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Tribalzone
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T
h e
I n c r e d i b
l e
C h o t a n a g
p u r |
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| December
2005
Newsletter |
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From
the
Editor
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Dr.
Bipin
Jojo,
Tata
Institute
of
Social
Sciences,
Mumbai
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Karam
Festival
in
Mumbai
T he
country
has
been
experiencing
hard
time
with
series
of
disasters
–
natural
and
manmade
in
last
few
months.
Despite
all
this
there
is
spirit
to
face
this
difficult
time
and
move
on.
This
is
a
festive
season
all
over
the
country
across
the
communities.
The
Adivasi
sisters
and
brothers
of
Chotanagpur
in
Mumbai
celebrated
Karam
festival
in
series.
Karam
is
the
name
of
a
tree
(nauclea
parvifolia).
The
legend
on
Karam
festival
signifies
Karam
tree
as
savior
and
guarantor
of
prosperity.
It
is
a
popular
festival
among
Oraon,
Munda,
Santhal,
Ho,
Kisan,
Kol,
Bhumij
and
other
tribal
communities
of
Central
India.
Out
of
the
five
types
of
Karam
celebrated
at
the
different
times
of
the
year,
which
coincides
with
the
events
of
agricultural
cycles,
Raji
Karam
is
the
most
popular.
It
is
celebrated
on
the
11th
day
of
the
moon
in
the
month
of
Bhado
(August-
September).
The
celebration
is
meant
for
the
protection
of
standing
crops.
It
is
primarily
meant
for
the
young
girls
who
are
recently
engaged.
They
pray
for
the
healthy
children
in
their
future
life.
It
is
also
believed
that
these
ascetic
practices
bring
down
blessings
upon
their
brothers
and
protect
them
from
harm
and
evil.
The
brothers
and
sisters
from
Chotanagpur
living
in
different
cities
like
Mumbai,
Delhi,
Bangalore
and
Pune
would
like
to
commemorate
the
significance
of
this
celebration
and
maintain
the
tradition
of
their
forefathers.
Due
to
the
modernization
and
conversion
to
Christianity
the
celebration
gets
improvised
at
place
to
place.
However,
the
Karam
festival
reminds
and
reinforces
the
symbiotic
relationship
between
tribals
and
the
nature.
It
strengthens
the
element
of
caring
and
sharing
in
the
family
and
the
community.
In
Mumbai
this
year,
the
first
celebration
was
held
on
September
18th
2005
at
St.
Xavier
High
School
premises.
There
were
about
five
hundred
sisters
and
brothers
gathered
to
celebrate
Karam.
The
celebration
was
led
by
Fr.
Thomas
Barla
with
the
song
and
dance
by
colourfully
dressed
spinsters
followed
by
Holy
mass.
Fr.
Domnic,
Fr.
Amalraj,
and
Fr.
Ricoper
joined
them
in
the
celebration.
It
was
a
great
feeling
to
listen
to
songs
and
the
beats
of
mandar
in
south
Mumbai.
The
girls
were
so
happy
dancing,
feeling
at
home,
meeting
friends,
and
catching
up
with
each
other.
  
Following this celebration there were series of Karam celebration in Mumbai.
| Andheri
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Sept.25th
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| Bycula
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Oct.9th
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| Malad
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Oct.16th
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| Vasai
|
Nov. 4th
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This
kind
of
celebration
reinforces
one’s
own
identity.
It
is
of
feeling
of
Home
away
from
Home.
Dr.
Bipin
Jojo
(editor@tribalzone.net)
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Letters
to the Editor
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WRITE
TO
THE
EDITOR
Tribalzone,
704, Sachidanand,
Wing A, Raheja
Complex, Malad
East, Mumbai -
400097 or
via the internet
to editor@tribalzone.net.
