DESAR (PANCHMAHALS DIST), DEC 7: They eat monkeys and wildcats, drink buffalo blood, can fast-walk 40 km through thick jungles and rough mountains without resting. Their profession is stealing, and if they target your house, they will also finish the pickles before vanishing with your belongings.They are the denizens of Desar, a godforsaken village in the rocky terrain of central Gujarat. Of the 900-odd people living there, almost every man is a suspect in one or the other theft case. Over 150 of them are wanted in theft cases all across Gujarat, though there are instances of their forays into Tamil Nadu and Karnataka too.They have been into thievery for over 150 years, and their leaders of the past figure in the folklore of the Panchmahals region and in many Gujarati books. Till 1838, they are believed to have been into small-time thievery. But after the British crackdown upon the Nayak tribals who revolted against the erstwhile Jambughoda state they were on the run. They then settled at Desar. Beforeevery strike, they drink country brew and massage oil over their body. ``Our people look for cash and jewellery, but pick up just anything that can fetch a price. We steal animals like buffalo and goats to eat, while monkeys and wildcats are caught in the jungle,'' says Kalu Nayak, also called Kalu Tapali, for he is a postman. He insists that he quit stealing in 1992.Nobody explains why they drink blood from buffaloes.Before every strike they hold bhajans to invoke success. Says Halol Sub-Inspector Bharat Bhandari, who handles Desar, ``In fact, whenever I hear of such bhajan programmes, my immediate reaction is to step up patrol in villages around 15 to 20 km from Desar.''Earlier, there were fewer gangs and more members to each gang. Now there are several gangs, each with 10-15 persons. ``We don't earn much. In fact, others have struck rich on our catch. We get peanuts for the gold we steal while jewellers in Panchmahals make good money selling it dear,'' says Gautam (name changed), who is wanted bythe police. The Nayaks speak a curious lingo, a mixture of Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi. Few have gone to school. Teachers are scared to go to Desar, for the Nayaks are short-tempered and violent.Very few officials had ever visited Desar till about 1992. That was the year when some villagers decided to quit stealing. In 1996, the group led by Sarpanch Chandu Gaja decided to go back to stealing, while Kalu Tapali's followers went clean, according to Kishore Jani, social worker and veteran journalist of the area.The 63 families of the Tapali group have migrated, leaving their land and houses there, for fear from the Chandu Gaja group, which allegedly implicates them in false cases by giving concocted information to police.Gaja is in the Junagadh prison serving a PASA sentence and was detained under the same law earlier. His group has 53 families. ``In 1996, during a bhajan programme Gaja appealed to the citizens of Desar to start stealing again for prosperity,'' says D Bhalu Nayak. ``But since we didn'tjoin them, they are harassing us. As in movies, they say julm ki duniya mey ekbaar kadam rakhney key baad bahar nahi ja saktey hou, (Once you enter the world of crime, you cannot abandon it)'' says Dipsinh Nayak.Bhandari won't take any of it. ``I doubt that they wish to change. A DSP had a few years ago made an attempt, getting some of them jobs as guards at factories. Soon, they started stealing from the same places,'' he says.Gujarat Rajya Adivasi Nayak Sudharna Mandal secretary Vajesinh Nayak, however, says the Tapali group is changing and if the government acquires their land, which they can't use for it is in Gaja territory in the village, and gives them land somewhere else, they will stay clean.
