Now that the dusts have settled over the festivity and merry making, allow me to pen down here a few afterthoughts on our recent tryst with another annual so-called festival of festivals.
To make my point clearer, let me begin with an analogy. Suppose you go to attend a birthday party or a wedding party with a very noble intention to bless the birthday boy/girl or the newly-wed couple with your presence / gifts and also to spend quality time with friends and relatives. At the party, what would be your reaction if someone tells you that you will have to pay Rs.5 or Rs.10 for using the urinal or the toilet? Undoubtedly, it would be a very embarrassing situation and such a revelation would spoil the whole atmosphere at the party. For once, it would spoil your mood, it would degrade the whole meaning of the party and the get-together and it would make you want to leave the party as soon as possible. I am afraid many of the people who visit the hornbill festival venue at Kisama every December experience this embarrassing and humiliating situation because the urinals and toilets there do not come for free.
It is a foregone conclusion that a good majority of the people visiting the hornbill site at Kisama will use the urinal at least once during their visit. Therefore it is pure blackmail on the part of the organizers to be charging people on this very basic and fundamental need of man. Wherever mammoth people gather, urinals and lavatories are a must and it must be provided free of cost. Or else the main theme or focus of any event /program may get diverted by a money-oriented environment.
Now, everyone knows that the basic motive and intention of the Nagaland state government in organizing the annual Hornbill festival is to showcase and promote the rich culture, heritage, tradition, fabrics and cuisines of the Naga people. And as such, we take pride in the fact that the number of tourists (both domestic and foreign) visiting our great Hornbill festival is increasing every year. Many tourists from outside Nagaland and even outside India come to experience the Hornbill festival after reading about the festival in the internet websites. And indeed it is understandable that everything at such a well-known, popular and extravagant festival site cannot be free.
But what actually is the logic behind charging money for using the urinals and toilets at Kisama during the festival? Is the practice authorized by the Nagaland state government, by some particular department or is somebody without any authorization simply charging fees on the urinals and the toilets? Who are the personnel manning the gates of the urinals and the toilets at Kisama and where does the money collected go – to the state government, any particular department, any particular organization or to the pockets of the individuals manning the entrance of the urinals and the toilets at the Hornbill festival site?
We often talk about self-employment and we say that there is no job too small or too insignificant. But for me, standing at the entrance of urinals and toilets and collecting money from the people for peeing and defecating at a large public gathering like Kisama during the Hornbill festival is the last thing I would do. Even if I am to die of starvation, I would never stoop so low as to stand at the entrance of toilets and urinals at the Hornbill festival site and collect money from the hapless people who come to answer the call of nature. So to the volunteers who stand at the gates of the urinals and toilets at Kisama to collect money, I would say “Where is your honour?”, “Where is your self-respect?” and “Can’t you find something a little more decent to do?”
As mentioned above, the hornbill festival is staged every year to introduce the rich and vibrant culture, tradition and heritage of the Nagas to the outside world. As such all the visitors who come to witness Kisama during the Hornbill festival should return home with fond memories and meaningful experiences. The hornbill festival cannot be considered a success if the visitors feel humiliated, embarrassed or insulted in any manner while roaming around in the Kisama complex. The purpose of the hornbill festival will also remain unfulfilled if the interests and expectations of the visitors coming from outside Nagaland are not met and entertained in proper environments.
As mentioned, everything cannot be offered free of cost at such an extravagant and colourful festival site. But it is really sad to see the hornbill festival becoming more and more money-oriented with every passing year. If the trend continues, it would become very burdensome for the low income people and the middle class people to go to Kisama in the coming years.
The hornbill festival should be a people-oriented affair and not a money-making endeavor of some people. So I feel that it is pure blackmail when visitors are made to pay even for using the urinals and toilets. Remember, the Hornbill festival is a platform to showcase the rich and vibrant Naga ‘way of life’ to the outside world. So the environment within the Kisama complex should be polite, gentle, friendly and cordial. And one best way to make Kisama polite, gentle, friendly and cordial would be the availability of free and sufficient urinals and lavatories where the visitors can use them freely as much as they want. Or for that matter, why only free urinals and toilets, the organizers can also install bathrooms with sufficient water within the Kisama complexes and allow the visitors to bath and use water free of cost to their heart’s content.
There may be visiting tourists who intend to spend even a whole day at Kisama. If these visitors are made to pay for even answering the call of nature while in Kisama, they may not have much wonderful things to say about the Nagas or the festival when they go back home. On the other hand, if the organizers of the festival can provide at least free urinals, toilets and bathrooms with sufficient water, the festival would very much become an international festival worthy of its name. If people can use urinals, toilets and bathrooms free of cost at Kisama during the hornbill festival, nobody would mind even if some nominal fees are charged on the other services provided at the venue. It would also be relieving if reasonable and nominal prices are charged on the many colourful items on sale at Kisama so that a visit to Kisama in December would not became a burden for the common man. Let us remember that the hornbill festival can become a ‘festival of festivals’ or an ‘international festival’ in the real sense of the word only if the festival is people–friendly and people-oriented. A Naga festival where people have to pay even for answering to the call of nature would never be able to project the Nagas or Nagaland in the right and intended spirit to the outside world.
If the present trend of charging money from the people for using urinals and toilets within the Kisama complex is justifiable in any sense, then somebody may also think about charging money from the visiting people for breathing air within the Kisama complex by the time the next Hornbill festival comes in December 2016. Every true Naga would not mind working towards projecting Nagas and Nagaland in the right light and spirit. Let outsiders remember Nagas for their hospitality, their generosity, their broad outlook and their rich culture and traditions. And let no outsiders dare say that “in the land of the Nagas, you cannot even pee if you don’t have money”. Charging our guests and visitors for even answering the call of nature is nothing but pure blackmail and it is disgusting, embarrassing, humiliating, cheap and ignominious……… Or else, if we intend to make some quick bucks through the urinals and toilets at Kisama during the Hornbill season, it would be more befitting to change the nomenclature from ‘Hornbill Festival’ to ‘Hornbill Market’………..
