Nagaland, in a remote corner of India and little known to the outside world, is opening to inspection by adventurous travelers during its annual Hornbill Festival. |
 Nagaland, located in the northeast corner of India, keeps to itself from the rest of the subcontinent most of the time. Bordered by Myanmar and Assam, sleepy Nagaland, one of India's new states, suddenly hogs the limelight towards the end of every year.
The melee of colors, the beat of long canoe-shaped drums, shrieking cries from the martial folk dances, the aroma of herbed bison meat and the sharp high of the rice beer announce the annual Hornbill Festival. It is a riotous celebration that not-so-gently pokes awake the state and brings it into the focus of national and international media. |
| While the civic authorities and government bodies optimistically have labeled this week-long celebrations 'festival of festivals', Hornbill remains off the beaten tourism track. Besieged by a history of serious political disturbances--now well under control--Nagaland has failed to make a serious impact on the domestic tourism circuit. So, it is not surprising that most of the audience of the festivities that start from December 1st every year are media workers from within the country and abroad as well as those intrepid travelers searching in earnest for real finds in the less-traveled destinations of the world. |
The Hornbill festival, in addition to its frenzied energy of motion, twirling colors and vibrant notes, holds several layers of relevance in the life of the modern Naga. With over half the population depending on agriculture, all the festivals are related to harvest cycles. Each of the 16 tribes has its own festivals through the year, but they all come together for Hornbill.
Though not easily discernible to the outside eye, each tribal member is distinguished in his own way from other tribes. Each tribe speaks its own dialect belonging to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The subtle difference may be in the colored goat hair that ornaments his spear or his daos (traditional knife), or the proud tilt of his bamboo headgear plumed with wild orchids, hornbill feathers and wild animal teeth.
This fashion show also doubles up as a display of solidarity among clans that have a long history of being at loggerheads with each other. Generous gifts and kind words are exchanged, intertribal interactions are greatly facilitated with harmony, peace and progress as the ultimate goals.
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"Window to Nagaland" announces the entrance to the festival venue, and the Naga Bazaar set up temporarily does full justice to this proclamation. Those menacing daos which came in different shapes, so deftly handled by the performers during the folk dances are on sale here. Plumed headgears, ornamental spears, wooden masks...everything to convert experience into solid memories are also available here. The craftsmanship of the Nagas is proudly displayed: while the women are adept in weaving and pottery the men are masters in wood and metalwork. |
Jewelry is also a flourishing cottage industry: the heavy spiral brass bangles are a big hit. School children pick up bamboo pen stands and housewives have an array of kitchen utensils from which to choose. The "Night Bazaar" is a culinary roller coaster with the omnipresent momos (steamed meat in dough pockets) to specialist dishes like smoked pork axione (pronounced 'aah-hi-onay') to bamboo vinegar and bottled rare herbs. In a state where liquor is traditionally banned, it is freely available. However the local brew of rice beer is the flavor of the season.
Most incongruously, a stylish fashion show can even be found in the mix. While the main venue of the festival is at Kisama, 12 km from the Kohima, the state capital, the Night Bazaar is right in the capital itself, part of the plan to bring some action to the otherwise sleepy town. |
Kigwema: A Window to Nagaland's Past:
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Hornbill has been quite flighty when it comes to locations over the years. The first one, in 2000, was held in Kohima before it was shifted in 2003 to Kisama, its present venue, now considered the "Window to Nagaland". After detailed discussions between the government and the village elders, land was acquired to give it a permanent address shared by two villages: Kigwema and Phesama.The new name is the outcome of an unimaginative coinage of the two names meaning 'new village'. |
If Kisama was the Window to Nagaland, Kigwema village becomes the entry door to the festival. Kigwema village, 5 km from the main festival venue, is a true slice of Nagaland, decked in its traditional fineries and still on the fringes of its past, unspoiled by the pressures of urbanization. A walk through the tidied up winding walkways of the village, eerily quiet at two in the afternoon, takes you back in time.
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There still stand houses made from huge planks of the hardest timber with an array of animal skulls looking down from the top; the more skulls, the higher the family's social standing. Embers still smolder in the village square where elders laze away the afternoon after a hearty lunch; decisions pertaining to land or property feuds, love affairs, division of a public utility are still taken here. Amidst chirping village gossip, village damsels in colorful western dresses wash clothes at the foot of a large circular cement tank. The elder women sit on porches de-chaffing rice from the granary for dinner. Little girls bring in firewood and tend to kitchen gardens.
