[YanTra Makto]

Day 3: Hornbill Fest Again

This day we were able to reach Kisama earlier than previous day. And things appeared much more beautiful in the bright winter sun and deep blue mountain skies.

Window to Nagaland




Colourful dancers




Deadly Crowd

Moynah Dance, inspired from the Myna bird or the Indian Starling

Moynah Dance







Video of the lovely Moynah Dance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GN0zGjFxcQ

The fierce warrior dancers

These videos will give you a better idea, these trance like drumming rhythmic chanting tune is uncannily similar to that performed by the Masai tribes too.

Head hunting tribal warriors dancing to trance like music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyOo7oGj3WA

Listen to commentators description of this dance. Also the horse like neighing sounds are very similar to those of the Red Indian tribes. Wonder, how there are so many similarities between different tribes in so diverse parts of the world.

Neighing like the Red Indians

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhu-Qu0sG-g

More pics of the glorious crowd

And this dance was very catchy, especially there leader was a performer and a crowd puller

See this video to appreciate what I am saying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUUpMO****

A Tribal consulting the Shaman

The Shaman




Discussions in crowd




A man enacting as the prey during a hunt scene

The Bamboo Dance of a Manipuri tribe. The story goes that a normal boy had fallen in love with the chiefs daughter, and he had to pass this difficult test to get her.

The bamboo dance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGKVS2rpGLc

Few more pics and videos

And now we left the Arena to explore other parts of the Naga Heritage Village.

Stay tuned for more..

[YanTra Makto]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Now that's a different travelogue and a truly different experience through your lens.

The NE is indeed an experimental non-vegetarian's food paradise and your love for it shows clearly.

Rating the travelogue 5 stars, keep it coming please.

Thank you n.devdath, like the terminology of

experimental non-vegetarian

, .

The caterpillar was crispy on the outside and bit granular floury chickenish fish type on the inside.

But the Hot and Crispy Grasshoppers were yum. They were marinated / cooked in Axone and were amazingly crunchy crispy and chilly, even small nips of approx half to one cm were good enough to be washed down with two to three gulps of local beverage.

axone : soyabean boiled, fermented and either smoked or sun dried) with smoked pork and beef
Akhuni, or axone, is a fermented soybean product popular in northeastern Indian state of Nagaland.

[YanTra Makto]

Day 3 : Hornbill Fest, exploring the rest o fKisama

Another view of the Naga Hills from Kisama

Naga Hills

To complete our festive mood, we got our face painted

Work in progress

A Couple Pic




Now, a family pic

We went down to the kids area, to award them for their patient sitting with us at the arena.

And my elder one choose to walk across a burma bridge

while the younger one decided to trampoline

And then they went ziplining, a first for the younger one

And then the elder one did some rock wall climbing

Wife utilized this time to sort out her mobile pics and Instagram

And when the kids have had their fill of fun, we had some food and went back to the arena.

Stay tuned, its just day 3, and even that is not over yet...

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by YanTra Makto

Stay tuned for more..

A few video links aren't working. Can you please recheck them? Thank you.

[YanTra Makto]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

A few video links aren't working. Can you please recheck them? Thank you.

yes one of them is not due to technical difficulty where in the you tube link address which is randomized incidentally contains letters which are being detected as profanity by the site and the link address thus can not be typed or pasted

Have reported the same to admins...

are more than one link of video not working please confirm back if you may...

[YanTra Makto]

Day 3: Hornbill Fest

So after making the kids happy, we were again drawn to the arena due to the music coming from there, as much as we wanted to visit other places but were drawn to the arena...

Will just let the photos and videos speak for themselves

Well Sculpted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ9J3eZzES8

A fashion shoot in progress for a foreign magazine

Blending in

Few more

Few Portrait shots

And now a few interesting knick Knacks

Basket adorned with monkey skulls










Interesting Necklace




The most important adornment, a spear

An interesting story about women power, where two oft warring tribes were brokered peace by two young girls of one tribe

A Fight Scene




The Lasses brokering peace

And now it was time for the last Log Drum Beating of the festival in the arena. Log Drum Beating continues in Morungs all through the night, their beats and music reverberating through out the valleys, telling everyone that the party is on.

The Konyak roll call for Log Drum Beating




Log Drum Beating by Konyaks, the last one of Hornbill 2016

Some more info regarding log drums courtesy https://limalenden.wordpress.com/201...m-in-nagaland/

Log-drums are popular among the Nagas. The Konyak Nagas call it Shum, the Chang Nagas call it Tongsen, the Sangtams call it Singkong, the Phoms call it Thongh, the Yimchungers call it Sangkong and the Khaimniugans call it Phean. Although log-drums are associated with other tribal and indigenous peoples across the globe, the Naga log-drums are purportedly bigger in size and more significant than theirs.

