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Heimonmi Shylla, headman of the hamlet with about 500 households and a deacon, says almost all residents are Presbyterian, Catholic or members of the Church of God.

The village headman summoned her and said that by garlanding Nehru, she had become his bride.

In 2016, a village headman who also doubled up as a driver, was taking around a team of University of Kerala archaeology students when he showed them the site.

As Hinfelaar writes, however, some chiefs and village headmen profit from selling land used by the community to international investors, “and fomenting social disruption in the villages facilitates such transactions.”

Some threaten to break our vehicle as we try to enter one of the villages - Ghatbarra - to speak to its headman.