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I then rode down to Naginimara with Castle and we passed the coolies on the way. One group was singing but it sounded like a feast or dance song. I have never heard the Konyak sing a real song while carrying ordinary loads as is so common among the Sema and Ao. From Naginimara we went on the trolley to Simalaguri. Here people have not even started ploughing for the next planting. Rice is planted only in July and it matures by the beginning of the dry season. (222) The people have not much to do all winter long but they see no need as in Bengal to plant twice a year. Even so they have enough to eat. All the miserable little huts stand between banana stands and fruit bearing trees. From Simalaguri we went to Nazira where Castle has friends. They live in a pretty straw covered bungalow and serve us a good lunch, but life must be very dull in the plains. The heat is bearable underneath the electric fans but there is no distraction of any kind. Towards evening I get the train to Gauhati in Nazira. In one station I met Mr Pawsey for a few minutes who is on his way to Wakching. |