The bodies of the log-drums are hallowed out through a long slit along the whole length of the drums so as to reverberate when pounded at. The figure of a typical Naga log-drum is comprised of a head, body and tail. The face of the head is usually painted with red and black colors and a ‘necklace’ of cane is wound up around the neck of the log-drum.

Log-drums have long been of characteristic and significant importance to the Nagas, particularly in association with the socio-religious and cultural facets of their village republics, a “living deity” as their forefathers would believe. Today, even after the advent of Christianity and modernity, it has lost its spiritual bearing but the log-drum still is “alive” in that it stands as an emblem of unity and sacrifice, the embodiment of freedom, a souvenir from the past when life was simple and carefree.

Also very nice and detailed information can be found on https://books.google.co.in/books?id=...galand&f=false

See page numbers 123-129

Some lovely videos now of this epic art..

See how they change the beats at 0:33 and then speed up the same

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEEsAlI0JSA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmiUPwwJkrg

At 00:07 they pick up totally different and catchy clappy beat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXB2LJNzQ7w

Some more dance




This guy, the leader was a real hard task master

And a video of same

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ilQVDRJkE

Lovely Audience

And now all the tribes started building up the giant bonfire for dance of unity and the closing ceremony.

[YanTra Makto]

Day 3: Ghooming the Morungs

After seeing the opening of Naga Chilly Eating Competition, we finally were able to start our long planned tour to have a dekko at the Morungs.

Some info about Morungs courtesy http://www.nativeplanet.com/videos/w...-nagaland.html

Morungs of Nagaland
Morungs are the traditionally built Naga huts made of bamboo and cane. The morung or the bachelor dormitory system was once an essential part of Naga life and culture.

A symbol of pride of each village, the Morung is embellished with hunting trophies and fine wood carvings at the doorway. This all male dormitory, where a young lad of six enters and leaves when he weds, is where the village's sacred hunting trophies, daos (dao is a type of sword), spears and shields of the village are kept for safekeeping. It is in the morung where the boys learn the ancestral folksongs and folktales, where decisions of war and peace are taken.

Obviously we had to begin with our favourite tribe, the Konyaks Head Hunters.

Also their Morung is the top most among the cluster of Morungs, so it was all downhill from there.

Kids trying their hands at the log drum

Among the Konyaks

We are all dressed up




Lovely View from the Konyak Morung




Bamboo stand for bamboo mugs

Each morung had a lovely and lively sit out with nice music, food and beverages. The whole atmosphere was magical.

View from sit out of Konyak Morung

Nagaland is a no alcohol state. Each tribe have their different version of their own mild beverage.

The Frothy beverage of Konyaks




Truly Vintage




The Konyak Morung with Kitchen




The Phum Morung




Lovely Log Drum




My Naga Kids




Naga Kitchen




Morung decoration




Excellent Bamboo plumbing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeHe5lnG1Oo

Stay tuned...

[YanTra Makto]

Day 3: WW II Museum

And now finally, we got the time to visit the WWII museum, unknown to many Nagaland, Manipur and few parts of Arunachal (southern bordering southern parts of upper assam) actually saw land conflict between the Axis and Allied forces.

So buckle up for history lessons

A copy of Instrument of Surrender signed aboard the USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay at 0904, 2nd of September, 1945; officially ending the World War II after 1364 days, 5 hours and 14 minutes.

Instrument of Surrender

Its an interesting anecdote, take time to go through it

The Naga Way

Mess Tins of Japanese soldiers




A Japanese instrument of war

Interesting read about the Japanese Infantry Blitzkrieg on Bicycles

The Doro Nawa Unit








A model of Officers Hill, Kohima circa WWII days




The mainstays of famous and notorious 'Across the Humps' air logistics operations, carried out by USAF, RAF and IAF from rudimentary airbases from North East India

Wreckage of WW II fighters are strewn across the jungles of North East India, US still sends search teams to get remains of USAF pilots and wreckage of USAF planes back home.

Wreckage of WW II fighters








Equipment of Japanese Army

Part I of history lessons over, more in following days...

[YanTra Makto]

Day 3: Closing ceremony of Hornbill 2016

As the ceremonies of day had ended, members from each tribe had come to lay wood at the huge central bonfire for the Unity Dance, where in all tribes will dance around the great bonfire together to bring to an end another year of this festival of festivals, the king of festivals, the HORNBILL FESTIVAL.

