Civilisation.

In my younger days I was bemused by photographs of scantily clad tribal people ,holding prehistoric weapons ,in weeklies and wondered how such an anachronism, existed in a modern India.And was full of praises for those who had striven, to integrate them in to the mainstream of Indian population .I marvelled at the sacrifices willingly undertaken by men prompted either by religion or ideology , to shrug off the comforts of civilisation and lead a tough and ascetic life in god forsaken places --thick jungles infested with wild animals and bugs and persuade the people living in primitive conditions to shed their half naked ways , communal drinking and dancing and replacing their spears and arrows with pens and guns.

Then I read a article written by an Englishman questioning the wisdom behind civilising tribal and indigenous people. He wrote ,the life they are leading is from time immemorial and their worship and customs centre's around forests , trees ,and animals, the mainstay of their sustenance.When they are not intruding into our lives ,why should we ?Won't our attempts at civilisation wipe away in one stroke a way of life crafted in tens of thousands of years ?

This view got me thinking and I refrained from deriding or looking down upon the unusual customs of others since then .

Our attempts at civilisation is more or less attempts in suffocating a way of life . Some what like the the bit of alien moss introduced for quick commercial profits along the Southern coast ofBay of Bengal that has become a hydra headed monster suffocating the growth of coral reefs in the sea.Whilst coral reefs take 10,000 years to grow an inch , are a rich source of food to fish and also protect the shore by absorbing waves , this moss not homegrown ,is capable of spreading rapidly over the reefs and suffocating it to death in a matter of few years.

Similarly a beautiful but venomous King fish that was procured from Indonesia to be reared as ornamental pets in fish tanks in coastal U.S have found their way to the Atlantic ocean and having no predators have wiped out the sea clean of grazing fish by devouring them all .These grazing fish ventilate the coral reef's by nibbling away the moss growing on them .This has led to choking of the reefs that has affected commercial fishing and the scientists are tugging at their beards in finding a solution in the past few years to save the reef of this scrounge .

An Finnish Nobel prize winner has written a beautiful short story ,where in two fugitives from law , one an uncouth boy from a fishing village and another a civilised well off land lord take shelter in a cave amidst dense forest, together. The boy adores and admires the man . But the man is disgusted at the boys untamed ways and his stupidity in accepting the crime of his father as his own . The man is proud of himself ,his upbringing and his courage in felling his tormentor ,though in a fit of jealousy.

They spend several years escaping the law , by running and hiding in the ridges, ledges ,crannies and crevices and tree tops in the forest , which they have come to know as the back of their hands.

One day the man falls ill and the boy nurses him back to health.Overcome by gratitude at the selfless service the man starts civilising the lad .

Several weeks later ,as the man is idling in the hideout ,the boy comes running helter skelter ,shouting at his master to hurry and escape as the villagers were hot on their pursuit and were but few yards away and runs away into the forest yelling that since the man taught him right from wrong,the meaning of sin ,he had to inform the villagers of his where abouts! The man was caught and dragged to the scaffold ! The boy escaped .

The perils of civilising !