Leave them alone!




The Sentinelese Tribe made the news in Nov 2018. The following post is my thoughts on this subject.
_*_

I live in Pune, western India which is around 3500 Kms from Andaman Nicobar.

Even it's far, Maharashtra shares a special connection with these Islands. Tours to Andaman are popular amongst the youth as well as the retirees.

Around two years ago, my cousin and his wife went to Andaman and Nicobar on their honeymoon. This is what they got for the family as a souvenir.


We talked about these tribes and their isolation. Most of us were familiar with the tribes of Andaman and Nicobar but we got more information from the newlywed couple as they enthusiastically explained what they learned on the island.

I don't remember even the elders of our family suggesting about forceful assimilation of these tribes because we were in awe of how such an ancient civilization keep their roots even in the modern world.

I think most educated Indians know about these tribes and their various degrees of isolation from modern civilization. This is due to the fact that a popular TV show of the 90s "Surabhi" had one episode dedicated to these tribes although I am quite sure that it was not the Sentinelese. When I developed my understanding better, around 2008, I even wrote a blog post[1] about my thoughts of these people as the idea was so exciting.

India, a nation of the majority of Hindus, didn't feel any need to convert these people's beliefs in so many years but why the Christian missionaries have the itch to change everyone to their religion is beyond me.

Instead of feeling inspired that these people are living their way of life from thousands of years surviving most disastrous calamities such as the Tsunami of 2003, they just want to encroach on their land and spread their skewed beliefs. This obstinacy of religion likely will also dump the problems of the modern world on them. Contact with the world certainly has not gone well with the Africans and the other tribes the last time we checked.

When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land. - Desmond Tutu
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Footnotes

[1] Stem Cells of Humanity

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