বাংলায় পড়ুন
Let's talk about coconuts, we all know it is soft from the inside and hard from the outside. As the hard outer cover protects the inner softness from the harsh world outside.
Just like coconut the tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar islands have remained aloof and protected their heritage and culture from the world outside since their existence. They have over time kept their culture, their lifestyle and their land is hidden from the atrocious world outside. Out of the few tribes that have remained truly isolated from the outer world, the Sentinelese tribe in the north Sentinelese Islands of the Andaman and Nicobar islands have been living there for the last 60,000 years approximately, shunning any contact with the world outside.
Their existence dates back to the Palaeolithic age making them the first inhabitants of India.Despite making several attempts to make contact with these tribes the contact parties have failed to do so. They were received with arrows each time they made an attempt. Due to the inhospitable nature of the Sentinelese, the contact parties had since then avoided making further contact. Instead, they watched them from the ships or leave gifts in the remote parts of the islands. But can you guess what made a solitude lover tribe like this to collect gifts from the boat of the expedition team without attacking them? The presence of a woman on the team!
You must be thinking who that brave woman was. The woman was Dr Madhumala Chattopadhyay. Earlier the contact parties had only male members in the team but for the first time with the presence of a woman, it made the islanders feel safe. Firstly, the contact party floated coconuts in the water from their boat and the Islanders collected it from the shores. The ice broke between the modern world and one of the most primitive tribes of the world. A loud cry “Nariyal Jaba Jaba” was heard and Dr Madhumala who knew the tribal language instantly recognised their language which meant more and more coconuts. The tribal men later climbed to the boat to collect coconuts and a woman sat beside Dr Madhumala to watch her closely. Later in the islands of the Jarwas, the tribal women recognised Dr Madhumala and performed their dance to show the joy of seeing a woman in the contact party. Amongst the Onge tribe, she was called ‘Debotobeti’ which means doctor as she used to do medical check-ups on them for the research purpose.Dr. Madhumala Chattopadhyay remains to be the only woman so far to successfully make contact with these isolated tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Although she could not get the permission to spend a whole night with the tribal people due to safety purpose, she had spent several days studying them. The last time a contract was made with the tribes was in 1999. Since then the central government of India enforces a 3-mile no-entry zone around these islands to prevent any kind of disease to spread among them. The woman who now works in mid-level bureaucracy in the central government of India says Never ever in her six years of doing research along with the tribes of Andamans did any man ever misbehave with her. She says, the tribes might be primitive in their technological achievements, but socially they are far ahead of us.
Team Jiyo Bangla salutes her courage, her bravery and most importantly her work.