The Stage all set




The Bonfire being lit by Miss Nagaland 2016




And the ceremony begins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3FVTe83qC4

And soon all joined in the revelry










Me playing the long drum, while others including the tribal and visitors danced to the tune of it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKtQcexza50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkeCEE7BkWQ

And then begin the stage functions, starting with Christmas Carols

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCWPEb8qFxs

Amazing rendition of Mission Impossible theme using bells

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30bV9psP1DQ

Needless, to say we all were log tired after the eventful past three days

We initially had thought about going to the Hornbill Rock Concert tonight too, but with the performances today, we continued to stay at Kisama, and headed back for dinner at the Dimoris Cove.

Our young one was asleep by now, and it was bit cold by now. So the owners were graciously served us in front of the fireplace and placed the sofa in front of it, on each the youngster continued to doze after being force fed in his sleep.

So that gets us to the end of Part I of this journey, tomorrow we travel to newer destinations...

[neel385]

Great thread! Long time coming now I guess. Finally finding time off the numerous out station visits I guess. I just got back from Ladakh. Let's see how long I take to stitch my story up!

Keep it up!

[YanTra Makto]

Day 4: Drive to Imphal

So, the day for a new state again, for my alto and us..

Well, Google showed this, and my thumb rule is to multiply the google map time by 1.25. But in spite of that calculation, we had a relaxed morning this day to cater up for the last three hectic days. We started only by 1130 or 1200.

We had been warned that Manipur was facing an long economic blockade, and supplies of goods especially Petrol were short. Fellow visitors at Hornbill Fest had regaled us with horror stories as to how difficult it had become for them to travel out of Manipur as taxi were charging up to 7-12000 INR for the journey between Imphal to Kohima due to shortage of petrol and how even potato was 150 rs a kg and many veggies were not even available. How ATMs were closed and there was no cash anywhere (remember this was the demonetization era). So we had planned to tank up before beginning our journey. But by the time we started, due to the late hours I was in no mood to double back to Kohima for a tank up, and I was sure that we would hit a petrol pump before Manipur and would tank up at the first available opportunity.

But lo and behold, we kept travelling and after about 45 mins of bone jarring roads, the realization hit us that we would be entering Manipur shortly without coming across any petrol pump We discussed among us, and none of us was in a mood to go back all the way to Kohima and drive back this route again. We assumed being India, there definitely will be a way out.

En route we came across the beginning of the Dzoku Trek, no time this time and December is probably not the best time for overnight at this beautiful place.

Beginning of the Dzoku Trek

And soon we passed under a gate bidding farewell to Nagaland followed by one welcoming us to Manipur! And it seemed that practically we were the only vehicle on road.

And then we came across a petrol pump, and it was definitely closed. In nothing but desperation we asked a mechanic working in a roadside garage opposite the pump as to where will we find an open petrol pump. He said you will find petrol here itself and pointed to closed shutter of a tire repair shop next to the pump. I said obviously it is closed, he said it appears close, the owners live on the house on top.

So, finally we got petrol at a premium rate of Rs 75 a liter filled via funnel from measuring jars, and since I was unsure about next availability of petrol, we decided to get a full tank.

Refueling in progress




Highway Rice Hotel in Manipur could not recognize half the stuff here




Scenic Drive

WWII Trail (Continued)

Now we passed through Maram famous for the Battle of Maram

Time for history lessons again, courtesy http://sevendiary.com/unfold-story-great-battle-maram/

After defeated at the battle of Kohima, the Japanese troops were retreating via Viswema, Mao-Songsang and at the great ridge of Maram (Manipur), the battle of Maram was fought on 18th June 1944.

Though Major General Miyazaki of the Japanese 31st Division was told to hold on to Maram for ten days, a brilliant battle plan executed by Michael West and the 7th Battalion Worcestershire regiment made the Japanese to retreat within few hours.

The famous World War-II war memorial stone which is standing today in the Kohima War Cemetery, was moved from Maram village to its present site with great difficulty and the assistance of the Naga hillsmen.

John Maxwell Edmonds, an English Classicist wrote a famous epitaph on it, “When you go home, tell them of us and say – For their tomorrow, we gave our today”.

Recently, The twin Second World War battles of Imphal and Kohima and its victories over the Japanese, have been named as the greatest ever battle involving British forces by the National Army Museum in England.

The battle of Maram was fought during the end of great battle of Kohima (4 April to 22 June 1944), when the British and Indian troops pursued the retreating Japanese and reopened the Kohima-Imphal road.

The official website of Worcestershire Regiment quoted

This Memorial was unveiled by Field Marshal Sir William Slim, who was at the time commanding 14th Army in Burma. It is made from once piece of solid stone which formed part of a Naga formation of stones similar, but smaller, than Stonehenge. These stones were situated on a Spur near the village of Maram, south of Kohima. The 7th Battalion, supported by Tanks, M.M.G.’s and Artillery, captured the village and the spur after a battle lasting one day.

