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Chapter one. The Beginning |
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invitation to tour to Ukhrul with Civil Surgeon and wife |
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In the ordinary way I might never have gone further than (7) the valley. Life centred on Imphal. Though the forested mountains ran right round the level like a rim to a tray, officers visited them occasionally and in the course of duty, and out-siders never. But ten days after I arrived, the Civil Surgeon and his wife, who were going on tour to Ukhrul in the Tangkhul Naga country, offered to take me with them. Almost before I had unpacked, certainly before I knew what I was in for, I was bundling a scratch camp outfit into jappas, the tall carrying-baskets used for hill-transport. The car at the door, a flurry of forgotten oddments, and we were bouncing eastwards along the Yaingangpokpi road. |
