{"id":9428,"date":"2024-12-23T08:23:17","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T02:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=9428"},"modified":"2024-12-23T08:23:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T02:53:17","slug":"welcomed-with-arrows-hindi-film-songs-with-teer-baan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/welcomed-with-arrows-hindi-film-songs-with-teer-baan\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcomed with Arrows"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"And<\/a>

And the Music Lives On<\/em> by Manek Premchand<\/p><\/div>\n

In the Bay of Bengal, two and a quarter hours flying time from Kolkata or Chennai, and about 1300 kilometres away from them lies Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are a part of India. These islands were recently in the news for two reasons. One was about Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s visit there, on 30th December 2018. He renamed three islands, i.e., Ross Island, Neil Island and Havelock Island to Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep, Shaheed Dweep, and Swaraj Dweep respectively. But by far the bigger news from the region was of the death of a young American missionary named John Chau in a place called North Sentinel Island, a place considered too dangerous to approach.<\/p>\n

The North Sentinel Island is part of the Andaman Islands and is the habitat of the Sentinelese aborigine people, who remain a bunch of uncontacted and uncontactable people, even in today\u2019s interconnected world. For thousands of years, these tribes have been living there with a pathological resentment of civilization, and so they want to be left alone, thank you. No one has any idea what language they speak. Anthropologists know that these tribes have been in utter isolation forever, and since even other islanders have failed to get close enough to hear them, the Sentinelese people\u2019s language may not have any contemporary relatives. We do know just a bit about their other lifestyle from the observations of a handful of people who have made quick and stealthy entries and exits over the decades.<\/p>\n

These xenophobic people live in hutments, make and use bows and arrows, and thrive on fish and berries. They know how to light\u00a0and douse fires for cooking. Since 1956, the Indian government has declared the island an exclusion zone, because the outside world is dangerous to these people, and the natives in turn are dangerous to any outsider who wants entry. As such, India\u2019s Protection of Aboriginal Tribes regulation makes it unlawful to attempt contact or come within 5 kilometres of the island\u2019s coastline. It is extremely hard to access this place anyway, not just because of the coral reefs that form a natural defence of the island, but also because of the antagonistic belief systems of its natives. To sustain this belief system, they invest a lot of time and resources in making bows and arrows. An economist would perhaps note that the islanders spend the highest amount of their GDP on defence! But since they have never been immunized against many diseases that exist in the civilized world, the Sentinelese are highly vulnerable to them. Even flu or chicken pox could manage to wipe off their entire, tiny population in weeks. Although no one knows how many of them are there on that island, estimates vary between 150 and 350 people.<\/p>\n

If you try to get into their territory, they\u2019ll immediately welcome you with arrows. You\u2019ll be lucky if you can dodge these missiles. Many intrepid adventurers did manage to escape them in the 1970s, 1980s, and later. But the American John Chau persisted. He went near the island on 15th November, got hurt, withdrew, refreshed his resolve, and neared the colony again the next day. He was to learn a fatal lesson on 16th November 2018, when tribal archers eliminated him with arrows.<\/p>\n

To avenge the death of its citizen, the Americans could have responded of course. They could have bombed the place in a matter of hours. But it\u2019s not a good time to be an American, in geopolitical popularity. Besides, such a response would be seen as an attack on Indian soil, and so an act of war with us. Most importantly, in terms of the law, the natives didn\u2019t go after John Chau without a reason; he was trespassing on their private space, which was an illegal act. It also gets a bit sticky for America\u2019s image that the man was a missionary, going in there to spread the message of the Bible and convert the people to Christianity.<\/p>\n

Saluting<\/strong> the<\/strong> Sentinelese<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arrows and bows are called teer <\/em>and kamaan <\/em>respectively in Hindustani. They are also called baan <\/em>and dhanushya<\/em>. Our poets have used teer <\/em>and baan <\/em>as metaphors in poetry, both to ignite love\u2014in the Cupid way\u2014 as well as to injure it. Check out these songs from our films, that refer to such ammunition:<\/p>\n