In the region of the ‘Tiger widows’

Khadija Begum (left) and Shefali Rani (right) lost their husbands to the tigers. Amodini Das (centre) lost her father. Photo: Courtesy.

Khadiza Begum is now in her late seventies. But a single minute glance at her cannot hide the yellowish skin tone she possesses till today and the extent of beauty she possessed in her youth. Still this old lady had to pass her entire youth, middle and old ages in absolute loneliness as she had been living the life of a 'tiger widow' for many years.
I was introduced to Khadiza Begum during the late February of this year at the Pashchim Bigha Dhumghat village of Ishwaripur Union, Shyamnagar Upazilla of Satkhira. I was busy  conducting a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) in the village to assess the overall gender situation in the Shyamnagar region of Satkhira. There I found Halima Begum, a woman of mid-sixties and her octogenarian mother Khadiza Begum. 
'My husband's name was Wazed Sarder. He went to the forests by boat of the traditional money lenders (Mahajani Nouka) and died because of the tiger attack. So I had to return back to my parental abode with the little baby girl. My daughter was just nine months at that time,' she recollected.
'I, however, did not remarry as my husband was very much caring to me,' she told us.
Today Khadiza's daughter Halima too has become old and Khadiza has too many grandchildren from her daughter's children. 
'I studied up to class III/IV and I use this little knowledge to work as a tutor in the villages,' said Khadiza.
It was learnt from her that in the earlier days there were lots of cultural beliefs to resist tiger attacks and women had to practise those cultural beliefs. 
'Suppose,' Khadiza narrated to us, 'When my husband went to forests, my mother-in-law used to advise me not to cook by creating lots of smoke. It was believed that if a woman cooks with too much smoke, her husband will not be able to see the path in the jungle. He will be lost,' she added. 
'Now-a-days, however, the number of tiger attacks are getting reduced,' she observed.  
When asked that if she (Khadiza Begum) has so far received any allowance as 'tiger widow,', her daughter Halima Begum informed that although the new Forest Law of 2015 stipulates to provide a compensation package of Tk1,00,000 to the family of a deceased in tiger attack, but the law is actually applicable from 2015 onwards and hence do not apply to those killed or injured by tiger attacks before 2015. 
The epithet 'tiger widow' is a common phenomenon in every upazila, union and village of the broader Satkhira region, i.e., the human localities adjacent to the Sundarabans. For example, I met a tiger widow Alomati Mandal from the Mathurapur village beside the Malancha river of Shyamnagar whose husband died in a tiger attack in 2010. 
'My husband died in 2010. He went to the forests in a boat with seven other woodcutters. He got out at 7:00 AM and died because of a tiger attack by 9:00 PM- when he and his fellow men were returning back home,' tiger widow Alomati Mandal recollects her woes.
'When the news came to us, we went there. But tigers often eat the belly of men first. So although I got my husband's corpse, I did not get his intact dead body,' she sighed. 
Thus the 'Odyssey' of Alomati Mandal's life commenced. It was known from her that both her son and daughter were very tender in age at that time.
'I have raised them by working as a daily labourer and sometimes catching fishes from the river. My daughter has got married and now lives with her husband and in-laws in Shyamnagar and my son now works in a brick kiln. She has a wife and I have a granddaughter too. But guess the price-hike of everyday essentials and how it is skyrocketing!. So I have to work till now, ' she added.
No, Alomati could not apply for compensation from the Forest Office as a 'tiger widow' as the new law is applicable only to the deaths and injuries since after 2014. 
Alomati's co-villager Firoza's tale is not any less different than that of the Alomati's.
'It was the 10th of Ramadan in 2001. My husband left for the forest by 1 AM and died of the tiger attack by 5 PM. News came to us and my brother-in-laws (Debors) were in the 'Tiger Committee' (a committee which endeavours to search the dead bodies of people from the forests by tiger attack or inform the people in locality about a tiger coming into the locality etc.) and they instantly rushed to the spot. Around 200/300 people rushed to the forest. Strange thing is his body was found totally intact but the tiger just throttled his throat.'
'His body was taken to our home but my mother-in-law was staying in some of our relatives' house at that time. We got his body on Monday night and he was buried after the Esha prayer (prayer at around 8:00 PM at night) on Wednesday night. Both my children were mere tiny tots at that time,' she narrated.
It was learnt from her that she took the job of cooking in different houses to feed her children.
