A song for the Bhils

Writing poetry and sketching since the 70s,Khare has crystallised his own way of functioning as a self-confessed reclusive writer and a sociable community worker,ever curious about learning about new customs. Working on Unicef programmes since the ’80s in Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan,Punjab,Maharashtra,and more recently down South in the Nilgiris,with an NGO working for the local Toda tribals,Khare has seen both sides of community welfare-government and non-government.

“It is indeed embarrassing when you go into a village with the collector,who may be waxing eloquent about things he knows nothing about,” he confesses. Khare sings The New Collector,a song in the collection mocking authority a typical example of stinging Bhil humour. “But I don’t believe in activism either. Confrontation is dangerous in a varied society like ours and more times than not,it proves counter-productive. The way to do it is to quietly sow the seeds of change,even if it means gritting your teeth and bowing your head sometimes,” he adds.

Cultural-activism is a “dangerous term” he says,and distances himself immediately from anyone claiming to be an arbiter of change. But there is a sense of futility when he says that there is nothing we can do to stop change,and prevent the dying of traditions. “My job is to represent these songs,to translate them. And I make my own changes to it. Culture falls apart when it becomes static,” he offers as explanation.

Khare works with his wife Susan Bullough whose photographs of the Bhil community feature in the collection. They are now working on the living history of the Todas.