pDescriptionppIn this collection of five spare and poignant stories from Nagaland, Temsula Aoppholds up a mirror to the lives of everyday people beyond the headlines.ppA 'Bihari' coolie at the Dimapur railway station has been hiding a dark secretppabout his adopted son a grave threat to both their lives. As her grandson isppexiled from the village, a grandmother finally breaks the silence over herppmutilated funeral supeti. A rare lily refuses to bloom year after year becauseppshe was moved from her usual position in the flowerbed into an ornate pot.ppBig Father, a uniquely misshapen grandfather tree, becomes the guardian andppprotector of an entire village. The matriarch Lily Anne, subjected to racialppslurs by her own mother on account of her mixed parentage, resumes herppposition on the ancient reclining chair in her verandah to stare at the eyesoreppin her overgrown garden.ppThe Tombstone in My Garden - with its pared-down prose and gripping, originalppstories - reflects Padma Shri