At first I thought it is the people of Mizoram who use bamboo to perform their celebrated dance, the Cheraw. After months of field research in remote forests of this small state in northeastern India, I know now it is the other way round. Through its intimate influence on the people, it is the bamboo that does its own dance on the mountains of Mizoram.

The Cheraw performance at Chapchar Kut festival, (Aizawl, 7 March 2014)A farmer’s eye-view of the jhum landscape, through the window of a bam...