LIFE AS A TRIBAL

In the early days of working in Seva I always wondered as to how the tribal communities live and the everyday problems that they face. But I could never understand their ordeals living in a forest may cause. After a visit to the padas while trekking in Sanjay Gandhi National Park opened up my eyes to a reality I had never seen before. The tribal women wake up at the crack of dawn and set off to their work. While talking to one of the tribal women at the park I realized that these women wake up early in the morning and finish off their household work and set off to the forest to collect wood. Due to the lack of proper amenities they still use wood for cooking food and other purposes. An inside view of the houses in the padas show a scene of total neglect of the tribal folk by us. Electricity without which we cannot even spend a day, seems like a distant dream to them. The nights in these forests are darker than dark, with sounds of animals prowling around in the jungles. These nights might give any ordinary people nightmares! After a day spent around these tribals, sharing a meal with them and traveling to some of the interior parts of the forest with them made me take off my hat in salute to them, cause I sure may not be able to live like a tribal.