During our wedding plan, in a conversation with my close friends in Bangalore who were to attend our wedding in my native village in Odisha, lightheartedly I said to them, “sorry we can offer you only black tea and not milk tea. You have to adjust please.” My friends were quite surprised and curious. I said, “our people in village are not habituated to milk tea. Even if black tea is taken, it is served occasionally during family or village functions. Some families offer black tea whenever they receive any guests; but during the winter mornings most of the families take black tea to warm themselves. Though packaged milk is available in the nearby market (nearly 8/10km from my village)… milk has not yet been part of our community culture.”
My friend asked, “but in villages you rear cattle, right?” I said, “Yes. Right now we have just four, before we had many. When I was young my grandmother (mita ajji) had gifted me a goat (female), which in couple of years multiplied into 40. In addition we also had nearly 12-15 cattle and 4-6 buffaloes. We had engaged two men (dhangars) to look after them, but we never used them either for meat or milk. While all the domestic animals (cattle, goats, chicken, bigs) were looked after well, only bull and buffaloes were used for ploughing and other agricultural activities. We did not even sell them, but few goats were gifted or exchanged with close relatives for family functions. We believe milk is for the calves. Calf has the only right over his/her mamma’s/cow’s milk, similar to a human baby. We want the calf to grow healthier, stronger and multiply more. This is our (adivasi) philosophy, our way of life. Earlier, families who owned more cows, buffaloes and goats were considered rich, though traditionally and primarily they did not rear for selling or business purpose. Some people would sell them only if required money in emergency. Other purpose was to use their dung as fertilizer and yield more crops. They are indigenous, representing many generations.”
My friend said, “well, here (in city) cow (milk) is one of the big source of income.
I thought, so if our people/adivasis rear commercial cattle and consume milk regularly it could also be an additional source of income besides agriculture. However, this makes me reflect on my village experience. In 1980s and 90s very often govt. officers and other agencies came to villages to convince people to take Jersey cows on loan for dairy entrepreneur purpose. After constant push by the authorities some families wanted to try the so called “the miracle cow” and got them on subsidized loan. However, within few months they had complains that the Jersey cows required extra care than the indigenous family cows. They had to be provided more fodder, which required a family member to collect good grass, provide water every day. In between the Jersey cow also had to be bathed to maintain hygiene. If they were taken to the grazing land along with other local cow herds they would behave indecently, they wouldn’t stick on to the grassland and always run towards greenery paddy field, and do not mix with the herd. Whereas, the family cows are less troublesome and self-depended. Six months, on non-agricultural season, freely they go around the fields and forest, graze by themselves, drink water from streams, rivers, ponds etc., rest under the trees and before the sunset they return home by themselves. During agricultural season they needed to be guarded and be taken for grazing to the barren lands and forests by the villagers in groups so that the cattle do not damage the crop. Their dung released on grazing land and fields also work as free fertilizer for farmers. So also the cattle greatly contribute to biodiversity.
Thus, Jersey cow scheme became a flop campaign in my village area. People who were using (mostly non-tribals) preferred desi (indigenous) cow milk or ghee than the Jersey. People also did not eat Jersey beef. Of no use, finally those cows were returned back to the block office/agencies. It’s been nearly 20 years, I have not seen any Jersey cow in my village.
Most of our adivasis/tribals (from Chhotanagpur region) particularly living in villages are allergic to milk and milk products. (This is also found among the other tribes across India). Most of them find it smelly and cannot digest. While some people drink milk for few days to recover fast from any illness/physical weakness, ghee is used only for medicinal purpose often mixed with herbs to treat different diseases. Generally milk is not consumed by our people. In many cases when our people go to cites it takes some time for them to get used to milk products, and some can never adopt. It may sound silly for regular milk takers.
We often get to read, how in multi-crore cattle industry business, cruelty imposed on them from birth to death. Repeatedly impregnated by artificial insemination, genetic manipulation, antibiotics etc. affect their health. In farms, both the mother cows and the calves are separated for couple of days, so that the calves have limited suckling, which is violation of a vital process of maternal bond. How would it feel to a nursing (human) mom? One can argue, besides calf’s share of milk, extra or remaining milk is consumed by us/human. But, when, we can decide ourselves the quantity and quality of food we should consume, how can we restrict a calf’s thirst!
Against popular myth/belief of milk intake, my villagers live healthier than we city dwellers. They consume balanced nutritional food from their self-grown crops, wild-veggies available in forests and fields, fresh water fish, egg and meat. Livestock is occasionally used for meat (self-consumption and some time selling in market) and agricultural activities. Their agricultural practices, holistic relation with the nature and natural resources (shared property) teaches us to balance between need and greed, to respect nature, and not to exploit.
Tribal ways of life and their livelihoods can teach a lot about preserving natural resources, growing food in sustainable ways and living in harmony with the nature. While choice of food is a fundamental right, in this growing consumerist world, can tribal way of life be a possible alternative?
Cattle being fed special food on the occasion of Sohrai/Cattle Festival
(pic: www.videovolunteers.org)
Pic: alma@simdega paikbahal
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