Six weeks after their son Ryan was born, the Boro family received a letter. “My wife thinks our children have been exchanged,” it read. “If you have the same feeling, get in touch.” theguardian.com/world/2018/jan…

India is home to 10% of the world's endangered languages. When indigenous languages die, vast repositories of knowledge die with them thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/1…

In Mizo tawng, an indigenous language of Mizoram, North-East India, these fungi are called ‘pu vana beng’, ‘ear of the man in the sky’ #Mizoram #Mizotawng #Damparengpui

Mizo tawng also has a specific term for the white dust that gathers on bamboo: ‘ansi ek’, ‘star dung’ #Mizoram #Mizotawng #Damparengpui

The Siddis are recognised as one of India’s nearly 800 scheduled tribes. But as Juje Jackie Harnodkar Siddi explains, they're often appallingly treated as outsiders in their own country youtube.com/watch?v=ped-uI…

In the North-East Indian state of Meghalaya, the War- Khasi have grown living bridges for generations. This double decker in Nongriat is over 250 years old!

The root bridges are designed to withstand monsoon torrents in a region that sees the highest annual rainfall on earth

How to grow a living root bridge: Step 1: plant a rubber fig on the riverbank and wait decades for it to grow!

Step 2: use betel bark or bamboo runners to guide the aerial roots over the river

Step 3: weave the roots together. It might take a community twenty years to guide the young roots over a river, but one of the great advantages of this organic engineering is that it grows stronger with age.

Step 4: Don't forget to hand down the knowledge! Building living bridges is a craft the War-Khasi pass from generation to generation. Children learn the art by watching how their parents painstakingly weave nature into architecture.

Revealed: the dark side of #conservation. Why tribal people are marching across India #environment #HumanRights