The seven North Eastern states retain an aura of mystery even for travellers from the rest of India. Phejin Konyak, intrepid traveller, teacher, and businesswoman, always tells me to come to her village in the Mon region when I ask about an unusual destination in Nagaland. “Here, anywhere you go will be off the beaten track,” she promises.
The Konyak tribals were headhunters, and I’m not talking of the term in the ‘job search’ sense. But those days of inter-tribal warfare are long past. They are Baptist Christians, but on feast days like the spring celebration of Aoling, the elders still wear full tribal regalia, which show off their full body tattoos and boar tusk headdresses.
The big tourist scene is during the annual early-December Hornbill Festival near Kohima which showcases tribal costume, performances and crafts from all over Nagaland. But as Phejin says, the real Nagaland is in the villages, among tea and patchouli plantations, orange groves where you can pick fruit and find clear streams to bathe in. “It is a fact that in this place once ruled by ferocious tribesmen, even women may travel safely and alone,’’ smiles Phejin, “There is a strong code of honour.”
Besides the tribal route, you could also go to the Dzukou valley, which bursts into vibrant bloom between June and September—truly a botanist’s dream.
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