Description

In this collection of five spare and poignant stories from Nagaland, Temsula Ao

holds up a mirror to the lives of everyday people beyond the headlines.

A 'Bihari' coolie at the Dimapur railway station has been hiding a dark secret

about his adopted son; a grave threat to both their lives. As her grandson is

exiled from the village, a grandmother finally breaks the silence over her

mutilated funeral supeti. A rare lily refuses to bloom year after year because

she was moved from her usual position in the flowerbed into an ornate pot.

Big Father, a uniquely misshapen grandfather tree, becomes the guardian and

protector of an entire village. The matriarch Lily Anne, subjected to racial

slurs by her own mother on account of her mixed parentage, resumes her

position on the ancient reclining chair in her verandah to stare at the eyesore

in her overgrown garden.

The Tombstone in My Garden - with its pared-down prose and gripping, original

stories - reflects Padma Shri award-winner Temsula Ao's deep understanding

not just of the human condition, but that of all life.