what we discovered.

We had stopped the car, to venture into the building with the two weavers, and subsequently, after visiting the two, I went further down the road to look closer at the bamboo huts.

A man came out of the first hut, and greeted us, he told that he and his family belonged to the Uchois, which again were part of the Tripura people. They were Christians, which he emphasized as he believed that this will give us a common ground to meet, and of course he was right, in some way, that is, if I had been a Christian, but in any case, there were no need to disclose that I were not, it just might have spoiled the friendliness.

I took the chance and asked him, through my Bangladeshi friend, if he would allow us to see the inside of his home. First he was reluctant, but after some discussion, he allowed us into his fine, but simple bamboo home. It consisted of one large room, and a couple of smaller rooms. Everything in bamboo and everything neat and tidy.

In the one of the small rooms, there were several beds made up, or should I say, bamboo elevations, where one could sleep, and it was clear that there were room for quite a few people to sleep there.

He opened the door to the second room, and imagine this! On a large bed, a very smal land old lady were sitting, with her feet on the ground and her hands on her knees. The light were pouring into the cracks in the bamboo walls and lit up the room with a soft yellowish light which shined on the lady and her jewelry. I was absolutely astound and did not really know how to act, it was almost as I had broken some kind of sacred spell, disturbing  peace with my loud Wester  clumsiness. But I was there, I couldn’t undo anything, and it seem that the woman didn’t mind, even though she looked skeptically at me at first, she later on offered me a fait smile. She was absolutely beautiful, as she was sitting there in her black dress, with neatly tied up hair and a red flower to top it, her huge earrings paces in her just as huge ear holes, she had lipstick on and bracelets on her wrists. It was strange! Why were she dressed up?

The man told me that she was his mother and she were 103 years old. For many years, she had dressed up, in this fashion and he couldn’t tell me why. I allow making a guess here… I think she would like to look her best when she eventually would leave this life behind.

She gave me something, a quiet gift, and insight that even if you are very poor you can still, maintain your dignity and do something to meet the day in the best possible way.