Guwahati, Aug. 26 -- Along the fringes of Assam's Panidehing Wildlife Sanctuary, where the Disang and Demow rivers feed the larger Brahmaputra system, living alongside elephants has become part of everyday reality for communities living in Charaguwa Grant Gaon.

Elephants frequently move through the village, at times passing close to household backyards. For farming families, however, such proximity carries a high cost.

Months of labour can disappear within hours when elephants raid standing crops, making agriculture an increasingly uncertain livelihood.

For the Bharali family, repeated crop depredation eventually made cultivation untenable. Their search for an alternative did not lead them to an unfamiliar occupation. Instead, Aaranyak...