Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow (U.P.), India. E mail: rahul_anthropologist@yahoo.co.in
Note: This paper is the modified version of the paper communicated to the 97th Indian Science Congress 2010 and was accepted for presentation in the section Anthropological and Behavioural Sciences
The island of Car Nicobar was home to about 21,000 Nicobarese who were spread on the whole island and were well-adjusted in 15 villages, viz., Mus, Tamaloo, Perka, Malacca, Sawai, Kenyuka, Big Lapathi, Chukchucha, Small Lapathi, Kakana, Tee-Top, Kinmai, Tapoiming, Arong and Kimios (pre-tsunami phase fieldwork). The life line of the Nicobarese was sailing smoothly until on Black Sunday (so-called day of Dec. 26 of 2004), a tsunami, which was triggered by an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 in Sumatra, left the Nicobarese with no options. It appeared that the tsunami fully devastated the economic and social life of the Car Nicobarese. In this backdrop, this study was conducted in the post-tsunami phase to bring forward the ground realities of the socio-cultural sphere of the Nicobarese in the post-tsunami phase on Car Nicobar and to compare it with the pre-tsunami life of the Nicobarese of the island. Moreover, this paper deals with a comparative study of Nicobari culture in pre- and post-tsunami phases and reveals the psychosocial frustrations and problems faced by the Nicobarese due to the after-effects of the tsunami.
Nicobarese, Car Nicobar, Tsunami, Tuhet, Horticulture, Herding, Hunting, Copra Making, Tribal Council, Tomiluono, Totarong
