KIGWEMA, India (AP) — Before she died, Vivolheri had already chosen the spot in her Indian village where she would be buried. She was 80.
Her husband, Mosenyii Yakhro, has since spent his mornings tending to the garden he built around her grave. Ten years later, and now called "Mosen Viewpoint," it is visited equally by tourists and children from the village.
“I feel very happy. I enjoy knowing their happiness,” he says, referring to all the people who have flocked to witness his labor of love.
Yakhro calls his wife a “good woman and a good wife. My grandchildren also loved my wife.”
At 90, his memory is razor-sharp. He narrates seeing Japanese soldiers arrive in his village with camouflaged outfits during the “Japanese war,” as World War II is referred to in this region. He drops dates as he speaks, leaving those listening bewildered.
The garden lies just below the highway in Kigwema village, in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, and overlooks terrace rice fields, which have been freshly harvested.
Yakhro only studied until sixth grade. But his knowledge about the world, he says, comes from spending time in the library. He took advantage of the library while he worked as a peon, or office assistant, in a government office decades ago. “What I liked I read up in the library.”
He’s a bit annoyed with how tall the cosmos flowers have grown. “They’ve covered all the other plants in the garden,” he grumbles.
This nonagenarian now looks forward to Jan. 15, which is when the entire family gathers annually in this garden to celebrate his birthday.
“My burial place will also be here,” he says with a smile.
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