![]() ![]() The natives being displaced because of thermal plants and imprisoned for protests climb out of the inside pages and snippets of newspapers to ask why the government only remembers them during cultural festivities? Why is it necessary to make the Adivasis dance? “We are like toys – someone presses our ‘on’ button, or turns a key in our backsides, and we Santhals start beating rhythms on our tamak and tumdak, or start blowing tunes on our tiriyo while someone snatches away our very dancing grounds,” laments Murmu. Within Jharkhand, you are confronted with woman being branded witches, family feuds that cross the lines with unfounded accusations, poverty and death. ![]() Unless, of course, religion comes into play. The caste hierarchies such that even the piling years don’t erase them. Where being Santhals, a tribe from Jharkhand, or even from South India isn’t entirely palatable. Of course, the “tensions under all that civility” isn’t restricted to just food but last names. The diktat is just one of the truths The Adivasi will not dance by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar lays bare. ![]() The endeavour involves making weekly trips to relatives to eat their daily staple of fish and eggs, only to find nuance in vegetarian items before circling back to cooking surreptitiously at home, taking care to dispose off the egg shells. In Gujarat, an officer’s family has to contend with giving up meat. For all its diversity, India bundles up many issues under the hood. ![]()
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