Anisa

A large hoop in each ear, with a strong jaw and skin brown like the earth, there he sat, Shikari. “They call me ‘the hunter’. When I was born, my mother held me in her arms and said “We come from the earth, the animals, the trees. We fight to live, and that is who we are, part of the delicate balance of nature, the fighter, the survivor, the hunter.” And hence, I was named Shikari, the hunter.”Twenty eight, and head of the tribe, with a chiselled body and a white dhoti, now brown from working in the fields; Shikari began his story, the story of his life, the story of the Baighas.The Baighas have lived in the forests of Chattisgarh for the past fifteen years. Known for jadi booti and jantar mantar ka gyan or the knowledge of roots and herbs and black magic, the forest is their home. But they have been forced to move, ever since the Forests right act has been passed.