Also, you may go through these to learn some more about the WWII battles of Kohima, Imphal and Maram, courtesy https://infomaram.wordpress.com/battle-of-maram/

End of WWII lessons : Part II

Scenic Drive

I challenge any Non Naga to pronounce this

Village with a lovely name

We also came across a milestone displaying the distance to place called "LFY", how do you pronounce that.


Naga tribes populate the hills (especially northern ones) of Manipur, but as the floor of the beautiful Imphal Valley comes in sight, the influence of Nagas starts diminishing, one is into Hindu culture from the different Christian Tribal one.

One dhaba en route where we stopped for tea halt, and these guys were of Nepalese Gorkha Origin settled in Manipur.

Camera friendly kids




The view from backyard of dhaba, which was a pigpen




and a cow shelter

The Imphal valley took us by surprise, could never have imagined that we will hit such flat grounds with arrow straight roads after all the hills for last 3 days, wish the surface of road too was befitting its alignment and gradient. And the valley was flat, absolutely flat, ensconced in hills all around, a unique geographical feature, very similar to the Kashmir valley, though flatter still than it.

A bit about geography of Manipur courtesy Wikipedia, these facts I realized only after visiting the place

Manipur may be characterised as two distinct physical regions: an outlying area of rugged hills and narrow valleys, and the inner area of flat plain, with all associated land forms. These two areas are distinct in physical features and are conspicuous in flora and fauna. The valley region has hills and mounds rising above the flat surface. The Loktak lake is an important feature of the central plain. The total area occupied by all the lakes is about 600 km2

The total area covered by the state is 22,347 square kilometres (8,628 sq mi). The capital lies in an oval-shaped valley of approximately 700 square miles (2,000 km2) surrounded by blue mountains and is at an elevation of 790 metres (2,590 ft) above sea level.[41] The slope of the valley is from north to south. The mountain ranges create a moderated climate, preventing the cold winds from the north from reaching the valley and barring cyclonic storms originating from the Bay of Bengal.

The state has four major river basins: the Barak River Basin (Barak Valley) to the west, the Manipur River Basin in central Manipur, the Yu River Basin in the east, and a portion of the Lanye River Basin in the north.

The Barak River, the largest of Manipur, originates in the Manipur Hills and is joined by tributaries, such as the Irang, Maku, and Tuivai. After its junction with the Tuivai, the Barak River turns north, forms the border with Assam State, and then enters the Cachar Assam just above Lakhipur. The Manipur river basin has eight major rivers: the Manipur, Imphal, Iril, Nambul, Sekmai, Chakpi, Thoubal and Khuga. All these rivers originate from the surrounding hills.[citation needed]

Almost all the rivers in the valley area are in the mature stage and therefore deposit their sediment load in the Loktak lake.[41] The rivers draining the Manipur Hills are comparatively young, due to the hilly terrain through which they flow. These rivers are corrosive and assume turbulent form in the rainy season. Important rivers draining the western area include the Maku, Barak, Jiri, Irang and Leimatak. Rivers draining the eastern part of the state, the Yu River Basin, include the Chamu, Khunou and other short streams.

Just on the outskirts of prominent town of Senapati, we were waved down to a stop by a lone youth. He asked us few questions in stern accusing voice about where are we coming from, where are we going etc, I just kept replying the truth calmly and trying to appearing unperturbed. No use getting into a scene here, no chance of any timely help. Guess my acting was fair enough, he cautioned me about the economic blockade and asked me if I was carrying any goods with intent of selling, or carrying any petrol in can, bottle etc or any liquor or cigarette etc. I calmly replied that whatever I had was for our personal use and he can check our stuff if he so wishes. It seems seeing the jam packed Alto, he did not feel like going through the effort of checking all of it. SO he let us go, saying karna padta hai, sorry for causing you discomfort.

So soon we were in Imphal, and night followed soon, the town wore an absolute locked down look as soon as the sun set, even though there was no official curfew in place, only very few eating spots were open post 6, and that too we were close down by maximum 8'o clock, even the medical stores were closed by 6.

All this atmosphere was bit spooky after all the hullabaloo in Nagaland.

Tomorrow, onto Loktak.

[Red Liner]

Nice log, but the thread is incomplete!

[BlackBeard]

Fantastic travelogue with photographs.

Did you try the "dog meat" though?

Originally Posted by YanTra Makto

Tomorrow, onto Loktak.

Still waiting....

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Nice log, but the thread is incomplete!

Yeah, please complete it. Eagerly waiting!