Sikkim’s Lepcha-language schools: teaching a mother tongue back to its children
The Lepcha language, spoken fluently by perhaps 30,000 people worldwide, is being taught back to its…
Archive
Category: Culture & Heritage
Languages, textiles, music, rituals and the living traditions of the Northeast.
The Brahmaputra’s night ferries: the river boats that never stop
The night ferries of the Brahmaputra run on schedules that predate the city’s streetlights: diesel boats…
The Mizo tlawmngaihna: the untranslatable virtue at the heart of Mizoram
Tlawmngaihna — the Mizo ethic of selfless, ungrudging service — is the closest thing Mizoram has…
The Adi women of Pasighat: two generations of weaving, one changing market
In Pasighat, the Adi town on the Siang, the division of labour in the weaving economy…
The Hmar New Testament’s 100 years: how translation shaped a language
The Hmar New Testament, translated a century ago by missionaries and Hmar scholars working shoulder to…
The Ziro music festival at 15: Arunachal’s loudest weekend grows up
The Ziro Festival of Music, held in the terraced heart of the Apatani valley, marks 15…
The Tripuri khum: a bamboo granary that outsmarts the rodents
The khum, the raised bamboo granary of the Tripuri people, was engineered by centuries of trial:…
The Sikkim winter table: thukpa, momos and the food that holds the cold
In Sikkim’s winter, when the valley fog rolls in by four, the kitchen is the warmest…
The Tripura bamboo handloom: when a hill community weaves its own identity
The bamboo mats of Tripura — woven so fine they bend like cloth — are a…
The Shillong cafés of the 1990s: a nostalgia economy with a waiting list
The cafés where Shillong’s rock legends once argued, rehearsed and broke up bands are having a…