A fascinating portrait of the eclectic tribes of India and the remote regions that they inhabit In the 1990s, the fifty-four million members of India's tribal colonies accounted for seven percent of the country's total population-yet very little about them was recorded. Norman Lewis depicts India's jungles as being endangered by "progress," and his sense of urgency in recording what he can about the country's distinct tribes results in a compelling and engaging narrative. From the poetic Muria people whose diet includes monkeys, red ants, and crocodiles, to the tranquil mountain tribes who may be related to the Australian Aborigines, to the naked Mundas people who may shoot, with bow and arrow, anyone who laughs in their direction, Lewis chronicles the unique characteristics of the many tribes that find their way of life increasingly threatened by the encroachment of modernity.
"The great virtue of Norman Lewis as a writer is that he can make the most boring things interesting; whatever he is describing-whether it is a rickshaw driver, an alcohol-crazed elephant, or a man defecating by the side of the road-Lewis's senses are awake for sounds or smells, and he can make you think twice about scenes you have seen ten thousand times before. . . . A joy to read."