Within each village there are khels or tribal neighborhoods, and during the olden days fights between khels were common. Situated prominently between two khels is a stone slab erected in 1946 with inscriptions which mean "peace was bought between the two warring khels by a gift of cows". Each khel has its own ghena or religious ceremonies during which members of other khels are not allowed entry. There is an intricate network of stone stairways which allow the villagers to pass by a particular khel without passing through it during the ghena.
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Nagaland and World War II:
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Bearing testimony to the action this little village has seen, starkly painted in white letters on a red colored community hall are the words: Japanese troops arrived at Kigwema on 4-4-44 at 3:00 p.m. during World War II. As conquering Japanese armies swept through this region of Asia, the advancing troops had been spotted by hunters from Kigwema who rushed back to inform the others so the entire village could flee.
The aftermath of the World War, the exploits of the plundering army, the three-month long face-off by the Allied forces, all have been faithfully documented in the War Museum at Kohima.
Right in the heart of the town is the War Cemetery dedicated to the memory of over 10,000 soldiers who lost their lives before finally managing to push the enemy back over the border. Here an endless array of headstones are arranged neatly with evocative epitaphs:
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"Leslie, As long as life and memory last, I will always remember you."
Dad
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| The Catholic Church on the Aradurah Hill in Kohima is among the biggest church in the predominantly Christian north eastern India. A serene piece of architecture, the church is beguilingly quiet with the occasional flutter of the pigeon nested among the gigantic rafters adding to a quaint sense of tranquility. This church also reportedly has the largest cross made of wood in the country. The Nagaland state museum in Kohima throws light on the centuries-old aspects of the tribal life and has a rich collection of the folklores. |
About The Gateway and Other Attractions:
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A true geographic gem, Nagaland is lushly landlocked by Myanmar in the east, Assam in the north and west and Manipur towards the south. This makes for a vibrant landscape with a climate conducive to tourism and related activities year-round. There are several mountains for trekking and gushing streams for camping out. The Mount Saramati, at 3.840 meters is the tallest mountain, followed by Japfu Peak (3.048 meters) and Mount Pauna. While each of these is a few hours' drive from Kohima, the Puliebadze is only a few minutes' drive--8 km till the Jotsoma village, where you park your vehicle and begin the climb.
Standing so conveniently close to the town, access to the Puliebadze is easy and it offers a decently strenuous 3-hour trek. From the top there is a near perfect aerial view of Kohima 'village', which the locals proudly proclaim to be the second largest village in Asia. If you are not hard pressed for time and need more options to explore, there is the rolling verdant Dzulekie mountain, 40 km from Kohima. The Touphema Tourist Village has real tribal huts with modern amenities. But the access roads are positively backbreaking and their accessibility to tourism is dependent on merciless weather.
To reach Kohima, it is a 70 km uphill drive from the nearest airport and railway station at Dimapur. Called the "Gateway to Nagaland", Dimapur is the ancient capital of the Kachari tribe which once lorded over the land. Ruins of temples, baths and fort embankments from the period can still be found scattered around Dimapur. But being the most industrialized city in the state, it is also the busiest dustiest. The drive up to Kohima from Dimapur will take the better part of three hours but worth the ride as you will find some of the freshest fruits and vegetables along this route. Horde up on succulent oranges, pineapples and wild bananas to complement the very spicy Naga cooking.
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Getting there:
The closest airport is Dimapur which is 70 km from Kohima, the capital of Nagaland. There are daily flights to Delhi and other parts of India. Dimapur also has a railway station. From Dimapur, state transport and private tourist buses ply to Kohima or there are taxis on hire.
Best Time to Go:
The Hornbill Festival takes place from December 1st to Dec 7th every year. October till March is the best time to visit Nagaland. Though winters can be biting, summers are not so harsh.
Places to Stay:
The Japfu Hotel is most preferred by tourists and the Pine Hotel which is a little far from town. However, the famed hospitality of the north eastern people also makes homestays recommended. Find some contacts from the state tourism website.
Tourists from within India need to obtain Inner Line Permit, issued by the Nagaland House in New Delhi, Kolkotta, Guwahati, Shillong. While international tourists need to get the Restricted Area Permits from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi. The permits are also available at all the missions abroad and the Nagaland House in the cities mentioned.
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| About the Author: Thommen Jose is a scriptwriter, filmmaker specializing in development sector communication. He likes to approach a strange land without advance reservations which sometimes lands him begging a local for a place to stay. He is based out of New Delhi, India and runs his own boutique agency, Upwardbound Communications, Upbcomm.com |
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Asia