DEATH ON THE ISLAND: A WAKE-UP CALL.

With the recent death of the American missionary on the isolated Sentinel Island in the Andaman island leaves us to introspect on the various aspect of human behavior;  behavior of the reclusive islanders and the island visitors. The American missionary had intended to visit the island so that he could introduce the indigenous people to Lord Jesus as he believed that the place was fit for “Satan” as Lord Jesus could not reach there.

It leaves us with two questions: The approach to the Sentinel island is fueled by the curious nature to discover and unearth the ‘other’ or is to better the ‘other’?

In both the circumstances there is an inherent sense of abject superiority as a race which is quite similar to the attitudinal behaviors of the colonizers throughout history. In the quest of knowing the unknown or the ‘other’ the community is discovered, invaded, plundered and in turn exterminated. This is a gradual process and does not look oppressive in the beginning as it is often done in in the same breath as that of betterment, development of the closed group/ community.

If we go through the history of the indigenous tribes residing in the Andaman Islands this kind of a pattern can be easily traced. Most of the tribes have been exterminated as the civilized lot would attack, invade and kidnap the tribal people and make them slaves for their benefit. Moreover, a lot of the tribal population has been eradicated due to practices of mass reckless deforestation, spread of alien disease, kidnappings which have been a result of the contact with the outside world.

Before we label the tribal as barbaric, cannibalistic and so on and so forth we need to ask ourselves certain questions. What is the driving force/ emotion behind such expeditions? Are such ‘friendly’ expeditions actually friendly? Why cannot we let the tribal population be and let them thrive in their own nurtured flora and fauna and most importantly that this kind of an enterprise only reeks of a certain burden (read ‘the white man’s burden’) to better the human race assuming a higher and better power position. In conclusion, our portrayal of a civilized world is only a facade if we cannot let the other be.