हम जंगली नहीं, जंगल के है।
We are not “jungli”, we are of the jungle.

“Do It Yourself” way of doing things in Chakhesang community is an ancient survival based lifestyle. They structure their whole year around seasons, and make what they need from locally available resources. They are naturally trained into life skills like jungle survival, farming, making houses, fishing, weaving, making baskets, foraging edible leaves, and many others. Rarely, people convert their craft into livelihood.

I found that I have reverence for nature based lifestyle in the hills and mountains. I like the lightness of a householder's life growing amidst their family. I enjoy observing an artisan stealing moments in their day to finish their ongoing piece of craft. I see that this format keeps their heart settled when craft is their value-add, not survival. They stay close to their families' needs. They tend to their farms. They grow their own food so they are never poor or hungry. They work with awareness of the seasons. With a full stomach, they do the craft work in their available time.

I want to choose this lifestyle for myself. I have been telling my loved ones, "when I learn to live like them, then I will begin to live a successful and content life". So, I keep myself close to them, to grow under their supervision. I observe their flow of problem solving and troubleshooting. I internalise how their "lack of external resources" becomes their "abundance of creativity”.

The ones who get to live in their routine will soon begin to see that people who live with jungles are highly sophisticated and adept in the art of living.

Through this stole, I want to evoke a clear difference between what is jungli and what is “of the jungle”. Thebvo has been added to the stole to talk of this highly skilled gift of the jungle to the gifted humans of this jungle.