Include name and
address. Letters
may be edited
for clarity and
length. |
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Dear editor , I heartily appreciate the effort on your part to bring
about such a newsletter among the adivasi mass. It might even serve out
to help and enrich the nagpuris around the globe. I am a Oaron and am currently studying in IIT Kharagpur,
3rd year
,
electrical engineering. I want to prepare for the UPSC examinatons and
be a IAS officer, but there are some problems. The major one is that I do not
know the Kurukh language, which would be a very essential requirement for it. So
in order to learn it I had decided to buy some books from Satya Bharti, Ranchi.
But the
book failed to instil a correct learning attitude. So if you and your allies can
find any solution to it I'd be very grateful for your sincere help. If you know of any institute that can impart us the knowledge of our language,
please
let me know.....K.V.Ekka,
IIT
Kharagpur
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In
the past 5/6 months I've been interacting with many Santals who come
to Delhi for interviews, competitive exams, sight seeing,
treatment at AIIMS, etc. They hail from Rairangpur, Baripada, Rourkela,
Bhubaneswar, Jamshedpur, Kharagpur, Kolkata etc.
I have
observed that Santals
from Orissa would
speak in Oriya;
similarly santals from
West Bengal would
speak in Bengali.
When I speak to the
older persons they
reply in Santali,
but they prefer
talking to their
sons/daughters in
oriya/bengali.
Students when
approached in Santali
would generally reply
in oriya/bengali/hindi.
This means that they
can understand Santali,
but hesitate to speak
in Santali.
Even the
second-generation
students from
Rairangpur, Baripada, Kharagpur (Which are Santal
populated area) are
also not fluent in
Santali. I can imagine
what will happen
students who are
brought up in
Bhubaneswar, Kolkata,
Ranchi, Mumbai or
Chennai?
On
one hand I feel very
disappointed and ask
myself, why should I
help them, what
identity do I share
with them? And I
realise that the only
bond we share among
each other is our
CASTE CERTIFICATE.
Again on the other
hand I feel my people
need me and I should
help them, without
which they might face
lot of problems in a
big city like Delhi.
I
feel awkward to ask my
guests, why they wouldn't
speak Santali.
Who is to be
blamed for this
problem? Youngsters,
their parents or society as whole? I
feel parents are to be
blamed as much as the
society, our various
social organisations
are not promoting
Santali language
properly.
What is the
solution to this
problem? I feel rather than criticising younger people/student
at the first stage, we
should encourage them
to learn Santali. But
Parents need to be
advised/BLASTED, if
they don't teach
their sons/daughters.
Neither GOVT
nor GOD can help us
unless we help
OURSELVES. GOVT has already recognised Santali LANGUAGE. At first,
We will have to
CONTRIBUTE and then
ask GOVT for more.
Barisa Kisku,
New Delhi
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|
 Are
You a Doctor?
Dear
friends, we at
Tribalzone would like
to collaborate with
adivasi doctors and
form a Doctors Forum
and improve the
present healthcare
status in the
neglected tribal areas
of Chotanagpur
Plateau. We have
ongoing programs and
activities for data
collection, health
awareness (health
education camps),
field health camps,
telemedicine and
hospital based
services in
collaboration with the
local govt.
agencies. We are
looking for likeminded
adivasi doctors of
Chotanagpur region who
think they have the
fire and zeal to
selflessly help and
cater to the health
demands of Adivasis of
Chotanagpur. If you
are a doctor and would
like to be part of
this movement - please
join
our doctors forum by
becoming
Tribalzone
First
Citizen.
Dr.
Manju Kerketta,
Tribalzone, Birkera
Jhariatoli, PO- Ranto
Birkera, via Lathikata,
Dist Sundergarh,
Orissa - 770037. doctor@tribalzone.com
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This 15 minutes
Power
Point
presentation
deals with the identity crisis of the
Chotanagpur Tribals. We invite
you to have a look, analyse and
make suggestions..... right
click
here and save. |
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Tribalzone
Newsletter,
704,
Wing
A,
Sachidanand,
Raheja
Complex,
Malad
East,
Mumbai
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400097
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2005
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