If you’re not invited to a party, would you keep trying to get in? This is what scientists have been doing for centuries with the Sentinelese
The world is hell-bent on ‘civilising’ the Sentinelese, a tribe that has clearly indicated its deep disinterest in that project. Illustration by C Y Gopinath using AI
Very little is known about the Sentinelese tribe but one thing we can now say for sure is that they do not like Diet Coke.
ADVERTISEMENT
We know this because of a rather mindless American YouTube influencer called Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, who rowed a boat for nine hours in to get to North Sentinel Island, where the Sentinelese live, and waded ashore to leave a can of Diet Coke and a coconut, on the beach as gifts for the world’s most isolated and reclusive tribe.
The Sentinelese haven’t touched anything aerated since their ancestors crossed over from Africa about 60,000 years ago, and they weren’t about to start now. They feed themselves well enough and have been observed to be powerfully built, sturdy and strong.
Silly Mykhailo left after waiting another hour but was arrested two days later by the Indian government for his transgression. The 60 sq km island has been a protected Tribal Reserve since 1957 and the Sentinelese are designated as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group. The law prohibits anyone to come closer than 9.26 km to the island, which stands 34 km from Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Let’s talk about Bombai. Click the QR code above to join my WhatsApp group to share your Bombai stories for my book—and perhaps answer some of my Bombai questions.
We know something else about the Sentinelese: they don’t fancy the idea of being colonised. They have communicated this wish clearly again and again, most often by showering arrows down upon would-be visitors who approach them making friendly noises.
There have been many visitors, not all of them friendly. Predictably, the first of these were the British. In 1880, Maurice Vidal Portman, a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, landed on North Sentinel Island with a small troop of armed Europeans, and captured six specimens in “the interests of science”: an elderly man, a woman and four children.
The man and woman died of illness within days. When the children began to fall ill as well, they were hastily sent back to their island along with many coconuts as gifts.
More recently, in 1974, a National Geographic film crew went to the island to make a documentary, Man in Search of Man. But when the motorboat crossed the barrier reefs, approaching the island, the locals began raining arrows at them. More gifts were left on the beach, including a miniature plastic car, some coconuts, a live pig, a doll and aluminium cookware. These were met with another volley of arrows, one of which pierced the director’s thigh. The archer retreated to the jungle laughing triumphantly while some others buried the pig and the doll.
In 2018, a 26-year-old American, John Allen Chau, was sent by the US-based Christian missionary outfit All Nations, who had heard that some heathens were awaiting the love of Jesus on a remote island. Chau bribed some local fishermen to take him there.
The islanders were openly amused and bewildered by his strange attempts to communicate with them: he sang gospel songs, made clicking sounds in the Xhosa language of Zulus and offered them fish and gifts. Finally, a boy let loose an arrow at close range, piercing the Bible Chau was holding against his chest. Chau, undeterred and certain that the Lord would be his shepherd, returned yet again, this time letting the fishermen go after dropping him.
The islanders were seen dragging Chau’s body on the shore the next day.
If someone tells you you’re not invited to their party, would you keep knocking on the door, trying to get in? This is what scientists and administrators, predominantly Western, have been doing for centuries with the Sentinelese. The world is hell-bent on “civilising” a tribe that has clearly indicated its deep disinterest in that project. They have zero interest in fancy clothes, aerated drinks, burgers, our religions, pollution, and predatory and self-serving lifestyles. They do not want your Instagram and WhatsApp, nor your mutual funds, violent religions, divisive politics and endless wars. They have simple truths, take care of each other, respect nature and do not need to fact-check everything.
This is not only the world we want to drag the Sentinelese into, but it is also the world to which we bring our young. They are born as innocent children of nature but fed our daily lifestyle toxins just as soon as they can understand words and digest food.
The Sentinelese remain oddities to be prodded and poked in the interests of science, taken selfies with, converted to this or that religion, and be the topic of PowerPoint presentations and dissertations that make distant scientists famous.
Do not be surprised if some Indian billionaire decides that the black, beautiful Sentinelese would be a perfect tourist attraction and turns the pristine isle into a glittering, five-star tourist resort.
First contact—skin touching skin—happened in 1991 when the Director of Tribal Welfare distributed five bags of coconut by hand. Within hours, who touched and who was touched during the contact event became an emotionally charged issue. Every participating member of the contact party wanted to take credit and be recognised.
For being the first to touch Sentinelese skin.
You can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopi@gmail.com
Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
