The bizarre phenomenon of bamboo flowering in the wild is giving tribals in the northeast sleepless nights. Legend has it that bamboo flowering, coupled with the army of rodents plundering granaries and paddy fields, signals an impending famine of drought. Tribals in Manipur have imformed government authorities about large-scale bamboo flowering in three of the five hill districts, besides the invasion on their paddy fields by rats. The tribals' supernatural fears may have some support in ground realities too.