The Humble Abode.

A state in the North Eastern part of India, Arunachal Pradesh, houses more than a 100 tribes among which, one of the principal tribe is of the Adi people, "hill people" in the literal meaning.

The Adi people cover a large part of Arunachal, with a mixture of urban and rural areas, keeping their traditions and vernacular alive in both regions. While the urban areas are like any other town in the hills, the rural areas are quite interesting, the small villages are often found in valleys or inside a quiet forest, alongside a river. Each village on an average has 30- 50 houses, a primary school and no cell network, mostly. They speak a language which also, is called Adi, distantly related to Tibetan and Chinese languages, they hunt, grow their own rice and vegetables and take traditions very seriously.

The most intriguing part of the Adi tribe are their houses, which also describes their way of life.

The Adi houses are made with locally available materials, bamboo, wood, canes and leaves, mostly tied together to form a structure, the houses are all raised by stilts to be used as a sty or chicken coop and to store firewood. The roof is made of dry paddy, straws, leaves or thatch grass.

The houses mostly doesn't have windows and hence are dark with whatever light there is, getting in through the spaces between the bamboo or wooden walls. The house is basically a big room which serves the purpose of a cooking, dining, living and sleeping, all together, with a small extended area to wash and sometimes store utensils and a verandah in the front. With time people have started creating partitions in the big hall to accommodate private areas, like a bedroom or changing room for the women in the family.

The centre of the big hall has a fire place, where the family gathers for food and rest during the day, and sleeps at night. Above the fire pit rests an overhang which is used to dry and preserve meat and the roof above the fire pit is raised, in form of a clerestory window, only way smaller, with the sole purpose of letting smoke out.

The firepit is polished with a mixture of mud and ash, every morning before being lit. The centre has a stand wherein firewood is concentrated and the cooking utensil is held. Fun hack, in the picture above the utensil by the fire is the rice, cooked by the heat of the fire by rotating at equal intervals for even cooking.

Now, to answer questions related to basic services like sanitation, water and electricity. Every house has their own toilets, with proper water facilities, septic tanks, the water supply is no problem at all, since most village are surrounded by springs and are situated at the lower part of a hill, there is clean water with great pressure all around. Electricity reaches every house, which might seem weird considering the remoteness, but you know, apparently, the Government like those villages, not too much though, cause there are plenty power cuts, which the villagers are used to now.

The Adi villages are changing, people have TVs, stoves which are rarely used, washing machines and all that which makes their domestic lives easier, their children are studying in urban areas, yet, when its harvest time, everyone will be in their farms, when the children are home for vacations, they farm, help around the house, their houses are still the same, maybe with an added room or two. The buildings are sustainable and their connection to nature and devotion to the environment is beautiful. Change is inevitable, but maybe we can learn a thing or two from these people on how to adapt change.