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Chapter nine. First-Fruits Festival |
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expense of living in Laisong; an anachic community |
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It was soon clear that life at Laisong would be no bed of roses. Funds calculated for conditions in Manipur went just half as far here. To make it all the more difficult, Laisong was notoriously the most miserly and unhelpful village in the area - as Namkia took care to point out as soon as we were irrevocably committed to it. It had had weak headmen for years, and was now a thoroughly anarchic community run largely by the three chief bullies of the lower morung. This trio came down on us at the start with large schemes for business partnerships - we, of course, to provide the capital - and were sent packing with such home-truths from Namkia whistling after them that they never forgave us. There was a better element, though, to which the caretaker and his sons (72) and the two permanent porters belonged. The old man, Zhekungba, looked like a minor prophet. His elder boy, Ramzimba, was a pleasant youth with a slight moustache which would have been very fashionable in the West |
