Oh So ‘Backward’

Metropolitan notions of progress are challenged by the lifestyle of a Naga tribe.

Mon. The name will not ring a bell for most of us. The land of the last legendary head-hunters, this picturesque district of Nagaland, running along the Myanmar border, is one of the remotest in the country. Mon is also typically considered one of the most “backward” districts. In my one year of work and stay at Mon, I, however, have often felt compelled to contemplate on what it really means to be backward. Having grown up in one of the most prosperous and well-administered parts of India — in and around Chandigarh — and having lived in two megalopolises — Boston and London — I thought I knew what it means to not be backward. The people of Mon, belonging to the Konyak Naga tribe, continuously challenge my hitherto held clichéd notions of advancement and backwardness. I share the story of one such subversion. More here