Are Tribal Societies Better Off If Left Alone??

I went through the full essay of Arundhati Roy and this refreshed my own memories of the year 2007. Based on my limited stay and dialogues with various people there I would like to share the following with you.

· Most of the allegations of the tribal people being subject to repeated injustices are true but at the same time that is not because of the fault of the state functionaries directly but more of reluctance on part of these very communities to make them accountable. The cure to dysfunctional school or forest department is not to massacre forest officials or teachers or lay mines around the village so that no outsiders can come in. This is like throwing the baby with the bath tub!! This has only resulted in the access to basic services from becoming bad to worse or further still development becoming regressive for them, making them go from abject to absolute poverty.

· Most of the kuccha areas in bastar are laid with mines today meaning that external agencies would think 10 times before entering them. This literally means that one is trying to segregate onself from the outside world. This is one of the few places where there are no train links. On asking many of the villagers say, we don’t want trains as our bastar is so full of minerals. So the popular perception that has got saddled in their psyche is that of only resource export and no import in terms of goods, services or even information. This kind of a self imposed seclusion has only exacerbated the problems of education, learning and progress that human civilizations usually benefit from in terms of exchange.

· If we go by the idea that logic that tribal, non-consumerist way of life doesn’t need to change as per other civilizations but then the livelihoods practiced by them like hunting (Bastar doesn’t have any wild life left now), encroachments on forest lands (most of the naxalite regions are also where most of the reserve forest areas have been chopped off to facilitate rice cultivation cannot be called sustainable either. Naxalites do not want regulation by the state but have they been able to improve or play the role of facilitators themselves for livelihoods? Arundhati roy’s articles has mentions of a feeling of emptiness at least 2-3 places where the alternate government of naxals miserably fails to provide that much needed support that degenerating livelihoods desperately need. Wiping off an existing government or state is very easy as we see in Afghanistan, Iraq etc but creating a stable and responsible agency from scratch is a very tedious task. I am only worried that this violent approach to self-governance is only a hole that these people are digging them in. The only escape route for them is mutual killing. (Tribal killing tribal, tribal killing non-tribal etc etc.)

Finally I would like to make a point that no community can claim to be self-sufficient enough to live in isolation for long and still claim to be a civilization. The only kind of viable choices are in the choice of governance system rather than having or not having a government. A governance system based on complete violence can only spell doom and anarchy and therefore violence and dispensing of justice should be better left to the state or people’s representatives rather than the youth that naxals have tended to leave to. The misguided incident of yesterday only goes to prove that.

CELEBRATING LIFE – THE JURASSIC WAY

It was 12.30 am at night when the evil thought stuck me to take my well-wishers for a ride. Ever since have entered into the world of social networking three years ago, I used to avoid giving unnecessary pains to people and so change my birthdates from 1^st to 12^th and then back to 1^st to avoid double wishes.

But sometimes one needs a bit of fun. The attention seeker in me came to the fore and says lets get a double party for having taken birth in this world. So the prank was designed and in order to hide the reality, the best way was to be not-reachable.

Being Not –Reachable is a pleasure. It makes one realize the pleasure of the deafening silence that nature gives one when one is deafened by too much communication. Mobiles, Internet makes you wired and on your toes, sometimes forgetting to LIVE the moment. Being with Nature also has a benefit. It can make you appreciate LIFE – Plant Life, Animal Life, Rustic Way of Life, The So Called Ignoramus yet Blissful Way of Life!

AP Rings me to hurry up at 9.00 am. When I reach office, people burst into laughter lookin at a combo of bathroom slipper and Field Chappal adorning my two feet. This is what this mobile does to you. Turning one into a witless mind, forgetting to LIVE the moment.

Jhadol 50 km from Udaipur used to be a no-man’s land at one point of time. People old enough to recount silver jubilee stories tell me that in the 80s, the only way to go beyond it was on camel back and it used to take 2 days to cover a journey of 40 km to Som, my field work village.

5 years ago, when I was living here, we were coming to Udaipur on weekends to say hello, mom I am ALIVE !! At 12 PM, I was continuing the prank 50 km from Udaipur on the way through the QWERTY KEYBOARD on the new Samsung Corby pro through the EDGE Technology and through the newly installed broadband at the block office.

Now even this place Som considered to be remote even by today’s standards 90 km away from Udaipur town is abuzz with mobile rings on the hill tops!

The meeting of the Forest Protection Committee/NTFP Cooperative made me realize that the Information Asymmetry has dried up and so has the market for Camel Rides. The leaders are surely capable of taking urbane bumpkins for a Ride.

The 4 Hour Long Meeting ended with decisions regarding distribution of benefits and propositions for taking up extension of the forest protection initiatives through a new proposed Site.

