The tribe that refused a diet soda

Very little is known about the Sentinelese tribe but one thing we can now say for sure is that they do not like Diet CokeWe 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 worldrsquos most isolated and reclusive tribeThe Sentinelese havenrsquot touched anything aerated since their ancestors crossed over from Africa about 60000 years ago and they werenrsquot about to start now They feed themselves well enough and have been observed to be powerfully built sturdy and strongSilly 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 926 km to the island which stands 34 km from Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar IslandsLetrsquos talk about Bombai Click the QR code above to join my WhatsApp group to share your Bombai stories for my bookmdashand perhaps answer some of my Bombai questionsWe know something else about the Sentinelese they donrsquot fancy the idea of being colonised They have communicated this wish clearly again and again most often by showering arrows down upon wouldbe visitors who approach them making friendly noisesThere 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 ldquothe interests of sciencerdquo an elderly man a woman and four childrenThe 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 giftsMore 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 directorrsquos thigh The archer retreated to the jungle laughing triumphantly while some others buried the pig and the dollIn 2018 a 26yearold American John Allen Chau was sent by the USbased 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 thereThe 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 himThe islanders were seen dragging Chaursquos body on the shore the next dayIf someone tells you yoursquore 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 hellbent on ldquocivilisingrdquo 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 selfserving 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 factcheck everythingThis 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 foodThe 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 famousDo 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 fivestar tourist resortFirst contactmdashskin touching skinmdashhappened 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 recognisedFor being the first to touch Sentinelese skinYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paperatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params