Giving a fresh voice to stories from Nagaland

Books such as 'A Kite of Farewells' and 'Giants' steer clear of the exotic narrative associated with writing from the state

- Avantika Bhuyan

Reading Huthuka Sumi's debut novel Giants is like entering a dream world. Its imagery is fantastical, yet the story has one foot in reality. The words paint a picture of young Kato, swift as a wind spirit, racing down fields in the village of Ayito-phu, located on the top western flank of a mountain in Nagaland.

Giants seems to unfold between time periods—when English guns and "white men" in half-pants are still present in the village. "Days of headhunting are neither old nor gone," writes Huthuka, with some tribes along the border near Burma (now Myanmar) still engaging in the activity. Against this setting, Kato, who is mute, has to navigate school and life in the village.

His support system includes his mother, who is a fount of stories, and his best friend Apu, who talks as fast as Kato runs. His mother tells him tales of Alhou, the creator, and timi-la, a giant created to protect humans when they wander the great forests and jungles. At night Kato often wishes that timi-la would find him, too, and suddenly his wish comes true. Kene, a giant with big ears, needs a storyteller to narrate tales of the "old ones," decides that Kato is the perfect candidate. The young boy is bewildered. "How am I to tell stories without a voice?" he wonders. And thereon, you embark on a journey of Kato finding his voice—not just literally.

Huthuka's book, the latest to emerge from Nagaland, uses stories as a way to connect the past and the present, honouring age-old Naga storytelling traditions along the way. As Kene tells Kato, "Memories are roots...without stories we have no memories and without memories, our roots shrivel and die."

Another book of fiction published recently is