A Bulb lights up – Aha – Chance to Extend the Not-Reachability and Enjoy the Last Rays of Sun over the Hilltop.

Ever Since Morning the Monotonous Bread and Butter Breakfast hardly broke the Boredom of the food. Huge Kachorees taken in the Noon weren’t too heavy to last the Full Force of HUNGRY Discussions centering around Mahua Flowers and their marketing dynamics.

Walking up the Hill, fresh green flowers full of syrup were drying on thatched roofs. Despite admonitions that they might give a slight giddiness, We wanted to not let go of the LIVING JUICES, this tree might as well be called India’s National Flower for the nutrient value that it gives to the tribals.

From Flowers are borne the fruits but Just like Mahua flowers are the best amongst the eatables, Mangos are the best amongst the fruits at this point of the year. Those plucked on the way to the Site were perhaps tastiest for their very nature as Stolen Fruits. (off-course offered as courtesy this time)

The Mango Juices Purchased on the way back could never match the Bitter-sour flavor and fun that these afforded.

Another bout of HUNGER and birthday party followed in Jhadol with Badam Shakes and Hand Shakes with the accompanying friends before the Tiresome day ended.

Happy to Have Lived and Relished Nature, I entered my bathroom to Wash the Tired Feet before I attend to the 20 odd missed calls from the MISSED CALL ALERTS and 30 odd Short Messages. I also had to finally bring the curtain-raiser on the prank !!

I looked up to see a battle torn face but next to the face was a TAIL WAGGING.

In the mirror I saw a tail, turning back I found that It was coming out of the Gyser socket and was waving at me as if from a sinking Ship.

Ere I realize that this was a lizard trying to get into the old wooden switchboard. To my disgust, I tried to shoo it away or out of it. The lizard wont budge from its place. To my horrors it was stuck in the small 2 cm gap between the switch board and the water pipe.

Had it been some other day, I would have left it like it is. I find these lizards slimy and disgusting creatures. My Mom and Sister show all signs of revulsion when they look at this hideous creature. I dislike them for their ugly ways of devouring insects. They also tend to resemble their hideous ancestors of the Jurrasic park.

But this day is meant to celebrate LIFE. I need to get it out. Further I was very much intrigued at how it managed to get struck in there and that too so firmly that no amount of nudging or pushing was able to move it backward or forward. I tried a bathroom cleaner, an old toothbrush to fish it out but the tail kept wagging, the tiny claws kept struggling. The biggest fear was of severing the tail. Most of the lizards tend to let this tail go in an attempt to save their LIVES but that is a very disgusting sight to look at.

So I now brought a pair of Hairclips to fish it out but I only managed to damage its soft skin. I was now only short of pulling it out from my bare hands but the fear of being bitten or of physically damaging the slender creature stopped me from doing that. Its belly was shining red with the effort of pushing itself too far.

But my tiredness after having travelled 200 km in an old marshal with a hag like driver had only vanished at this new obsession.

I now was trying to open the wooden board to allow the lizard to come out. It seemed to have resigned to a starved death. Since I usually do not help myself with repairs, there were no tools available. I tried spoons, knives, scissors for 15 minutes before finally deciding to take the risk and ask the extremely kharoos landlady to lend me a screwdriver.

Finally the board is opened with creaking sounds. To my utter surprise the lizard moves further inside. How ungrateful of it. I sneak a peek at it but find it hiding inside. Now I have to get it out lest it brings short circuit to my gyser with its body. I have heard animal bodies are quite good conductors of electricity.

I open the board and white flaks of wall paint fall down while the LIZARD runs for its life.

But are these paint chips and flaks??

These are actually eggs of the lizard and had dried up long while ago I realize the whole story – This mother lizard was actually trying to reach its eggs and since it had overgrown, was no longer able to reach them. Its intention were not to get out but to get in. The switchboard was full of a dozen such eggs, some broken and some yet to be attended to. In a last desperate attempt it had struck itself and was trying to reach to the YET TO BE STARTED NEW LIVES. SOME LIVES HAD NOT TAKEN BIRTH !! SOME WERE ABOUT TO!!

Haunting Memories of the story of the leopard from SELU’s Pastureland came to me. 2 villagers had complained of being attacked by a leopard. 9 villagers had united to go and look at the cave and teach the leopard a lesson. While they approached the cave, the leopard took a U-turn and attacked them from behind. Not one but everyone was single-handedly taught a lesson with injuries to face, ears, limbs etc. Later forest department staff discovered 3 cubs inside the cave !! The female Leopard had exposed itself to dangers in order to safeguard them…..

This Lizard too was following the feline example!! I realized, every bit of life form has its own intrinsic value for, it has its own “deep ecology”, it needs to be conserved and celebrated!!

I HAD A SOUND SLEEP, I HAD CELEBRATED LIFE TODAY!!