'I was a young woman and people in the village are not too good in their behaviour towards  a single woman. So I took the job of a baburchi (cook) and generally I used to cook in biye-shadi (wedding) celebrations in villages. Only on those particular occasions could I bring some good food for my kids. But since after my parents' demise, it became a problem about where to stay? However, the then Union Chairman and Member requested the NGO CARITAS to give me a hut and they (CARITAS) did it for me,' she continued on narrating the ballad of her life. 
'My daughter has got married by now and I have a grandson. My son drives a van and he too is married. But it's too tough to purchase even a few kgs of rice at the market now-a-days! Hence I still work as a daily labourer and also catch fishes,' she added.
Firoza was in a hurry to spread her fishing nets in the Malancha river for the next two hours to catch some fish and so we had to say goodbye.
No, Firoza too is yet to get any compensation under the new Forest Law.
Amodini Dasi of BRAC Ashrayan Para village, though not a 'tiger widow' by herself, lost her father Babu Ram Sarder around 20 years ago in a tiger attack. 
Today Amodini is around 60 years old. Her father Babu Ram Sarder died in a tiger attack around 20 years ago.
'I was married by then and had two babies. But the rest of my siblings were still too young. And then we faced a bolt from the blue! My father Babu Ram Sarder went to the Sundarbans in the evening. He went by a boat of the money lenders (Mahajani Nouka) to pick up woods and he died on that very evening while collecting fuel woods within the forest. So I began looking after my younger siblings,' Amodini sighed. 
'Since after AILA, we have been living in this village after forsaking our former village. My mother too lives with us. But she is now over eighty and can't move so smoothly,' she added.  
No, Amodini's mother is yet to get any allowance as a tiger widow. 
Shefali Rani (age: 41), a fisherwoman and housewife from the same BRAC Ashrayan Para village herself is not a tiger widow but her elder brother-in-law (Bhasur) died in a tiger attack near about 20 years ago. 
'My Jaa (sister-in-law) was very young in her twenties at that time and had one baby boy and a baby girl. She had to work very hard to raise her children. Both of them have got married and after many days my Jaa too had remarried in the recent past to another village,' she narrated. 
When asked about how her brother-in-law died, she recalled: 'Didi (Sister), now-a-days the attack by tigers have declined as people no longer depend on traditional money lenders or Mahajans that much. At least we have access to microcredit programmes offered by the NGOs.'  
'But even two decades ago,  men in these forest dwelling areas of ours, often had to go to the forests by boats of the Mahajans (mahajani nouka). Those boats used to stay within the forests for 1-2 months and these money lenders had no pity for anybody in their hearts. They used to order poor boatmen or fishermen even in the dark of night to fetch wood or fuel from within the bushes knowing that a tiger may roam around there. So we had no security of our lives at that time. My elder brother-in-law too passed this way.' 
According to the estimates of the Department of Forest, more than 46 forest dwellers so far have been killed in tiger attacks from 2011-12 to 2019-20 (The Business Standard, 21st March-2021). 
'There had been no laws for awarding financial compensation to the families surviving death or severe injuries of any of their members in tiger attacks till 2015. Although a new law was enacted in 2015 to offer Tk1,00,000 for death and Tk50,000 for severe injuries in tiger attacks, the families surviving deaths or injuries prior to 2015 are not entitled to this compensation package,' observed M. Mokhlesur Rahman PhD, the Executive Director of Center for Natural Resources Studies (CNRS). 
'Also the new law is not being properly implemented, according to various news reports. The law needs to be properly implemented for the sake of the hapless tiger widows and other family members surviving the deaths or severe injuries of their near and dear ones in tiger attacks,' he added. 
'CNRS, since its inception, has been trying to assess women-eco systems linkages using an eco feminism lens and use the gender analysis output in engendering the ecosystem management activities of the project. This is why the indigenous Munda women, internal climate refugees since after the fatal sea cyclones like SIDR or AILA, tiger widows are the regular stakeholders of CNRS in all its past and present, relevant projects,' said Anisul Islam, Director of CNRS. 
'Our project envisages to sensitise and mobilise a total of 30,000 poor and vulnerable people from the local communities in three Ecologically Critical Areas (ECAs) of Shyamnagar, Satkhira, Dacop and Koyra of Khuna and Magura and Narail regions. Our beneficiaries are a mix of small farmers-fishers, tiger widows, forest dweller women, indigenous women and many other marginal communities,' said Project Director of B4RL-CNRS Md. Mahbubur Rahman. 

Audity Falguni is a Communications Manager in B4RL-CNRS. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.