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Young World
Blessed sleep
Text and pictures by GOUTAM GHOSH
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Life for the tribals in Malkangiri, Orissa, is not a bed of roses. Women do all the work, and the men take all the decisions. If only the problems can be wished away by a shut-eye..
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Nomi Pangi is fast alseep. Blissfully unaware of the curious group which has invaded his home at Padmapur, in the mountains of Malkangiri, Orissa. The talisman round his wrist protects Nomi from evil. Snoring softly he lies on a folded sari that serves as a mattress on the bamboo-split cot. His arm rests instinctively across his face, to keep away the flies and inquistive visitors.
His hut is one of six in a bamboo-and-thorn-shrub hedged enclosure. The low door of a hut shuts out most of the light so it is dark inside, especially the kitchen.
Outside, near a heap of dried sesame seeds the men gather to answer my questions through the interpreter. A woman standing nearby, smiles. A rare sight because women stare icily at strangers. Her little daughter hides behind her the moment she sees me focussing my camera. No coaxing or chiding helps, but soon curiosity gets the better of her.
In another hut, a woman cajoles her two little girls to eat. She sees me approach, hurries out of sight, leaving the children. Their lunch is rice and boiled beans. The distended stomach is a sign of ill-health. They wear no clothes, despite the bitter cold.
Women do all the work while the men sit and chat. As the Collector of Malkangiri, Vir Vikram Yadav, said later, ``There is total gender bias here. Women do all the hard work, the men take the decisions.'' The women and girls do the household chores, the most difficult is having to carry pots of water from the Poteru river nearby. Women also carry headloads of firewood (minor forest produce) from the forest.
Whether the women work in the fields, or at home or bear and rear children is no concern of Nomi now. Whether tribal children make good use of the poor education facilities available — small rooms with wide-grilled windows through which children can slip in and out; whether the huts are small or large, does not rob Nomi of his pleasant dreams.
Whether 66 per cent of tribals in Orissa is illiterate, and 32 per cent children drop out of school after the first two years; whether 72 per cent of tribals of Orissa lies below the poverty line and 50 per cent of tribals are destitutes do not worry Nomi. All he needs now is some food and lots of freedom — to sleep and play.
Good wishes of the Government have been aplenty. But the Rs.60-crore Orissa Tribal Development Project of 1988-1997 for instance ``created a large number of contractors who made easy money without doing work because in many cases payments had been made against non-existent work'', wrote Hrushikesh Panda as deputy chief administrator of Special Area Development (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput). The report he submitted in September 1999 has not been followed up on.
Well, neither Nomi nor any other child in Padmapur or other tribal enclaves in Malkangiri is bothered by these facts today. They do not fail to notice how people from elsewhere wear lovely clothes, look healthy and speak a peculiar language. But they will soon drag you in to their games, forgetting the differences. When they grow up, may be some of them may have reasons to protest. And some of them will be felled by the bullets of ``premeditated'' action by the police of our civilised society. Just as three tribal youths were in Maikanch, Raigada district, Orissa, on December 16, 2000.
But the future does not worry Nomi now, as he snores, curled up in his cot.
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