Phejin Konyak is an “on the spur of the moment traveler” and lives in a remote village called Shiyong, which is situated at an hour’s drive away from Mon town, Nagaland. She has travelled to many off beat destinations within the country and the subcontinent. She had been on the 9-day Annapurna Base Camp Trek, Nepal, which is the best trek in the world. Then she hitch hiked in Sikkim in a power department truck laden with rice bags. She’s been to Lahaul and Spiti valleys in Himachal Pradesh just before the 9/11 bombing. In Arunachal, besides going to Tawang, Itanagar and other towns, she followed the source of the Siang River (which is the Brahmaputra in Assam). She drove down from Nagaland to Bhutan twice and couch surfed in Goa. She backpacked via land from Nagaland to Nepal, and then to Varanasi, Khajuraho, Gwalior, Jhansi and Delhi, and then back again the Nagaland.
While on the road, she is a traveler; at her home base in Shiyong village, she is a hostess to travelers. In this remote corner of Nagaland, she is traced by travelers – people she befriended on her travels, college friends, couch surfers, her friend’s friends, or even strangers and unknown individuals who heard of her through word of mouth. World renowned celebrity master chef Gordon Ramsay of “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Kitchen Nightmares” fame, along with his film crew stayed 2 nights and 3 days with Phejin at Shiyong.
He was on a mission for his independent production One Potato Two Potato- “Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape Series – India” for Optomen Television in collaboration with channel 4, UK. A lot of Naga style cooking was done and filmed in the huge family kitchen with the fire place in the centre. They were served fish in ferns, Naga pork sausages and dried bamboo shoot with red rice and red tea.
Hailing from a big-hearted family with countless members, Phejin’s kitchen is open to any visitors to walk in and avail a plate of rice if hungry. Village folks, tea garden workers, relatives and friends walk in and out of the huge Naga style kitchen with smoke-blackened ceiling and walls. Gordon commented, “I never knew such a heavenly life style still existed in the world. I thought community life was in existence only 1000 years ago.”
Phejin’s house is the biggest house in the village, built of concrete material amidst the hatched and tinned structures of village people’s homes. 4 generations live together in her home – a grand uncle who is almost 100 years old, a grand aunt who is almost 90; Phejin’s parents; her siblings and cousins; and nieces and nephews. Every month or once in every 2 months, Phejin finds herself hosting visitors and guests, and her family does not mind extending hospitality too. Travelers from Australia, Japan, Singapore, US, France, Brussels, UK, Greece and France have come to stay with her in Shiyong. From the Indian metros, she has had visitors from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata etc. They consisted of writers, photographers, astronomers, IT professionals etc. She recently received a call from Lonely Planet Television, Melbourne, for a shoot which is still pending.
Phejin says that the “get away” at Shiyong village and the “home stay” hospitality she offers is a “luxury” for westerners; the idyllic community lifestyle is refreshing and even therapeutic for weary minds. A man from UK milked a cow for the first time in his life; another tasted food cooked over the fire place for the first time ever. Waking up at sun rise or taking moonlight walks in the tea garden slopes is an experience of a life time for many. Her visitors help in cooking, working in the farm or picking oranges in the orchard. According to her, “Westerners have no problem with the food. Indians tend to be finicky.”
With her wide experience in travel, Phejin is the ideal person to contact for travel related queries. She will tell you things that the internet or travel catalogues cannot cover. She is also open to have people accompany her on her trips. With years of hands-on experience in sharing hospitality with travelers, she is now gearing up to establish this travel profession and life calling at Shiyong - to celebrate travel and travelers! Her room is filled with travel magazines, maps and geography books. She says, “From my father I learned the values of hard work and to have a positive outlook toward life; and also never to stop trying.” Besides inheriting these essential qualities from her father who runs a successful tea garden enterprise at Shiyong, she also emanates great confidence, courage and large heartedness from within.
From the love of travel to the love of travelers, from following her heart to finally tailoring her own lifestyle and profession, this lady sure has great things going for her. Indeed, how is it possible not to admire such ingenuity?
(Phejin can be contacted at:
phejin@gmail.com)
Written By: Susan Waten, Founder of HAWA, Dimapur, Nagaland.
