Aditya Gautam
Jarawa Bas Relief
Bas relief, depicting Jarawas, one of the few surviving tribes indigenous to Southern Andaman Islands.
There had been little amicable contact between the Jarawa people and outsiders prior to 1997, when Civilization won the Jarawas' confidence through an act of humanity.
Contact with humans have come at a huge price though. Living in isolation, these people had largely avoided disease. With contact came human-borne disease, and ever since, their populations have been dwindling at an alarmingly steep rate.
The Jarawas were recently twice in the middle of fresh controversy when British journalist, Gethin Chamberlain, reporting for The Guardian, exposed the role of local policemen and private tour operators in alleged human safaris, filming them luring young Jarawa girls into dancing (partially or completely in the nude), in return for food, which is not only illegal, hurts the sentiments of the Jarawas, and is immoral and unethical in general.
I passed through a Jarawa reserve, lying between Cheerkatang and the pier from where ferries and motor powered boats leave for Baratng Island, en route to the limestone caves in Baratang Island. From what I saw before I realized that it wasn't entirely right of me to poke my head out of the window everytime I saw one, I found that the Jarawas vary in temperament. While one of them who was carrying something, was timid, or maybe even nervous, anxious and afriad. Another one was totally indifferent to a convoy of over a 100 heavy transport vehicles. Yet another one was squatting beside the road, wearing a wide mischievous grin on his face, holding what looked like a large rock in his hand, which was in fact dhoop, an organic substance, which releases fragrant fumes when lit. Jarawas often gift people such things: dhoop, huge crabs, etc, sometimes in expectation of food in return. From this third, most amusing Jarawa, I guessed these people perhaps have a raw, natural, untouched-by-civilization sense of humor and mischief.
Contact with civilization, tourism and exploitation have massively hurt the Jarawa way of life; and as such, by overly generous estimates, between 250 and 400 of these indigenous people remain today; the actual figures might be more dismal.
Jarawa People (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)
New footage show Indian police's involvement with human safaris – video (The Guardian)
Andaman Islanders 'forced to dance' for tourists - video (The Guardian)
Jarawa Bas Relief
Bas relief, depicting Jarawas, one of the few surviving tribes indigenous to Southern Andaman Islands.
There had been little amicable contact between the Jarawa people and outsiders prior to 1997, when Civilization won the Jarawas' confidence through an act of humanity.
Contact with humans have come at a huge price though. Living in isolation, these people had largely avoided disease. With contact came human-borne disease, and ever since, their populations have been dwindling at an alarmingly steep rate.
The Jarawas were recently twice in the middle of fresh controversy when British journalist, Gethin Chamberlain, reporting for The Guardian, exposed the role of local policemen and private tour operators in alleged human safaris, filming them luring young Jarawa girls into dancing (partially or completely in the nude), in return for food, which is not only illegal, hurts the sentiments of the Jarawas, and is immoral and unethical in general.
I passed through a Jarawa reserve, lying between Cheerkatang and the pier from where ferries and motor powered boats leave for Baratng Island, en route to the limestone caves in Baratang Island. From what I saw before I realized that it wasn't entirely right of me to poke my head out of the window everytime I saw one, I found that the Jarawas vary in temperament. While one of them who was carrying something, was timid, or maybe even nervous, anxious and afriad. Another one was totally indifferent to a convoy of over a 100 heavy transport vehicles. Yet another one was squatting beside the road, wearing a wide mischievous grin on his face, holding what looked like a large rock in his hand, which was in fact dhoop, an organic substance, which releases fragrant fumes when lit. Jarawas often gift people such things: dhoop, huge crabs, etc, sometimes in expectation of food in return. From this third, most amusing Jarawa, I guessed these people perhaps have a raw, natural, untouched-by-civilization sense of humor and mischief.
Contact with civilization, tourism and exploitation have massively hurt the Jarawa way of life; and as such, by overly generous estimates, between 250 and 400 of these indigenous people remain today; the actual figures might be more dismal.
Jarawa People (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)
New footage show Indian police's involvement with human safaris – video (The Guardian)
Andaman Islanders 'forced to dance' for tourists - video (The Guardian)