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Patai Takaru means “the big island” in the southern Nicobarese language. Known to most of us as Great Nicobar, it is the largest among the more forgotten and marginalised islands in the Nicobar district of the Andaman Nicobar archipelago. Of all the attributes and unique features of Great Nicobar Island, the least studied and therefore the most misunderstood are its two indigenous communities – the Shompen and the Great Nicobarese.
The Shompen are forest dwellers, said to have "first arrived in Great Nicobar more than 10,000 years ago, and the Nicobarese, who are a more plural community than the Shompen, live along the coast of the island. Also Read What Is The Center's Plan For Great Nicobar Island and Why Is It Troubling? Like many Adivasi people, these communities have engineered a self-sufficient and sustainable way of living, one that is perfectly suited to a tropical island. Newer generations are guided by their traditional values, rooted in the managing and sharing of natural resources, their belief systems that transfer their knowledge of the limits to the island resources; and their social structures, built to avoid conflict over those resources.
ADVERTISEMENT REMOVE AD I have been to their villages and settlements and seen them thrive. I have also seen their lives get upturned.