SKCV Evening and College Tribal Programme
Katie Revell
Wednesday 01 November 2006
I now realize that the last post probably doesn’t make much sense, since the last you all know I was only just back from Chennai. Well, in the interim we’ve been away (again): this time over West to Karnataka, namely Bangalore and Mysore. More on that later.
We have, however - despite appearances - not just been gallivanting around like we’re Gap Year students or something. We have been busy here in Vijayawada too. Firstly, and this seems like an age away now, there was the cultural evening at the SKCV Boys’ Village which I mentioned in my last (but one) post. This was in honour of some Rotarians from Tamworth who had sponsored various projects in Andhra – including the Boys’ Village - and were visiting them on a shockingly brief 4-day tour. Considering it took us that long to work off the jet lag and realize where we were, it was either a bold or foolish endeavor, although I think perhaps their accommodation and travel arrangements were rather more comfortable than ours…
As is customary in India, the evening was delayed by several hours, so it was dark by the time everyone sat down to enjoy the show. The mozzies, of course, were out in full force, but thankfully the impressively energetic dancing distracted from our rapidly emptying veins. The delay did, at least, mean we got to see a beautiful sunset over the “mighty” river Krishna, on whose delta Vijayawada is built. The Boys’ Village has a wonderful setting on the banks of the river, just down from the famous Krishna Barrage (built, as we were proudly told, by the British – there’s still an interesting nostalgia among many, even those who have been born since Independence).
After the dancing - traditional, North Indian style by the girls and the boys’ Backstreet Boys interpretation – there were the usual Rotary formalities up on the dais, with the Tamworth and Vijayawada groups opening the meeting, introducing each other, thanking each other profusely, closing the meeting, and retiring for supper. The children sat with saintly patience although I’m sure they can’t have understood any of what was going on. We were told afterwards (to our disbelief) that the setup was far more informal than that “back home”. We were (unexpectedly) invited to eat with the Rotarians – an odd, but tasty mélange of Indian and British-cooked-by-Indians: curries and rice and poppadums and macaroni cheese. It was an enjoyable evening, with the children, as usual, doing themselves proud and receiving deserved praise from the English visitors.
On Saturday the 7th of October there was yet another “programme” at the College – this time to celebrate the culture of the Tribes of Andhra Pradesh. Andhra, we’re discovering, is one of the most “Indian”, and certainly least touristy, of the South Indian states, and tribal culture is still strong in the most rural areas. There were a number of high-ranking politicians and officials here as well as groups from two different tribes; the former to make speeches and the latter to perform dances and singing (although to be honest I think the event might have been more productive had it been the other way around). The morning (after, of course, a late start) was taken up with around 3 hours of introductions and speeches by the dignitaries – sadly mostly in Telugu.
The afternoon, however, was more engaging, with dancing and music (percussion) from the members of the tribes. The men were wearing helmets with what I think were ox horns on them, and would occasionally break from the dancing to simulate clashes between beasts, bashing their heads together in a violent fashion. The girls danced in a line, lead from the front by an old woman who would improvise moves as she went. After a while some of the College students joined in, too; I’m sorry to say we chickened out and just watched instead.
As well as praise for the culture of the tribes, there was also a lot of talk of the necessity of “development” – that catch-all word which is used so frequently when discussing places like Andhra. Development, the word, of course has positive connotations: it means progress, improving the situation. But none of the speakers really ever explained what it meant in practice – what it was that needed to be “developed” and what exactly this entailed. In India, “development” often seems to be used interchangeably with “Westernised” without much consideration of whether the West’s way of doing things is appropriate here (or at all).
It seemed odd to be lauding the centuries-, or even millennia-old traditions and way of life of these people while simultaneously emphasising the need for this vague notion of “development” which, inevitably, would lead to the degradation of those very things. Of course, as a highly privileged Westerner it’s arguably not my place to judge; it’s all too easy to take the middle-class-leftie stance without appreciating the actual situation. However, surely, for example, “illiteracy” is not a problem – not even a relevant concept – in a village where there are no books and no street signs and where no-one’s occupation requires them to read? I do realise that, of course, there are millions in dire poverty and much to be done to alleviate this. However, it seems to me that, especially in rural, tribal areas where lack of money does not necessary equate poverty, comparing the situation to a Western context of flush toilets and school textbooks causes us to invent needs and problems (and corresponding “solutions”) when really there are none.