Zai Whitaker: Exploring the reasons why adivasis in India don’t receive the recognition and importance they deserve

For children's book author Zai Whitaker, Mumbai will always be home and where she grew up even though the naturalist moved to Chennai in 1974 and later helped start the Madras Crocodile Bank. Coming from a family of naturalists, her interest in wildlife and conservation almost came naturally. "We lived in Andheri where there were jackals, and you could just walk across the fields to Juhu beach," says Whitaker, whose oral storytelling is as immersive as her writing in books for children.

Recently, Whitaker was in Mumbai at the 14th Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest to discuss her latest book, ‘Termite Fry', about the Irula tribe in Tamil Nadu, and she believes it was a story waiting to be told. She shares, "It is a very powerful and a true story, and I was seeing it happening in front of my eyes. The Wildlife Act had come into effect in1972 and I was there in 1974, and it was the transition phase, where they suddenly couldn't catch snakes. What else are they going to do, as that is the only thing they know how to do. So, they can't really use the forests."

Lack of awareness about adivasis
"I wanted to hook the reader to this amazing community of people who are vanishing. They are also a metaphor for all the Adivasi communities in our country and around the world," adds Whitaker, who also helped start the Irula Tribal Women's Welfare Society in 1986 to aid the women from the tribe, who have primarily been known to be snake-catchers and depend on it for their livelihood.

Whitaker's book comes at a time when there is an ongoing awareness and discussion around indigenous people not only in India but also around the world. So, does she believe the adivasis, as they are popularly called, get the importance they deserve in our country? "The adivasis don't get the importance they deserve," pat comes the reply, before she continues, "They are absolutely unique and have knowledge and wisdom and skills that nobody else has, and which can be used selfishly for us in the mainstream community. However, it is like (right now) either we are indifferent to them or that they are niche or the ‘wild people'."

Interestingly, they have also soaked technology into their daily lives.
She narrates, "Two Irula boys got the Padma Shri and had to go to Delhi (in 2023), which is like another country for them. So, I thought somebody should go and help them navigate. However, one of the boys said, ‘I think I have it on my phone'. He had WhatsApp on his phone and found the email that the Ministry had sent him with all the details."This amazed Whitaker, who has spent most of the last five decades around the tribe, and it is no wonder why she is so fond of the tribal community and its people.

The change she believes has to be a balance and truly believes that change will come to the indigenous communities. "The important thing is that it should come in the way they want and at their pace and this is not happening if you are taking away their forests and arresting them for eating something that they have traditionally eaten."

Need for change
Whitaker has written over 20 books for children over the years - some of which include 'Kali and the Rat Snake' and 'Cobra in My Kitchen' and 'Sálim Ali for Children: The Bird Man of India' among others. In all her time as an author, she has observed how the reaction to the environment has changed over the decades.
She explains, "I find it interesting how small kids are getting worried about the planet. The other day, I got one of them saying, ‘Aunty, when is the planet going to end and how is it going to end?' We are bombarding them with this stuff, and they are losing their childhood with it in a way, waiting for this apocalyptic end to come." The Chennai-based author, who has also been a teacher for close to two decades, says the children bothering about impending doom has also taken the fun out of their childhood, more than earlier generations have faced before.

But she asks, "Is that okay? It is the bureaucrats we need to be telling about this and not these young kids." It is also why she believes authorities need to do more, especially in Mumbai, where people are starved of access to open spaces. "I seriously think Mumbai needs to take their open spaces seriously. I think these citizen groups need to be empowered because without the government's help, we can't do anything. We can whine and complain but that's about it. So, it would be great that the government saw NGOs and others like us as a partner rather than somebody who is always criticising," she concludes.