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Published: March 22nd 2010
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where they've gone
this is where the forest is going A three-day drive through the Andaman Trunk Road - the forest reserve for the Jarawa Tribe - had everyone else looking out for the hostile-turned-friendly tribe, while I was looking out for trees. I spotted three.
What have we done? You know, there was a time when every person on the bus going through the Reserve would crouch below the window line for hours together in fear, wishing with every last belief in something more powerful than themselves that they might drive through without incident; silently praying for the driver who remained exposed as the dearest and most prized target of the arrows shot effortlessly by one of the islands’ most dangerous tribes.
Today, a drive through the reserve is something similar to a Jurassic Park tour and the Jarawa Tribesmen behave like trained Lions in a Circus occasionally poking or prodding the brainless city people who consider the “pre-historic, dangerous, naked tribals” as part of their tour package.
In fact, one can see more Jarawas shouting demands in Hindi than trees in the supposed forest reserve. All that’s left is undergrowth and silly sticks poking awkwardly out of the ground which these stupid city people keep calling as trees.
“You
These are called Trees
These are not trees in the Forest Reserve. There was not a single tree of this girth sighted through the entire 150 km stretch of forest reserve. These are trees of Havelock only think that’s a tree because you haven’t seen what a tree actually looks like,” I tell them. These are not trees. This is not a forest!!!
“So who is cutting all your trees?” asks the business woman traveling with me.
“The Government, and the forest officials who have access to the reserve - in exchange for big money from private individuals I guess. What we greedy b@$t@#!s don’t realize is that we’re biting, no, eating our own arm off. Sick f^#*ing species!”
“But aren’t they afraid of these Jawarars?”
“Jarawas”
“Yeah,” so careless. Why even ask? Why even bother to begin the word with J - just refer to them as ‘them’.
“The Jarawas are like little children,” I tell her, “kids are naturally attracted to junk food, foul language, and bad habits, it’s up to the parents and care-takers of the children to teach them what is good for them and what is not. In this case, the Jarawas are happily exposed to beedies, cigarettes, alcohol and mobile phones. So they are ever-willing to receive any of the above in exchange for friendship and information on the location of various types of timbre trees and pathways through the
thick forests to get to these trees.”
“Oh, so they’re fully tamed, is it?”
Silence.
Still no sign of trees, just passing through the drying wild undergrowth and plants and this strange fake screen-saver of a farce. And I hear the driver suddenly pipe up: “Look, a Jarawa!”
“OH, they’re NEGRETO?!” Her astonished golden eyes question me from behind her magnifying glasses. “What in hell are Negretos doing in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands?”
“Yup, don’t know.”
“Oh, my God! The child was begging, I think. Should I have given him something?”
“They’re not Zoo animals, Ma’m. They’ve come this far without being given something by city-people, I think they’ll go an even longer way without it.” But she’s obviously not listening, or maybe she can’t hear me or maybe I haven’t spoken yet…
“I think he was hungry. I have Coca-Cola. Should I give them Coca-Cola?”
“Ma’m, please do not pluck the flowers, please do not feed the animals.”
“So, there’s no point in giving them money, they wouldn’t know what to do with it, is it?”
“In fact, they know what money can buy them, but what they don’t know is the process of acquiring/earning money. So they
the forest reserve
this is the sorry excuse for a forest, or what's left of it, that was once daunting and so thick that only one who befriended the Jarawa tribesmen would ever be able to maneuver their way through it either steal, exchange, or just demand it.”
“Oh, so sad. So if I see them I should give them money?”
“No. Just try to learn from them. Instead of trying to teach them.”
“Learn
what precisely?”
“Ma’m, they can do more with just their two hands, two legs and one brain than we can with all our modern education, western clothes and coloured hair. Why must we introduce them to our way of life? We spend all our lives away from our families, away from things we love and want to do, away from what gives us happiness so that we can earn money because money makes us happy. Well, they don’t need to be unhappy in order to be happy. Happiness is there.” Does anybody except me see how truly messed up we are here?
“Where are all the trees? How can anyone call this a ‘forest reserve’? There was a time when you couldn’t see sunlight through this road! There was a time when seeing a Jarawa meant sure death. Now they’re both facing extinction…it’s just a matter of who goes first - the forest, or those the forest is reserved for? Why do people think that wood
so-called forest reserve
i think you'll see more forest outside the forest reserve than inside it now houses are eco-friendly? Are we insane? Do you know that only one saw mill is legally allowed to cut timbre trees - the Government Saw Mill!!! How stupid are they to not re-plant trees?”
But maybe she’s blind. Or maybe it cannot b seen…“It doesn’t look so bad,” she shrugs.
Silence.
Wood should be taxed. What stupid fools. What are we doing?
By the time I counted out loud “Three,” to mark the third young timbre tree I had sighted on the road, the reserve was over, and I thought, maybe, I missed a tree or two through the un-cried tears clouding up my vision.
And then she said something that made it stop.
The pain stopped being felt because it was deserved. Everything made senseless sense. The puzzle fit perfectly into a revolting truth.
The businesswoman was right, silencingly right, when she leaned close and gently touching my shoulder, whispered, “My dear, this is what is called
Progress.”
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Steve Hoge
non-member comment
Cycling in the Andamans?
Hi - I was interested in your posting here because it's the first I've seen with photos of the Trunk road. So sorry to hear about the trees. And I got excited when I saw "bicycle" in the title of one of your posts, since we're considering a side trip from our current India bicycle tour to visit the Andaman Islands. Despite the deforestation, could we cycle along the Trunk road? Are there any other multi-day routes worth cycling? Or should we leave our bikes on the mainland? Thanks in advance for any bike-related advice. If we reach the Andamans shall we come visit? -Steve and Kate www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/steve_hoge