Kohima, Lovely Hill Station Town

 We headed to Kohima next day in a cab. It was one and a half hour mainly because of the ghats but the ride was quite beautiful and the road in good shape. Our cab driver Ameisha was a pleasant, happy-go-lucky young fellow who knew quite a bit of the local history. The place is 90% Christian and everyone speaks English. Nagaland is the least populated state in India with a population of 20 lakh or so. 

Chatterjee at the War Cemetery

Kohima World War Cemetery

My misconceptions about Nagaland being anything close to the Naga sadhus or anything Hindu went for a toss when Ameisha said the origin was perhaps from South East Asia. Apparently half the Naga tribes are across the border in Myanmar. He was rather nonchalant about saying that he did not know if they had any history - at least he did not know it. He spoke of the tribes - Kuki, Angami and so on. Said some tribes ate snakes etc.

War Cemetery

Anyway our first stop was at the Kohima War Memorial where the British Army stopped the Japanese Army from taking control of the Kohima ridge from where they could have had access to the plains of India leaving it vulnerable. The battle between battle weary Japanese soldiers numbering 5000 or more and British and Indian soldiers numbering some 2500 was considered one of the bloodiest battles of World War II and in terms of strategic gains was considered next to Stalingrad. It was also called the Battle of the Tennis Court because the battle was fought on the tennis court of the District Magistrate.

The tennis court to the left

Me with Ameisha

Anyway the gates to the Memorial were not opened for a long time, it being a Sunday and people going to Church etc. But when it finally opened it was something else. Saw the stones of soldiers who died - young boys 20 years old, the tennis court, the epitaph - tell them we died today so you can have a better tomorrow. Quite poignant.

Interestingly I saw three young boys, very South Indian by looks, cannot be more than 18-20, with large backpacks at one corner of the cemetery. I asked them where they were headed. Turns out they were from Kerala (Trivandrum I think) and they have been hitchhiking all the way from there to here. He said they were going to Arunachal Pradesh and then head back to Guwahati from where they had a flight ticket back home. Trucks etc was their main transport and they said they spent about 500 bucks a day on food. Amazing! Loved their spirit. He told me to check out his stories on Instagram at sebastianchristojose...do check him out.

Been there (a month after)

At the Hornbill Festival place

Model of an Angami tribe hut

From there we went to the Nagaland Heritage Village which was about an hour away in the jungle and one wonders how the Hornbill festival must be with such bare facilities - but they say everything gets jammed, hotels booked, people living in tents and so on. Looks like something to see once.

Very interesting - Birds and Bees Talk to Educate the Youth

We walked around the place, clicked a few pics and made our way back to Dimapur because one of our colleagues had some work at 4.

Lots of interesting stuff - their clothes - they look like they are out of some fashion magazine, their general friendly demeanour, their food - lots of pork and near the Hornbill place I did see a sign that said 'we sell dog meat here'. I wanted to try that dish Axone which I heard of first when I saw a movie of that name. Watch it, its really nice.