It’s paradise on Earth. Just google Andaman and you will see it in all its splendor. Pristine sea-shore, blue-green water, flora and fauna just like in Jurassic Park inhabited by those junglee tribes who don’t even wear clothes.
And yet, there is a reality beneath the surface, as naked as the tribes, staring at us in the face. Pankaj Sekhsaria’s novel The Last Wave – An Island Novel uncovers this reality. At its heart, it’s a tale of the Jarawa tribe, who have been on the islands for many generations but who are now helpless against the onslaught of the ‘modern’ civilization. There is nowhere for them to go. They will have to succumb, as many tribes did all over the world.
Pankaj has been associated with the environment and conservation movement in India for nearly 20 years. He has written extensively about the issues faced by the islanders. His close familiarity with the Andaman islands stands out throughout the novel, be it the minute geographical details or detailed history of the Jarawa people.
The Last Wave is a love story of Harish and Seema, who come to the islands for different purposes but who are looking for answers. Harish is trying to find some meaning in his life while Seema – who is a ‘local born’ – is trying to find her roots and what they mean to her. Through this journey, the novel poses some complex questions about the islands and the Jarawas, questions that have no easy answers.
Jarawas are the indigenous peoples of the Andaman islands. Then there are the local borns, people like Seema whose parents or grandparents came to the islands in the last century. Interaction between these two was not anything but smooth. For most of the time, the Jarawas defended themselves with bows and arrows.It is only in the last fifteen years or so that the Jarawas have ended their hostility. And this has created a whole set of new problems.
Harish and Seema try to tackle these problems in their own way. Harish, being an outsider, is partial to the preservation of the tribe. He proposes radical solutions – such as closing down the Andaman Trunk Road that runs through the island connecting the villages. Seema vehemently opposes this as it will close all the communication between the villages and will be very inconvenient to the local borns. Harish and Seema represent the two forces on the island that have been in conflict ever since.
Add to this the policies of the Indian government and the destruction is complete. The islands are being exploited for timber and this is changing the delicate environmental balance. The local politicians are trying to ‘civilize’ the Jarawas, the interaction with the tourists results in outbreak of diseases, the wildlife is getting slowly depleted. The Jarawas are getting addicted to tobacco, alcohol – given to them by the civilized world – things they did not even know existed just a decade or so back.
It’s a bleak picture. As we travel with Harish and Seema, we are confronted by such questions again and again. The Jarawas have been hunting animals since the beginning. Now the conservation laws come into place and suddenly, they cannot do what they have been doing because it’s illegal. There is no way to explain it to them because there is no communication. They cannot comprehend why their natural way of life is now a cause for punishment.
The Jarawas do not wear clothes. Emotions like being shameful of our bodies have not entered their culture. But the politicians do not have the sensitivity to understand this. They want the Jawaras to wear clothes so that our women do not feel ashamed in front of them and our so-called culture is preserved. What right do we have to change the way these people have been living for hundreds of years?
The Last Wave is a novel that brings out many emotions. You feel sad as Harish watches two men cut down a huge tree in the preserved area of rain forest, you wonder at the incredible strategies of nature as you read about the Giant Letherback turtle coming to the shore to lay her eggs, you feel angry at the at the politician and in the end you feel introspective and question all the so called civilised cultures and what they are leading to.
The Jarawas, the local borns, the politicians and the government officials all are living in separate realities. And as Harish realizes in the end, it’s a no-win contest for the Jarawas. They will be engulfed by The Last Wave, sooner than later.
The Last Wave – An Island Novel is available on Amazon.
