In the Lagoons of the Gangetic Delta

Gautam Kumar Bera: graduated with Honours in Anthropology, passed his Master’s Degree in Anthropology with specialization in Social-Cultural Anthropology securing First position in First class, conducted Doctoral research on problems of ethnicity, is attached to the Anthropological Survey of India for the last two decades. Recipient of National Scholarship for Advance Studies, University Gold Medal, Research Fellow gold Medal (U.S.A.), and several other prestigious awards and honours, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London in 1992, and Advisor to the Research Board of ABI (U.S.A.) in 1996. Credited with authorship of a book and over sixty research publications and several Book Reviews in various scientific journals and edited books of international repute, he is attached to Current Anthropology (U.S.A.) as CA associate, Journal of the Anthropological Survey of India as Assistant Editor, Contemporary Who’s Who (U.S.A.) as Consulting Editor, and The Oriental Anthropologist as Book Review Editor.

Vijoy S Sahay: After having done B.A.(Honors) and M.A. in Anthropology, Dr. Sahay received his doctoral degree for his fascinating research work on the Nicobar Archipelago from Ranchi University. He remained associated with the Department of Anthropology, Ranchi University, under different capacities for over a decade and half; then joined the University of Allahabad in 1993. A widely traveled anthropologist, Dr. Sahay has authored several books and ocntirbuted many articles in research journals in India and abroad. He also presented paters in XIV the ICAES at Williamsburg, U.S.A. (1998); Beijing Inter congress in Peoples Republic of China (2000); and the “ Children in Their Places” conference at Brunel University, West London (2001). He is also the Founder Editor of the Oriental Anthropologist-a biannual research journal of the science of man. Besides Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dr. Sahay has carried out extensive fieldworks in the Himalayas (Uttranchal), Bastar (Chattisgarh), Chotanagpur (Jharkhand), and Sunderban (West Bengal). His forthcoming publications are: The Saga of the Bay Islands: A Journey from Kalapani to Mini India (edited); Expeeriencing Antrhopology in the Nicobar Archipelago; An Anthropologist Looks at History; Munda and Their Killies; and, from Island to Highland: A Comparative Study in Cultural Ecology.