Forest guard by day, Bru culture documenter by night

Vanlaldika Apeto is a resident of Damparengpui village in Mizoram’s Mamit district. By day, he works as a guard with the forest department at the Dampa Tiger Reserve, and like many others from the Bru community in his village, he also practises jhum farming. By night, he dedicates himself to documenting Bru culture, much of which is gradually disappearing.

Vanlaldika is the author of Chini Yapai (Our Footsteps), a book that explores traditional Bru attire, games, and rituals. It took him six years to complete the book, during which he travelled from village to village in Mizoram and Tripura, speaking to community elders who still retain memories of their cultural past.

There were logistical challenges too. As Vanlaldika recounts, “I started writing in student notebooks and ended up using 30 notebooks. I would go to my day job and visit people’s homes at night to take notes. After that, I sent these notes to [a person] to type them out on the computer.”

The entire process spanned six years. Vanlaldika began in 2017 and completed the book in 2023. With his own savings and support from student organisations, he managed to publish and print 100 copies of the book, but was only able to sell 20.

In this interview, Vanlaldika discusses the unique ways of life within the Bru community, which is spread across Assam, Mizoram, and Tripura in India, and parts of Bangladesh. He explains how this geographical split affects the preservation of traditions, and elaborates on the challenges of documenting an oral culture as well as the irony of writing for a community with limited access to literacy. He also reflects on the decisions he made while writing the book, including his choice to use the script from the Kau Bru (Bru language) Bible.

Vanlaldika has ambitious plans for the future. He envisions his next book focusing on the daily lives of the Brus and their customary laws, and he also wants to write the history of Damparengpui village in Kau Bru. However, for these projects, he will need funding, which remains difficult to secure.

You can buy Chini Yapai here.

Rodingliana is an IDR Northeast Media Fellow 2024–25.

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Know more: Learn about In Lehkha, a book cafe and publishing house in the heart of Mizoram.

Do more: Connect with the author at rdaapeto157@gmail.com to learn more about and support his work.