This is the story of how the humble bamboo plant caused India to bomb its own citizens on Indian soil.

The bamboo which covers a third of the Indian state of Mizoram flowers every 48 years and disperses golf-ball-sized seeds (thanks, JangiahMan). The sudden profusion of food sets off an explosion in the giant field rat population (bandicoots, from the Telugu word pandikokku, or pig-rat). Once the rats devour the bamboo seeds, they strip the rice harvest dry, which usually triggers a state-wide famine.

A full-scale ‘mautam,’ when rodents multiply in great numbers and ravage crops, is predicted for next year [2007]. ‘Mautam’… in Mizo means death of bamboo (mau means bamboo and tam means death)… [Link]

The last time this occurred, the famine sparked the creation of the Mizoram National Front, which fought for local autonomy in the face of starvation and bad government. For the first time, the Indian government bombed a city in Indian territory. Hunter jets dropped bombs in Mizoram’s largest city of Aizawl.

“In the afternoon of March 4 1966, a flock of jet fighters hovered over Aizawl and dropped bombs leaving a number of houses in flames. The next day, a more excessive bombing took place…” Hunter and Toofani fighters were deployed for the Aizawl bombardment, which became the first and only aerial attack India has carried out against its own people. The fighters came from Tezpur, an IAF air base in Assam…

“The Indian Air Force deployed Hunter and Toofani jet fighters to carry out the mission; it was the first time India used its air force to quell a movement of any kind among its citizens. Goa was a different story, it was a move to drive away the Portuguese…” [Link]

The Front eventually succeeded in breaking away from Assam, and its former guerrilla leader is now the chief minister of the state.

… the Mizo National Front… after 20 years of war and close to 3,000 deaths, won for Mizoram recognition as a separate state but not independence from India. [Link]

In fisherman folk knowledge, an abnormally low tide which leaves the seabed dry usually signals an imminent tsunami. Similarly, a rise in the bamboo caterpillar population warns that the flowering of bamboo is imminent.

“In 1959, we forewarned the state government of Assam that there would be starvation, but they did not heed us. They said it was a tribal superstition…” [Link]

This year, chief minister Pu Zoramthanga is intent on harvesting the bamboo before the bandicoots get to it. Like Bubba in Forrest Gump, who was fixated on shrimp, the minister pitches all kinds of products made from bamboo: furniture, vinegar, charcoal, chippings. Villagers are being warned to grow ginger and turmeric around their rice paddies to ward off the vampire bandicoots. The state government is also launching a rat poisoning program with a bounty paid per rat tail.

The state government has bought two machines from Taiwan to process the bamboo into sheets, which he hopes will start production next month. Like a bamboo salesman, he takes out his samples and thumps them. “It is very, very strong. It can be used for flooring, for walls and ceilings, for furniture. It is better than timber…” [Link]

India’s Rain Forest Research Institute has recommended the promotion of cottage industries such as the manufacture of tooth picks and bamboo mats and a temporary ban on harvesting bamboo in other parts of the country for the paper industry… [Link]

Most apropos, getting bamboo’d is Bengali slang for sodomy.