Khoti is part of everyday living in southern bengal. This is best exemplified through the following story about a family settled in Baliara Village, on Mousuni Island, in Namkhana Block. Their house is the last house of the village, the one closest to the sea. When we visited them after cyclone Amphan, we saw how the structure they live in where the walls are of plastic sheets or pieces of cloth, couldn’t really be called a “house”.. There are three young girls living there, the middle one is called Munni, and everybody calls the place “Munni’s residence”.
This area is prone to the effects of the tide and hence freshwater sources like handpumps etc cannot be used on a regular basis. Generally during high tide, the handpumps are completely submerged and useless, thus Munni has to daily collect water from a source which is 3 kms away. Cyclone Amphan hit this Island at 180 km per hour. When we went there we thought we would not find anyone. However, we saw Munni’s father casually lifting a bamboo and rebuilding their shelter. I asked him how the family was holding up and he nonchalantly replied that they are okay – as if the disaster had not really struck them at all. We sat inside. They offered us some rice and vegetables, and insisted that we do not leave before eating since we had come after travelling a long distance.
This is the magic of the people of the Sundarbans! We say they rise like a phoenix and that is indeed true, no matter how bad the disaster is they still stand right back up. When conducting quantitative assessments of the number of assets that were lost, we didn’t really find anything significant. They said they probably lost some utensils, however more or less whatever was there before was still there. Actually, there were not many things to lose in the first place.
The people of Sundarbans have a strong connection with their land. I try to think why they continue to live there despite the region being such a disaster prone area. They say that they are completely okay. These days, when I ask about government benefits, in such cases due to different political equations I get different answers which may or may not be true. But in general, the marginalised people do not really think much about benefits and assets. We think these people live in dire conditions. However, they don’t see it this way, they point out how disasters happen only 15-20 days out of 365 days. They get lots of fresh fishes from the rivers and the sea. If they are able to sell their catch in the nearby markets, they can earn a basic livelihood. Sundarban is still a region full of resources, the cultivable lands provide a decent produce and if someone has a boat, then that person can live a comfortable life, they point out. Even those displaced, or migrants who have moved out of the area, tell me that they still crave for their “home” in the Sundarban.
Ⓒ Koushik Chatterjee
Ⓒ Koushik Chatterjee