Belonging/Being Native/The Indigenous

Are you native/indigenous/local merely because some great-ancestor arrived someday at some cutoff date and settled, or because you know how to live in sync with the land, love it and nurture it like a custodian and a part of its large and complex ecosystems? The coconut arrived, and now defines Kerala. Chillies and potatoes are part of our food traditions. Migrant birds are interlinked parts of our lakes and waterbodies everywhere.

Belonging is not about the assertion of ownership and rights. Or subject to picking a point on a time-line.