Hornbill: Not Just A Festival
Hornbill festival is one of the most popular festival of
Northeast India, known as the “Festival of Festival’s” hornbill over the period
of time has helped rest of the country to realize that the most neglected part
of the nation has some story to tell. Not only national, the international turnouts amazed me as well. While me and my friends were preparing
for the festival, my family members were a bit worried about how the place is
going to be like. They never explored those places but still had a notion that
those places are not so safe. I had no option but to ignore them (with due
respect) and hence started packing my bag.
So, I stated from Guwahati on 1st of December and
took a break at one of my most favorite place ( you can say my other home,
Lumding) , we had a 2 nights and 3 days package and managed to reach Dimapur by
5am on 2nd of December. Without wasting much time and we started for
Kisama ( Naga Heritage Village). Kisama is around 80kms away from Dimapur and
12kms away from Kohima. Our camp site was at Kigwema, a few km away from the Kisama. Stay High was
the camp where we stayed. To be very brief about the camp location, it was just
breathtaking. If your camp is just on the foothill and you can see the early
sun rise what else do you need.
We were 5 persons Amin, Abhishek Saurabh Saikat and Myself, (unfortunately one of our very favorite could
not make it for the trip) the very first day we without wasting time went to
Kisama where the 10 days long fest was going on. It was just the second day of
the fest but I was amazed to see so many people already exploring their areas.
Some were busy eating foods, some were busy taking photographs, some were busy
learning the rich traditional culture and some like me were still finding out
where to start from. We explored for about 6hrs, even we were very tired after
the long journey but that didn’t reflect on our faces (Excluding Abhishek’s
face, who forgot to take his medicines). We went back to our camp and enjoyed
the bonfire with some self jamming session, when you have a friend (Saikat) who
can sing and play guitar what else do you need.
The very next morning
we decided to go for a trekking. The second highest peak of Nagaland known as
Mt Japfu was just a 3-4 hrs away from us. It was just 4 hrs walk before we started
walking. When we started walking, that 4 hrs walk was looking endless. We
decided not to walk further as we had to come back and explore more in Hornbill
fest as well. After some photo session we came back with some happy memories
from the foothill of Japfu. We again came back to our camp site and after a few
hours we again started for Kisma. After reaching there, we decided our
priorities and separated into different groups. Started exploring the food,
culture, art & craft and the people. The place was just opposite to what
our parents used to think. People were too friendly and helping. I wonder why
we judge people based on their appearance and some historical stories. After
exploring everything we came back to our camp, had our dinner and we were ready
to come back to our respective places. Before I slept, I met two boys from
Kerala, though that place wasn’t good enough to talk about the political
situation of the country, but frankly speaking I don’t need a place to discuss
about Movie, Cricket and Politics.
Day 3, before coming back to Dimapur, we again went back to
Kisama for a visit, it was like a rapid fire round of Koffee with Karan, in
just one hour we did what we wanted to, some were busy taking photographs, some
busy buying gifts and the only thing that was running on mind was how to reach Dimapur
on time so that we don’t miss out train.
Hornbill was not just a fest, it was a reunion and a break
which was much needed for me. It was a fest which helped me to come out of a
few stories which we were forced to believe about Nagaland and their tribes, it
was a fest which helped to connect more with my one of my sister state
Nagaland.
Live Video From
Hornbill:
Photo Gallery:
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| Mt Japfu Peak |
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| Naga Tribe |
The easiest and cheapest way to reach Hornbill is to take a train from Guwahati to Dimapur then book a state transport or a private cab till Kohima and then take another cab from Kohima to Kisama. The fare might change based on the time you travel, during Hornbill it is expected to be little higher than normal.
Follow: https://www.facebook.com/SBshutterOgraphy/ for more photographs.
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