From out of the forests

People of the tribal community residing in Mumbai's Aarey forests still struggle to gain visibility towards their social, economic and political issues in the budding metropolis. The 'people of the forest' as they rightfully call themselves so, are spread across 27 padas (hamlets) here. In the last two years, they have opened their homes to Mumbaikars, shown us their way of living, their cuisine and idea of coexisting with nature. The Aarey tribals have come a long way with the support of Mumbaikars, especially with initiatives such as the tribal lunch in the padas organised for the city folk, who are not acquainted with their way of life.

One such Mumbaikar, Borivali-based Cassandra Nazareth, assisted by the WWH Charitable Foundation, has been working towards empowering the Aarey tribal community. "People from the community grow their own food the organic way and cook amazingly well. So I thought, food will be the best way to open up avenues for them," says Nazareth. The first luncheon with the tribals in January 2016 proved to be a hit. It had high-nutrient ragi and rice rotis, spicy dal and rice, stuffed eggplant and potato and drumsticks sabzi, chicken curry made from homemade masala, sukha zinga and fried bombil. All participants relished the food and the menu keeps changing every few weeks. Continual motivation and support from WWH and Nazareth has seen this experience of lunching with the tribals grow to even include an exhibition of upcycled creations by the tribals, such as cloth bags, quilts, bottles decorated in Warli art and homemade masala.

Rupali Mikre, from Khambacha Pada says, "I began by helping to prepare the food. Eventually Nazareth taught me to manage the car park for the people who come for lunch. I also take the participants around my pada for a tour.

They get to see how we live and maintain our farms. This experience has boosted my morale." The tribals, say they have grown in confidence, now they have their own bank accounts and are learning leadership skills. As the inflow of participants to this workshop has increased, so has the need to coordinate and manage. Nazareth informs, "About 10-12 cooks prepares one lunch with one person responsible for the kokum sherbet. They are even learning how to budget their groceries." Even children of the village, fondly nicknamed 'chotu gang/mandali', happily assist the elders in this endeavour. Vanita Thackeray from Khambacha Pada says, "I have learnt a lot from these lunches, including how to manage and organise it and also to be self reliant. Now with the water tank installed, we are never short of water."

For most participants visiting Aarey for the lunches, it has been their first time in the padas and interacting with the locals. Also, sitting down on the floor in the tribal mud houses and eating their lunch is a thrill for most people.

After spending few hours with the village locals and experiencing the tribal food, many good samaritans have become consistent in lending their services to various initiatives in the padas. Someone distributed sanitary pads, smokeless stoves, cycles and prams. One of the guests refurbished the borewell, installed a fibre water tank, got the water pipeline system installed so that there's easy access to water. Nazareth feels that women from the community should come forward and take charge. She says, "When we organised the first tribal lunch, the men absolutely didn't help, whether it was about being supportive of women or looking after the kids." However, after few successful lunches and families gaining monetary sustenance, the men became more responsible towards their home, which led the women to organise the lunches in peace.

These lunches have given visibility to the tribals, which is very important, as they, in terms of demography at least, still feel disconnected to the urban landscape.