Barbed Wire...
Dark clouds fester over the Kohima sky in the month of August… a family of giant, black mushrooms over the blue-green hills…
On one such heavy, mushroomy morning, Titu (with a goldfish pout and a brown dungaree) followed Mithu (with her Halo-shampooed hair and patchwork poncho) to the Ao residence… A slippery step at a time… a breathless step at a time… Past the morning due-laden shrubs, past the pig sty with oinking, baby pink pigs… past the Dey household where Jhorna mashi (a shawled mummy) was tending to her begonias…
They stopped in front of the Ao house…