The blue-green hills of Nagaland are not only alive to the sound of birdsong. In several of her novels — When the River Sleeps, Bitter Wormwood or even the latest Spirit Nights — Easterine Kire offers a peek, where the natural world collides with the supernatural.
With the spiritual world and oral literature a big part of the Naga sensibility, Avinuo Kire provides another glimpse into that reality. The title of her new novel, Where the Cobbled Path Leads, lends an aura of mystery and the unknown, and when little Vime decides to go down that beautiful road, it is almost a given that every creature she meets won’t be kindness personified.
Where the Cobbled Path Leads
Growing up in an idyllic village with its “rows of cottages on one side and the forest against mist-cloaked hills and perennial evergreen trees on the other”, Vime has lost her mother, and finds it difficult to come to terms with it. Her elder sister Neime seems to be handling it much better. But when their father decides to remarry, Vime finds herself seeking the comfort of her beloved cobbled footpath and the wondrous secrets it holds. One afternoon, she skips down the path, past the old kharu, or village gate, with fierce animals and warriors holding human heads etched onto its ancient wood. The path, running beside paddy fields, leads her to a majestic tree, kijubode, where she also runs into a diminutive elfin spirit Tei who promises to take her to her beloved Apfo (mother) for a part of her soul.
Kire juxtaposes Vime and Tei’s encounter with Nagaland’s other reality — the unresolved peace talks. It is a land where AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) rules, search-and-cordon operations are commonplace and innocent bystanders are gunned down despite a ceasefire with militants. There’s also a complex past to contend with.
Kire is able to sort out Vime’s problems: her new mother is kind to her with a sad story all her own. Delightfully, the child witnesses a bit of magic — a wildflower she tucks within the pages of her book flutters, although there is no breeze — but also realises she must look for the wonders the world holds out for her, not go traipsing into the realm of the dead.
sudipta.datta@thehindu.co.in
