BOOK REVIEW by SOUMINI BASU

BOOK REVIEW by SOUMINI BASU

BOOK: THE ADIVASI WILL NOT DANCE

AUTHOR: HANSDA SOWVENDRA SHEKHAR

GRAVITY:
Surprisingly, Jharkhand Govt. banned this book & suspended Sowvendra from his service.
Anyway, Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar winning author Sowvendra Shekhar was nominated for The Hindu Literacy Prize 2016 for this book.

REVIEW: 

The Adivasi Will Not Dance by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar is a kaleidoscope of the lives of Santhals and how they have been transformed into one of the marginalized communities of India. Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar has written with a rare honesty, clarity and empathy that has breathed life into the multitude of characters we come across in The Adivasi Will Not Dance. Being a part of the Adivasi community, the author is aware of the grass root realities and hence his stories do not come across as contrived or forced. They come across as a rare map into the emotionscape of a neglected group of people who are struggling to go through life keeping their identities intact. The Adivasi Will Not Dance was an eye-opener into the lives of this majorly marginalized community and also gave a glimpse into the lives of Adivasi middle-class people who are doing a exemplary job of maintaining a fine balance between modernity and traditionalism.

In ‘They Eat Meat’, an Adivasi family are forced to convert to vegetarianism once they shift to the largely vegeteranian city of Vododadara in Gujarat. All of a sudden they find their choices constricted and realize that acceptance will come only with conformity. The city, despite its many conveniences, does not turn in ‘our area’ for the Sorens – a place where they will not be judged for their eating habits, backward caste and where, in turn, they do not judge anyone based on their outward differences. A classic look into the divisiveness that exists in Indian society based on caste and creed. Something as basic as ‘Food’ becomes a crucial factor for segregation and for drawing the invisible line that separates ‘us’ from ‘them’.

In ‘Sons’, the lives of two Adivasi cousins Kalpana and Vidya unfold in unexpected ways despite the obvious financial security Kalpana enjoys over Vidya. This story is a stark reminder of the fact that irrespective of the effort invested,  results may not always turn out to be as per expectations, and therein lies the whimsicality of life. Nurture cannot always guarantee superlative end results.

In ‘November Is the Month of Migrations’, Talamai Kisku, 20 year old Santhal woman travelling in search of work to West Bengal from her village in the Santhal Parganas ends up sleeping with a jawan of the Railway Protection Force for two cold pieces of bread pakora and fifty rupees. The nonchalance with which the woman accepts the offer of the Jawan is frightening. The act is concluded in haste wherein the woman lies “as still as an inert earthen bowl into which a dark cloud empties itself”.

Pushed to extreme poverty, when survival is a struggle of mammoth proportions and pangs of hunger threaten to overlap the senses, something dies inside and it is the shell that remains.

‘Getting Even’ touches on the problem of trafficking of Santhal girls . It also highlights the problem of false police cases, filed often with the intention of settling scores, plaguing the districts of the Santhal Parganas.

‘Eating with the Enemy’ introduces the readers to Sulochana, who works as a maid and does not stop complaining about her misfortune to anyone who would care to listen. As she picks up the mannerisms of the upper class families she works for, she is driven by a false sense of pride and superiority and starts looking down on Santhals and other lower caste people though she is one of them. Despite all her bluster,  poverty is very real and she does not think twice about compromising her stance if she stands to gain anything from it.

In Blue Baby a wife and the husband desperately hope for their first born to turn pink, albeit for different reasons.

In Baso-jhi an elderly poor widow is labelled as a witch, disowned by her own family and cruelly hounded by a superstitious society that has little use for people past the prime of their lives. The story provides a  close look into the superstitions plaguing the Adivasi society. It also draws attention to the inferior status of women in society that makes them vulnerable targets for such baseless accusations  which are mainly used as  pretexts for property appropriations.

Desire, Divination and Death brings us closer to the struggles of a single mother who tries hard to keep her family afloat after the untimely death of her husband. It  is also a testament to the uncanny genius of a mother’s instinct when it comes to figuring out the wellbeing of her children.

Merely a Whore speaks of the exploitation women especially Santhal women have to tolerate, especially after their traditional means of earning livelihood through farming get destroyed by the ruthless aggression of greedy mining mafia who grab their lands and render them landless in the process. It also portrays a heartbreaking picture of the women forced into prostituting, who can never ever hope for true love no matter how sincere their own feelings are. No matter what they remain a toy to be used and carelessly  discarded at will.

In the titular story The Adivasi Will Not Dance, an old Adivasi refuses to perform for the president of India. This is the most hard hitting story of the collection that forces the readers to open their eyes to the deplorable conditions the majority of the Adivasi’s are subjected to. It talks about the greed of the rich and the powerful who grab the farming lands of the Adivasi’s for their selfish petty interests, in the process rendering the true owners of the land homeless and landless. This majorly agrarian community suddenly find themselves without a livelihood. It talks of the apathy of the authorities towards the plight of this community whose identity is under threat, the uppity Hindu community that considers Santhals inferior to them, the Catholic missionaries hell bent on changing the Adivasis into a prototype defined by their Church, the threat to Santhal culture and Santhal way of life in today’s world and the disdain, insults, apathy Adivasi’s face from the so called modern society which expects them to break into a song and dance at the drop of a hat, regardless of their feelings. Without mincing words, the author has strongly spoken about the threats, the insecurities, the heartbreaks and the despondency of one of the oldest tribes of India. The author has also thrown a searing question to the people who can nonchalantly stake a claim to the the vibrant culture  of the Adivasis yet can remain blissfully oblivious to the hardships and sufferings  of the proponents of the same culture

And how can we Adivasis dance and be happy? Unless we are given back our homes and land, we will not sing and dance. We Adivasis will not dance.

The neglected, the poor, the marginalized, the beaten, the downtrodden, the outcast, the middle-class of the Santhal community have found a voice in The Adivasi Will Not Dance written in simple words but with a rare depth. The author at times is bold in his portrayal and has not bothered with sophistications. But this rawness of passion and blunt narrative has added an extra dimension to this hard hitting book that talks of Adivasi identity, experiences and challenges they face in an increasingly apathetic, selfish and greedy world.

ABOUT OUR REVIEWER:

Soumini Basu is a software engineer by profession and education. However, she has always nurtured a deep love for books. To her, every book is an unique adventure. She loves sharing her bookish adventures with her fellow book bloggers. You can find her at https://bongbooksandcoffee.com