Teens seek out origin stories about the land

Recently at a media literacy workshop for students of classes VIII-IX at a school in the National Capital Region, the discussion veered towards belief systems.

- Avantika Bhuyan

While several students talked about the different facets of religion and spirituality they have grown up with, N.K., 14, declared herself to be a "pantheist of sorts". I have not come across this term often, and certainly not declared with such conviction by an adolescent. At that age, most teens are navigating the intersections or dissonance between a budding personal belief system and that propagated by family and society, so this firm belief in nature being the sole source of all sacred energy in the universe came as a surprise.

"I look towards indigenous cultures and the symbiotic relationship that they share with local ecologies. For the world to have balance, these relationships become all the more important," says N.K.

Perhaps, growing up in a family with a keen personal and academic interest in anthropology has played a role. Or maybe it is visits to clusters of Gond, Baiga and Warli tribes with her mother, who works in the craft heritage sector. But N.K. is not the only one to turn to the human-nature relationship.

In the past two years, I have interacted with a number of teens showing an interest in the ancient spiritual connections that tribes across the world share with the land around them. In a world besieged by natural disasters, crumbling ecologies and climate change, many teens are turning to oral histories and creation myths to see how these communities have kept nature at the very heart of their existence.

"If you look at it, every pigment, motif or building material that they have considered sacred or spiritual is also ecologically sound and has had minimal carbon footprint. Perhaps we need to incorporate some of those learnings in our lives as well. For that, we need more stories about their lifestyles and histories," says Radhika Chopra, 15, who wants to be an architect.