Meeting a Tribal –: Meeting a Tribal –

Meeting a Tribal –: Meeting a Tribal –: "There are lots tribal sects and groups in India and each have their own identity. Modernization has not affected their lives; they still ..."

Meeting a Tribal –

There are lots tribal sects and groups in India and each have their own identity. Modernization has not affected their lives; they still try to preserve their identity. But their lively hood has changed, ones what used to be their territory is not theirs anymore, and so they also are changing, moving to new avenues to earn their lively hood.

About a few months back I got a chance to meet a tribal named “Bhura” in the Jhabua area. He was about 75 years old, living in a hut on the edge of the forest, by a small stream.

He had a wife who was about 70 years, helping in whatever he was doing. Bhura also had his parents living with him, his father was very old, who was barely able to walk, very weak and his mother who was also very old, but was actively doing something or the other.

The saddest part was, Bhura had no issues, no children, there was no one to care him or his wife like he was doing for his parents.

Bhura used to cultivate vegetables in a small land besides his hut, using the water from the small stream. According to the season, he would grow some vegetable and sell it, sitting besides the road.

He would barely earn Rs. 100/- a day barely enough to feed four stomachs. But he had no other lively hood or options to depend on. He also had a cow, which would give some milk to feed the four.

Daily Bhura would get up at 5 in the morning, pluck the vegetable and from 7 in the morning to 6 in the evening he and his wife would sit by the road taking turns to sell the vegetables.

Some days he would sell none and on some days he would sell all.

So on the day I met him, he was just getting up from his road side shop, selling vegetable and went up to his father who was lying down under a tree, and said I have sold the vegetables, today we can have a good meal.

This is the tragic story of most of the tribal or even poor people, I could not see this and took out Rs 1000/- from my pocket and gave it to Bhura, he was shocked and asked me , which country do these 1000 rupee notes belong to, for I have never seen them in mine.