Calling North East India’s biggest tourism event as “Horn(y) and Horror Bill 2005” by Susan Waten Naga in her Sugar Coating column in Nagaland Post is a sort of sensational media hype technique to draw the attention of the readers.
We don’t represent here any organization/institute/department but share some of our own thoughts and views as concerned citizens of the state. And we do have a right to air it.
We feel that, there is nothing wrong in exhibiting a live hornbill when most of our people have never seen a hornbill bird- leave alone a live one. This gives us an opportunity to have a glimpse of what a real hornbill really looks like. To put first things first, we feel, in a land, such as ours, we should all be collectively talking of human rights before we even think of espousing the cause of animals and birds. Let us not talk only about animal rights but rights of all sentient beings in a holistic sense!
The cultural troupe that has been much criticized and maligned may have done it out of sheer overzealousness with a view to show a rare aspect of Naga culture which was a practice in the past. That does not mean we condone such an act. But we think enough people have had their say on this already and they (cultural troupe) must be feeling guilty about it by now. Let us also put ourselves into their shoes and feel how they would be feeling about it now. As we understand, that the writer had also once written on empathy.
When one talks of celebrating festivals, the nomenclature does not matter as much as the event taking place. Hornbill Festival had its predecessor in the form of summer and a few autumn festivals – celebrated all with a view to attracting and drawing more tourists to the state in the late eighties and early nineties. Those summer and autumn festivals predated even the “Naga Week” that the Naga Students Federation organized in collaboration with NPHMR in 1995. Human memory is short indeed!
The caption of the posters of those autumn festivals was “Nagaland – Where Life Is One Long Festival” and not as quoted. But those captions did not attract enough tourists to those festivals. Quite often, reality and sentiments do not jell.
This year, the festival has been much publicized - both in the print and electronic media. Advertisements on Hornbill Fest came out in North East Channel, Zee TV in the electronic media and in the print media, it came out in Darpan – an inflight Alliance Airlines magazine, Outlook magazine, “Go Now” and T3 of Cross Sections Travel magazines, Indian Express Travel and Tourism magazine and North East Sun. In the local media too, a series of adverts were issued.
It may be emphatically stated here, that, all Hotels worth their name were fully booked to capacity in Kohima. Owing to lack of accommodation, tourists were, staying even in hotels in Dimapur and coming up to Kohima to attend the festival. Many were also staying with friends and relatives and paying guest accommodations.
The figure of fifty foreign tourists as filed by Nagaland Post’s Correspondent was a gross underestimate. There were over 100 foreign tourists and 5000 domestic tourists. Intra – State tourists also came from all the eleven districts of the state. This is indeed, a splendid improvement from the earlier Hornbills - where two dozen foreign tourists and a few hundred domestic tourists used to visit. Hornbill Festival has risen from its humble beginnings in 2000 to an internationally known festival and has been already declared as a national festival event. To tell the truth, there are already hotel bookings for Hornbill Fest 2006
As for the figures of foreign tourists, you can always cross-check and verify the numbers from the Home Department and for domestic tourist figures, one can roughly get an estimate from the district administration who issue Inner-Line Permits and also from some reputed hotels though many stay with friends and relatives. It is always good to verify facts rather than base one’s write-up from a single source.
At this juncture, if you go for aggressive publicity and over publicize, and you don’t have the supporting systems like proper accommodation, things are bound to boomerang. In other words, if you proffer a good helping of an appetizer and don’t provide your guests with enough wherewithal food, she/he is bound to get angry with you. It is always good to cut your clothes according to your right size.
Hornbill Festival is meant for providing space for everyone – tourists and the local populace – where in a convivial atmosphere, all can have some clean fun and enjoy themselves – thus bringing better international understanding and earning the state exchequer some revenue.
If our young people do not behave themselves and act like as if they are just released ‘out of a cage,’ then, God help us all. No one can play a moral policing role here. Everyone is given the freedom of choice. It is up to each individual to take up the right choice. We think, even the selling of alcohol – local or IMFL has all to do with some Naga people’s sense of greed for getting rich overnight. We agree that exorbitant prices need to be checked and regulated in future. Nagas need to learn to begin small and learn to be more patient in business.
Hornbill Event is like a small mirror held up to offer a reflection of Naga image, as of now, to improve ourselves in all its aspects and departments. The good and the bad cannot be hidden. Neither can one push the skeletons under the carpet. For a discerning viewer – tourists or otherwise, will surely notice it even if you try to hide it.
Hornbill event offers us all an opportunity and a platform to take stock and reflect and improve upon on our image as Nagas and as human beings. It is also a chance for a reality check. It is up to us Nagas to make or mar Hornbill festivals of the future. To make our land clean and beautiful tourist destination let us all teach our loved ones back at home the societal norms and social etiquettes in order to avoid all those pitfalls, if any. Let us all change our attitude and look forward to a better Hornbill 2006.
K. T. Thomas and V. Doulo
