| caption: |
Chapter Twenty-seven. Return to Nagaland |
| text: |
Shoupa's house was much the same as it had been in Shankok's time and the only visible innovation were some low cane stools, on which we sat round the fire. We were offered rice-beer and as we drank the house filled with more villagers anxious to see me. After a short while we went for a stroll round the village, by now followed by a large crowd. My first call was at the house of Shankok's sister, Lipung. She seemed very little changed, being now about fifty and still a handsome and well-built woman. She evinced such pleasure and wonder at seeing me that I felt quite moved. Though Lipung still knew no Assamese, we both understood each other's feelings. Lipung and many others said that they thought I must long have died, a very understandable thought considering that Shankok and nearly all my contemporaries and close associates were dead. Lipung had eight sons, six of whom were alive, and two girls, the youngest only six years old. The survival of so many children speaks by itself for an improvement of sanitary conditions. Both Lipung and her sister Meniu, whom I also visited, seemed to be well off with large houses and successful husbands. |
