Over the Hills and Down the Valleys

In 1960, George, a recent college graduate, left his home in Kerala State, India and travelled hundreds of miles to Manipur State bordering Burma, the present Myanmar. George didn't want to leave home, but with very few professional opportunities presenting themselves in Kerala, and at the urging of his cousin Abraham, George was able to obtain a teaching job at a private Junior High School in a tribal village. The tribe was called the Tankul Naga, and Abraham was already teaching in one of the Naga schools in another village. Abraham hoped that George would easily adapt to his new surroundings but when George arrived in the Naga village, he was disappointed to discover that the village was in a remote area which lacked even basic amenities. Moreover, it was a culture shock where the women wore clothes that barely covered their breasts, contrasting the tradition in India where women's bodies were well covered, and where even the men wore shabby clothes. George soon found out, much to his surprise and delight, that though the people were poor, they were very happy and hospitable. He also learned, to his horror, that their Naga forefathers were fierce headhunters. He realized that the place was very dangerous not only because of the hills, valleys, thick forests and wild animals but also due to the ongoing Naga Rebellion against the Indian Army for seceding from India. In the midst of George's struggle to teach in the tribal land of the Nagas he finds himself falling for one of the Tribal girls, Jasmila. Jasmila's beauty was unparalleled to all of the girls that George had ever met in his life and she seemed to harbor a mystery that intrigued him. George's hard work continued as he began organizing the school, building new hostels, cultivating the vacant land in the valleys for rice plants, opening a new library, getting a radio from the government and also trying to convince the authorities of the signal necessity of a local Post Office in the village. Follow George's story as he tries to find himself among the people of the tribal Nagaland and create a new education system as love and war unfold before him over the hills and down the valleys in this Nagaland chronicles.