Terhuomia Of Kohima

Hou, the Nagas! Not the Kumbh variety, but the real McCoy from the simplified collective바카라�for everyone바카라�s con­­ven­ience바카라�called the Nor­th­east. This is tricky terr­itory; this Nagaland, this incontrovertible paradox for plain plains-folks. But for once, let바카라�s peek beyond that panoptic view, that visceral, evocative portrait of a land filled with headhunters, dog-eaters, masked insurgents, and all that which fires popular imagination outside the rolling hills, valleys, streams, lush paddies and village mor­ungs, those bachelor longhouses. And discover a Naga­land, more preci­sely Kohima, through the eyes of Kho­­nuo and Kevinou바카라�an Angami mother and daughter바카라�growing up in two tumultuous times that define the place.

That바카라�s Easterine Kire바카라�s A Respectable Woman바카라�set in her dearest Kohima, a township bombed-out in World War II transitioning to a modern city, offering education, electricity and boo­tlegged rum. Her latest work바카라�equal parts fiction, history and a call-out against social demons바카라�treads deja vu territory for admirers. The Angami poet-author, who with Temsula Ao is the most-recognised export from Nag­aland in contemporary English literature by women, follows her tra­demark style of keeping an eye on the rearview mirror to navigate through  quintessential Naga time and space.

This book has a hint, or a whiff, of A Terrible Matriarchy (2007), a young girl바카라�s growing-up years on a restrictive grandma바카라�s watch. Or, her 2003 novel Sky is My Father: A Naga Village Remembered, a tactile account of the British-Naga skirmishing relationship in the 19th century. Or, Mari (2011), which also talks of the Japanese invasion of Kohima. But still, A Respectable Woman unfurls itself in unexpected ways.

The book is divided into two broad sections and a tailpiece. It starts with Khonuo바카라�s post-war Kohima (she was 10 when the Japanese invaded), a generation바카라�s DIY effort to stoically rise above grinding difficulties and rebuild their war-torn lives. 바카라�We are people who know what it is like to lose everything almost overnight, homes, loved ones, and life as we knew it before the war,바카라� Khonuo says. It tells how the Nagas had come to terms with the British masters, who in turn divided their land between India and Burma in 1947, ignoring appeals for sovereignty. Thus began the Naga armed resistance, India바카라�s longest insurgency that attracted troops, killings, rape, guerilla ambushes et al. Each side thought they바카라�re playing by the rules.

The second half is Kevinuo바카라�s Kohima, in the throes of the resistance, curfews, gunshots, bombings, school, college, football, career, funerals, weddings, wife-beatings, rice wine in drinking dens, post-prohibition moonshine. A modern Kohima takes shape with cafes, bazaars, and more killings.

Kire sticks to a straightforward style, a simple narrative in the oral tra­dition, almost newspaperish in its pithiness that seldom accommodates adjectives. This is a stir-fry served with an aim to palliate hunger and stimulate the intellect. Like when a young Kevinuo thinks of sending food to hungry children in India when she was told about them as a rem­inder to finish her meal. It바카라�s not a strange thought. It tells us how a self-sustained society never allows its children to go hungry. Each of these ingredients brings its own UNI­que taste and texture to the mix. Close your eyes and feel the herky-­jerky rain beating on the tin roof.