Arunachal Pradesh, July 1, 2017: India is a land of many tribes which forms its rich cultural heritage. One such tribe is Apatanis also known as Tanw, which lives in Ziro valley in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh in India.
This tribe is famous for their colorful culture with various festivals, vibrant traditional village councils detailed and complex handloom designs and cane and bamboo crafts skill. They reside in very basic bamboo huts resting on top of vertical wooden stilts. The Apatanis worships nature by praying sun and moon. Apatanis are also known for their distinctive way of sustainable farming and social forestry.
The Apatanis women are believed to be the exceptional beauty in Arunachal Pradesh. With their beauty, arrived a danger of theft of apatanis women by neighboring tribes.
Majority of women on the earth are considered to be delicate pieces of physical beauty. The outer beauty is not seen as a blessing of god but the parameter on which the girl is admired, adorned or loved. No matter, how beautiful a woman is but the beautiful looks always wins in captivating the eye. People are more tempted by what they see than what they feel.
Beauty is a positive term that is why it attracts people. Especially, if we talk of outer beauty, the desire of it makes people cross their limits and restore to wrong practices.
Rape, sexual assault, kidnapping and forceful marriage are some examples of these wrongful deeds. A lady finds variety of ways to protect herself from the cruel world. Some learn self defense, some keep weapons, some don't go out alone in night, some keep pepper spray and some employ special bodyguards to save themselves.
But, these tribal women found the solution in killing the root of the problem itself. Their pretty faces were very appealing to the neighbor tribes which lead to kidnapping of these women.
They altered their faces by inserting huge nose plugs and tattooing their faces in order to safeguard their lives. Their decision showed their bravery of letting go their outer beauty. They preferred a life without beauty instead of physical beauty because their life was very much more than physical beauty to them.
The older women of tribe can still be spotted with inked faces and nose plugs. The further inserting of nose plugs and inking of faces have been banned by government.
The beauty they portrayed by disregarding their face appearance was beyond words. But on the other hand, hurting oneself just for getting secured is not a good choice. Will you spoil your face by the fear of getting raped; will you hurt yourself so much and make your outer skin ugly to protect yourselves from all the evil crimes of outer beauty?
– by Surbhi Dhawan. Twitter @surbhi_dhawan