The retrieval of John Allen Chau’s body is up to the police, Indian and US administrations. In fact, when police personnel went with our contact-teams to these islands, they would have to be dressed in plain clothes. The Sentinelese see no difference between a journalist, researcher, police or missionaries approaching them. When we first reached out, we exchanged fruits like raw bananas (which the Jarawas love roasting) and coconuts (which the Sentinelese used) for hours at an end to gain their trust. Official tours to the Sentinel islands have been closed for years now because of their small population and their hostility towards outsiders.Īlso read: Madhumala Chattopadhyay, the woman who made the Sentinelese put their arrows down Now she works in the central government ministry in Delhi and handles their files, with only a handful of people knowing the impact she had on contacting the tribes.I visited the Sentinelese tribe in the Andamans years ago as a researcher with the Anthropological Survey of India. They even invited her inside their huts and shared food and as a thank you, the anthropologist became their doctor, tending to the tribesmen’s wounds.Īlthough Madhumala made a great effort in contacting the tribes, little people know about the achievements of one of the greatest anthropologists of our time. The Jarawa tribe quickly accepted Madhumala and let her help with the chores and hold their children.
WOMAN NORTH SENTINEL ISLAND PEOPLE SKIN
The women then started analyzing the anthropologist’s skin and hair but Madhumala did something unexpected – she embraced one of the women and it resulted in a happy reaction. At first, Madhumala stayed in the boat as not to scare the tribespeople, but when the Jarawa women noticed her, the started shouting “Milale chera”, translating to “friend come here” and even did a dance to show their joy. She visited them in 1991 and was the first woman to visit the tribe. Madhumala visited other tribes, such as the Jarawa, aswell Eventually the tribe got comfortable enough to climb into the boat and pick the coconuts themselves. People say that the key to success was the presence of a woman. Madhumala then started throwing more coconuts and managed to get into the water with the tribe. And it worked! The tribe eventually came closer and started picking the coconuts out of the water. She is one of the rare people who managed to contact the SentineleseĪnd the secret to her success was coconuts – her team had started throwing coconuts upon arival to show the tribe they mean no harm. After finishing school, she studied anthropology at the University of Calcutta and explained to her parents that it’s her ‘passport’ to the Ongers – one of the Andamanese tribes. She wanted to meet the tribes ever since she was a little girl. Sadly, not many know about Madhumala Chattopadhyay. While there were successful attempts at contacting the tribe before, like the one by Triloknath Pandit back in 1967. John Chau’s tragic story recently shocked people everywhere, once again proving that the danger the Sentinelese pose is not made up. Since the tribe had barely any contact with the outside world, they are not immune to many of the diseases we are used to. The Indian government tried to contact the tribe numerous times but eventually decided to leave the tribe alone. It is illegal to visit the Sentinelese island as it poses danger to both the visitors and the tribespeople There are great differences between them and while the Jarawa tribe seems to be the most civilized, the Sentinelese are the most dangerous one. The Sentinelese belong to the Andamanese people, that also include the Onge, Jarawa and Shompen tribes. The tribe lives on the Andaman Islands, located in the Indian Ocean The tribes might be primitive in their technological achievements, but socially they are far ahead of us,” said the anthropologist. “Never ever in my six years of doing research along with the tribes of Andamans did any man ever misbehave with me. And her experience was vastly different than what you would expect. She knew the reputation the tribe had and fully understood the danger but was determined to contact them. That woman’s name was Madhumala Chattopadhyay. Read more Back in 1991, one woman actually managed to make contact with the notorious Sentinelese tribe
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