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“Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost” — Erol Ozon
This particular post here relates to a go back to the place where I was born and where my journey started almost after 10 years. This trip happened after I had decided to move to Canada after my graduation from college and it was to the northeastern part of India, Nagaland which is a hill vibrant state. It is a home for 16 tribes and all speaking different languages and the state which has its official language to be English.
Even though being born in this beautiful place, it is at this time that I truly explored the beauty of this place and so thought of sharing my experince. In order to boost tourism, most of the northeastern states including Nagaland require a permit for entry to the respective state for domestic travels we should acquire an Inner Line Permit to gain entry into the state. Fully excited I started the journey from my hometown which is in the Southern part of India, the state described to be as the land of God(Kerala) to the hill tribes of Northern Indian (Nagaland) which is approximately at a straight line distance of 1592 miles.
The closest railway station and airport (in Nagaland) is in Dimapur from where you have to take a taxi for moving on to any other city. It is a 74kms travel by road from Dimapur which is the largest city of Nagaland to Kohima which is the capital of Nagaland and it is where my parents live. This is the toughest part because you have to resist yourself from throw up, as it is a zig-zag road and it takes almost 3 hours to reach your destination (Kohima).
Kohima is the second largest city of Nagaland, the climate here is usually cold and even during summer, the temperature does not rise about 30 degrees. Most of the traditional houses in Nagaland have wooden flooring in order to make us comfortable during the winter season as it is too cold and not everyone could afford a centralized AC. I stayed along with my parents who lived in a government-owned quarters as my father worked in the police department.
Things have changed a lot more multistoried buildings have come up, previously I could easily see my church (Kerala Christian Church), the Doordharsan Kendra and a lot from my place, but now interestingly we had a girls hostel straight in front of our quarters, blocking all the views.
Nagaland Food
The people here prefer to steam their food rather than frying it up. As I have said there are 16 tribes all of them have different styles of cooking food where is spiciness is more common they prefer more spicy food.
Some of the common food of this place is pork cooked with soya beans along with rice and chutney or pork cooked with snails and silkworm larvae and also curry with potatoes crushed along with tomato.
For me my mother cooked all those superb Kerala dishes it was a great experience for me as I started staying in the hostel from my 6th grade and now I am getting all those homemade food and nothing to do just relaxing (nothing to worry about because I am in save hand under the protection of my parents).
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well”- Virginia Woolf
Even though I am grown up now, my parents still don’t want me to go out alone to visit other places, so I had to wait for weekends to come so that my father will be off from work and we could all for an outing.
I started by visiting my school, but it was winter vacation, and schools where closed I didn’t find much change to my school though, they added up a basketball court and a new block was under construction.
Kohima War Cemetery
The Kohima War Cemetery was built in 1944 to mark the death of soldiers in the second world war. According to reports, there are almost 1420 burials of those who died in the Second world war. This is a place of great tourist attraction because it says about ancient history. This is situated in Garrison Hills so trekking is another specialty of this place.
Kohima Cathedral Church
My next spot was to the oldest catholic church of northern India another major specialty of this place is its 16 feet carved wood crucifix is one Asia’s largest crosses.
The expense of constructing the cathedral was taken by the Japanese people who wished to construct a monument for the Japanese Army who died in the Battle of Kohima during the second world war.
Raj Bhavan
Raj Bhavan is the official residence of the Governor of Nagaland. The major attraction here is Gnat aircraft presented by the AOC-in-C, the Eastern Air Command in 1991. In addition, there is a statue of Assam Rifles jawan helping a lady and her son.
Hornbill Festival
Also called the “Festival of Festivals” Hornbill festival is held every year from December 1 to 10 in Nagaland. This usually happens in Nagaland Heritage Village in Kisama which is 12kms from Kohima. The aim of this festival is to revive and protect the rich culture of Nagaland and display its tradition.
For visitors, it is an understanding of the culture of Nagaland and a chance to experience the food, songs, dances, and customs of Nagaland.
The other major attractions are the food stalls, craft works, the beauty contest, and also the night concert.
Stone Pulling Ceremony
The stone pulling ceremony is practiced by the Angami tribe. Traditionally performed only by men in full traditional attire to pulla stone weighing 12 tons to about 3kms. The top five wrestlers of the community stood above the stone adding some weight to the stone.
This ceremony is held as part of the Hornbill Festival, the ceremony symbolizes forgiveness, friendship, peace and reconcile, to mark the feeling that the village had before the coming of the gospel to the village.
It was so much fun and I could not beleive that one month has passed and its time for me to go back and start preparing to move on to the next destination i.e Canada which is the second-largest country in the world in area.
” The saddest part of life lies not in the act of dying but in failing to truly live while we are alive” – Robin Sharma
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