| THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS: REFUGE AND REFUGEES For many young people growing up in the West, notions of "home," "shelter," and "refuge" revolve around family connections, property, prosperity, and success. Although I am a white, English, middle-class young woman, my notion of "belonging" is quite different. I grew up in multicultural East London, which has the largest Bengali (the name for both the language and people of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India) community outside Bangladesh. At school, most of my friends were Muslims from the Sylhet district in Northern Bangladesh; I learned to speak the Sylheti dialect on the playground. Later I sang folksongs in Bengali with a Bangladeshi folk group. Over time, I developed a longing to visit this country that I felt an indirect connection to. More... ANNEXE: HISTORY OF THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS The Chittagong Hill Tracts in the South-eastern corner of Bangladesh bordering North East India is the homeland of 12 indigenous communities, numbering about 600,000 people, covering 5093 square miles (10% of the country) and rising as high as 3,000 feet in places. The hill ranges contain limited cultivable land, most of it of low quality in contrast to the very fertile multi-crop-able alluvial plains of Bangladesh. The tribal people practice a mixed farming of plough cultivation in the fertile valleys and swidden agriculture on the hill slopes, known as jhum cultivation. More... BODYTREE ADIVASI AYURVEDA India is a heart opener. Have I mentioned that already? I realize that more and more, and I remember how much happiness was also in my heart when I visited this country the last time. My heart and soul has been opened, and my body as well, after eleven days of ayurvedic bodywork from Dr. Vijayan and the students of the Bodytree organization. More... | |  | |
