Today I was travelling with a tribal boy in Wayanad. While talking to him, I tried to understand his lifestyle, food, culture, basically to know them better.
The boy has completed his higher secondary studies, he is now above eighteen, and he lost his parents long back. At present, he is working in a homestay as a help.
Then, all of a sudden, a question came into my mind. It later stayed with me and irritated me like anything. Without pause, I asked him. I was not really expecting a proper answer.
The question was, “You are somewhere in between a full tribal man and a modern urban man. Do you feel okay that way?”
He was perplexed. I repeated the question. Then he somehow replied, without proper understanding, “Yes, it is okay this way.”
I am very sure he answered without really understanding my question.
We humans, the so-called “His Highness Humans,” always think our way is the correct way. That is why we always try to bring others into our way of life. Our intention is not really to bring them into the mainstream. Our hidden intention is definitely to make more slaves for us.
If a tribe continues as a tribe, they may live a different life, away from the mainstream, disconnected from us, but somehow they may be living a better or happier life. But our definition of a better life is different. For us, it is about dragging everyone into the mainstream, giving them the so-called education, putting them on the middle path, and yet never accepting them as one among us. And the truth is, we never will.
Our hidden agenda is to make them believe that by giving them modern education, and not skilled learning, we are doing something great. In reality, we are making them dependent, and often leading them into addiction to drugs and alcohol.
Once upon a time, we all lived like animals. Over generations, a section of us gradually turned into the so-called urban man, the city dweller, the “better” people. But these tribal people, who can be called real humans, continued to live the same way. It is our greed that brought them into a middle state where there is neither going back to their original ways nor a true upliftment.
We, the gumastas of the British Empire, were fed with modern education, and that was how the seed of English-based education took over the ancient systems of learning. Later, the Christian missionaries and other groups took it forward.
That was how we reached the peak of greediness. Then came the thought of bringing the so-called underprivileged people, those who lived peacefully in forests, into the mainstream.
Tribes have an altogether different culture. They have their own lifestyle, beliefs, and gods. Yet we started injecting into their minds that our god is the correct one and our religion is the only true religion. In many places, Christian missionaries converted them into Christianity. In India, you can see this in states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, and Orissa, where many tribal groups have been manipulated in different ways.
Actually, they do not follow any religious system in the conventional sense. Their practices are closer to Hindu ways but not the same. So there is no need or point in tagging them as belonging to any religion.
We live with the false belief that our way of life is the right one. So we decide, unanimously, that they are uncivilized. In this way, we disturbed their culture, their lineages, their learnings, and their peace.
We have always been masters of conversion. At the very least, we could have spared them.
Coming back to the point, my question to the tribal boy. Perhaps, after being with me for few months, he may understand my question better and give me an honest answer, with awareness of the reality.
Sounds like you’re reflecting on cultural identity and societal perceptions. It’s interesting how traditions and cultural practices shape our sense of self and community.
Are you drawing parallels between modern civilization and tribal lifestyles, or is there a specific aspect of your culture you’re contemplating?
It seems you’re expressing a sense of disconnect or perhaps critique about cultural preservation and modernization.
Are you suggesting that traditional cultural practices are being lost or overshadowed, maybe even appropriated, in the process of modernization? Or is there a particular aspect of tribal tradition you’re concerned about?