The state cabinet's decision to organize mini-hornbill festivals at various districts of Nagaland is highly appreciated. The PDA government's bold decision taken under CM N Rio should be supported by one and all.
Rural destination's and experiences is a happening industry elsewhere. Therefore these mini-hornbill festivals should also focus on 'rural adventure tourism' and not solely upon culture. Rural-Adventure-Culture should be a package. The lack or absence of hotels or lodgings should not deter any of the stakeholders. Infact in majority of the districts it will be beneficial for villages and villagers. Home stays should by any means be the primary answer to bed and shelter. Then paid for campsites with sufficient water, electricity, toilet facilities and waste disposal units should be explored by the government, tribal hohos and local entrepreneurs as the secondary option. The mini-hornbill festivals will flop if we spend misplaced and unnecessary effort on providing amenities that are available in urban areas and bother ourselves with providing luxury facilities to guest. We Nagas also tend to confuse hospitality with charity and it should stop! Our generosity towards guest can kill the mini-hornbill festivals.
Most importantly, varieties of tribal Naga food should find themselves to the menu's of guest and not american, chinese, indian or other foreign dishes. Clean toilets, hot water (not necessarily from a geyser), neat comfortable beds will satisfy any decent tourist be them local or foreign. Traditional local dishes, from local organic produce should make it to the breakfast, lunch or dinner tables. I would rather wake up to a cup of tea, phika chai, roasted maize, pumpkin, sticky rice etc instead of milk or coffee, toasted bread, fruits, scrambled eggs, fruit juice etc which is usually the case in our hospitality industry. Mini-Hornbill should focused solely on the NAGA-experience and not imported stuff's.
Moreover visiting local, domestic or foreign tourist will be spending but they shouldn't be robbed. For that is what happened recently in a small town hotel in a interior district. A room with two beds, soiled bed sheet, an old blanket, dirty single pillow, hard mattress, defunct dirty toilet with no hot water, plyboard ceiling, metal sheet walls costed 2000 rupees! An expensive english breakfast in a remote corner of Nagaland was another experience. Appreciated the effort but it was not required nor intelligent. Mini-Hornbill festival shouldn't be mixed up with a european, caribbean or other western holiday destinations and experiences by the guest, the host, the community or the government!
Finally GON, in the best interest of Nagas, Nagaland and Tourism. Please shut the door and close the windows to nepotism, favoritism and commissions at the mini-hornbill festivals as it exist in the International Hornbill Festival. Flush corruption present in the 'festival of festivals' down the toilet.
Peter Rutsa
