It was evident only in our movies and it is still being shown in some movies, the tribals- dark coloured, men and women alike topless(Salman, Please take a back seat!!), and a stringed costume around their waist, face painted and a feathered hat, this describes the typical tribal in our movies. Though had heard of tribals living in wild african jungles never had heard of tribals livingin our own motherland, India.
As many of you know and have seen (in atlas or in person) Andaman and Nicobar is a beautiful Archipelago of about hundreds of islands. Port Blair the capital of these islands forms the epicenter of paths to other beautiful locations. These islands posses beautiful beaches, they have all a tourist can aspire for, canoeing, snorkling, scuba diving, bare foot ecology, coral islands, a visit to cellular jail which takes you back to pre independence era and explains the sufferings and lives lost in the name of freedom,and of course ayurvedic massage centre to soothe your strained muscles.
With so much to offer in its kitty it forms an ideal honeymoon spot, no wonder many of the locals despite carrying a fat wallet prefer islands to main land when its comes to holidaying.
some prominent destinations are Baratang, Mayabunder,Havelock, Bambooka, Wandoor, Rangat, hut bay, strait island, long island and many more. Quite tough to remember and pronounce the names.
Sorry, i deviated from the topic, just had to give an overview before getting into actual topic.
I truly believed that tribals were confined only to movies and limited director's Imagination, But it was a journey to Baratang which took me to the real world of Jarwa's- A tribal group.
The journey began from Port Blair at 4am in the morning, after dozing off through the ghats of Port Blair we reached a check post at about 630am, we saw many vehicles lined up before us, i was new to the customs here, i asked the driver why were we stopping he just said we were waiting for the convoy to start at 7am. Like you i also did not understand what he said, i waited for the clock to strike 7. As we were waiting the check post staff took the names of all passengers going in a particular vehicle and their age, sex etc; then we were handed a paper with Do's and Dont's.
It said we were entering the Jarwa area from thereon and we will be passing through their area for next 2 hours untill we reach Baratang islands, so we had to be really cautious about it.
The vehicles were allowed only in convoys i.e groups, the first convoy starts at 7am and the next at around 10am, not sure about the exact timings but if you miss this timing then you will not be allowed to enter the Jarwa area. The same rule applies while coming back from Baratang islands, the vehicles are allowed only in convoys and if a convoy is missed will have to stay in baratang for that night.
Jarwas are a kind of tribal community who live in these dense jungles on Andamans, they are not in touch with the modern world, nor would they like to associate themselves with the modern world. In early 80's the then Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi declared that the tribals would be allowed to live as tribals and no attempt will be made to civilise them.
so here they live un-civilised even in the year 2009.
The Jarwa's live in groups, dark coloured face painted with white stripes and a red coloured stringed coustume around their waist. They feed on raw fish, raw deer meat, and wild jungle boars. They speak in tones and some strange noisy sounds. They dont like civilised people venturing into their area, but unfortunately the beautiful location of Baratang cannot be visited bypassing the Jarawa path.
In early 90's the Jarwa's were on killing spree, they killed many innocent civilians who entered their territory, the govt. fortunately took some firm action. The result is Tourist moving in convoys. The Jarwa Path are very narrow making it difficult for the vehicles to overtake each other. The idea is to make vehicles move one behind the other, and none of the vehicles are supposed to stop in the Jarwa Path, (if you paln to take your Vehicle, please check its in perfect order before venturing here), The first vehicle in the Convoy is a Govt. Vehicle (Bus or a Tata Sumo) carrying tourist and an armed policeman, this vehicle will be followed by other private vehicles and the last vehicle again is a Govt. Vehicle which is carrying an armed policeman. If necessary a Govt vehicle is introduced in between other vehicles in the convoy with an armed police. The idea is even if by bad fate one of the vehicles in the convoy breaks down the other vehicles behind it will come to halt too, so its difficult for jarwas to attack so many civilians, even if they do, the policeman will fire in the air which scares the hell out of jarwas.
The population of tribal group such as Jarwas, Nicobarese, Onges etc;have reduced to a double digit figure today. The Govt. is working towards preserving these communities. There are about 8-10 tribal groups living in different islands.
The Jarwas have developed this bad habit of standing on roads and start asking for food from the convoy of vehicles, but the govt. has banned offering any food or soft drinks to these people, I found it surprising and shocking to know that our food causes food poisioning in these raw flesh eating population and has resulted even in their deaths.
Armed with Spears bow and arrows the Jarwas hunt in groups, From past few years there have been no incident of tribals attacking any civilians, but govt. is taking no chance, the law is that the tribals cannot be killed even in name of self-defence, so the civilians are given strict instructions of do's and dont's before they enter the jarwa area.
I had an oppurtunity to see jarwas while on my way to baratang and back, repeated pleading with the driver to slow down the vehicle a bit fell on deaf ears, he knew the consequences, so he just sped away past them in a zoom. They cannot be photographed, its a crime.
One of the jarwa had an argument with one of the policeman who were patrolling the area, and the jarwa was shouting abuses (in a language which only he and his fellowmen could follow) while other jarwas pulled him away to cool him down. The only civiliain who lives among jarwas is a Govt. appointed TWO (Tribal Welfare Officer). He lives among them and he looks after their welfare , he is trained to communicate with them in their language!!!
While on hunting the jarwas suffer serious fracture and other wounds, the TWO makes arrangement to bring the sick jarwa to port blair for treatment, the TWO also looks after the supply of red thread like strings from which they make their costume, (i heard they like red colour very much and are very much particular about this coloured string being supplied to them), like they show in movies they have a head..and there are tribal durbars which takes place among the firelights, just as it happens in the movies, like you even i was tempeted to stay overnight and have an overview into the life of jarwas, but if i had done that i would'nt have been here to write this blog today.
I jsut had to contend myself with the memorable memories of my journey through "The Jarwa Path".
