Healing through music: Why Theithei Luithui is singing tales of war and violence in Manipur

Theithei Luithui was 13 in 1994, the year her grandfather in a cruel turn of fate became a ‘collateral damage’ of a long-drawn war being waged in her homeland.

The old man in his eighties was tending to his cattle near his home in Ukhrul in Manipur when a fierce gunbattle broke out between Naga militants and security forces.

The octogenarian was hard of hearing. So, he did not realise the turmoil unfolding only a few metres away until some splinters from the combat zone struck him.

He later succumbed to the splinter injuries.