Book Review of ‘White as Milk and Rice’ by Nidhi Dugar Kundalia

When we think of tribals of India, we imagine a very colourful picture, people singing and dancing in groups because, as city-dwellers, we are familiar with that. Most of the time, organisations (both private and government ) showcase them as cultural artefacts, performers or to parade in their tribal ethnic wear in front of tourists for the sake of amusement.

A woman from the Halakki tribe on the book cover

White as milk and rice offer six distinctive narratives from six different tribal communities in India belonging to various geographical conditions like coastal, hills and Deccan planes.

The book is not a fact set or a plane documentary. It’s in a story-telling style, where the author sees their life through their eyes. The narrator in each story is a person from that particular community.

The story does not tell you the good and bad sides of their lives; all it shows is the reality. Also, the stories are unsentimental: when a Kanjar bride is thought to have failed the virginity test, they burn her alive. Animals are getting sparse in the forests around the Konyak villages — ‘most of them already hanging as skulls on the walls of the tribal homes’.

Some of the stories are incredibly engaging, like singing Halakkis of Ankola and the dacoit community of the Kanjars of Chambal. The difference of the levels may have been raised due to the narrative — is the protagonist real, or is it fictional, has not been specified.

1. Women of the Khasi tribe of Shillong | 2. Konyaks from Nagaland | Sources : https://www.thebetterindia.com/79317/some-true-unique-experience-nagaland-konyak/ and https://scroll.in/article/888127/in-meghalaya-khasi-women-who-marry-non-khasis-stand-to-lose-scheduled-tribe-status-benefits

1. The Marias of Bastar | 2. Women from Kurubha tribe of Nilgiris | Source: https://www.swadesi.com/news/kurumba-the-nilgiri-tribe/

The author points out that over the years, various acts and regulations have been passed for ‘ strengthening the tribal communities’ and ‘bringing them to the mainstream . However, she also states how ineffective and irreversible some changes have become:

“ over the last few decades, rapid urbanisation has affected the character of their lives: the loss of their innocence and the damage to the environment are, perhaps irreversible….’’

However, moving forward, how much of their culture should be preserved should be entirely up to them.

“All I ask for is to let them make that choice. Let them decide what they want to be. There should be legislation where they get to choose whether they want to educate themselves or not, whether they want forest land to be infringed upon or not..”

I did not read the entire book in one go. I was reading it in between other books. If you are looking for fiction, this may not be the right choice. However, through this book, one can find out the tribal lifestyles, how untouched their lives are by urbanism and city life, that we are used to.

The book also contains the story of Padmashri Sukri Bommagowda a folk singer of the Halakki tribe awarded in 2017 with one of India’s highest civilian honours, for her contributions to the arts and her work in preserving traditional tribal music. You can find the link to her interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txpweNlW3fk