While going through tribes located in Gujarat we met Meeta Patel who is a social worker working for these tribes. Born in the Dhidia tribe and married in the Vyara, she says, “ She wants to see more progress and development for Tribals”.
This is the fourth post to , “ When the Tongue stops, the Folk ends ”, blog series ( check every monday ) started with a aim to bring indigenous communities of India to the forefront of internet community, highlighting the richness of their culture and tradition.
Read the third article: The Tribe of Dance and Helmet
Meeta belongs to a family of social workers, her siblings, father and grandfather have been serving the community since generation. She envies her father Mr. Thakurbhai and her grandfather Mr. Jamshibhai as her role models. She wants to bring back the extinct tribal culture, employment for all the unemployed people and stop the migration of people to other places. She shares a lot of things about the Vyara tribe located in the Tapi district.
Here are the 10 things we found out about her tribe:
Animals and Birds: We usually find Leopard, hyena, fox, jackal, wild ass, etc. and birds like peacock, white-cheeked barbet, jungle owlet, Egyptian vulture, etc. in this area.
Climate: The atmosphere here gets heart refreshed and allows us to look through nature. This area is located in the hilly region hence the climate generally is in hot and humid condition. The air is totally pure and free of all pollution and silence in the atmosphere.
Cultivation of crops: Rice and sugarcane are highly cultivated. Crop rotation and shifting cultivation in farming are used to maintain the nutritional value of soil.
Education and Laws: People here highly promote education and many of their youngsters are educated. The people issues and problems are solved by the Panchayat Samiti elected by the people and if not then they also have police stations and courts.
Family: Women play a major role by being a homemaker and also helping their spouse in farms and other work financially. There is no partiality made between a girl child and a boy child, both the children are given equal love and affection. People here live with brotherhood and have humanity and equality between each other.
Food: People consume rice in their food as there is a lot of production of it. They also have vegetables such as Karela (bitter gourd), bhindi (Ladies finger), etc. as side dishes. Other than these people eat fish, meat, and chicken also.
Location: The Vyara district is located near the bank of the Tapi river, in Gujarat. There are more than 90% of tribal people living in the same district. Here people all belong to Adivasi samurai. Also tribes like Chaudhari, Dhanka, Dhodia, and Dubla.
Natural Resources: People are blessed with water from the Tapi river. There is red and black soil with superior quality is found here. Trees like mango trees, teak and bamboo trees are found on a large scale.
Religion, Culture, and Festivals: There is no pure Adivasi culture present nowadays due to the conversion of many people to the Christian and Hindu communities. All the tribe follows the same Adivasi culture and clothing tradition. People here are superstitious and even avoid going to hospitals but now due to modernization, some views are changed. People worship their crops. They celebrate festivals like Diwali and Holi wisely. They celebrate New Year in the start of the spring season (August) when the flowers blossom. Divaso is the festival in which they perform rituals for their ancestors.
Wealth Accumulation: Fishing is done on a large scale and is largest throughout Gujarat. There are markets available for selling bamboo and bamboo products. Milk production is high; there are dairies present and also a proper market to sell people milk and milk products. Also, many educated people are unemployed.
Meeta also shared a lot about herself and her childhood memories. From the moment at 11 years old, when she saved a child hit by a bike and left unattended, she took him to hospital and safely to his home, to the old times when the culture was diverse as compared to present.
She concluded by saying that she has started to bring back their culture and now there are some people performing and following the Adivasi culture. She wishes to get employment for the people there.
