“North-east?! But that’s not safe!,” exclaimed Sumanth in all his infinite wisdom. When I asked him why it was unsafe, he had no clue just as none of my other friends did. To further complicate the situation, I didn’t know a soul in the region so I turned to couchsurfing - a worldwide community of travelers and locals in the places one visits. A quick search led me to Phejin Konyak, a member of the famous head-hunting Konyak tribe of Nagaland and one of the most popular couch-surfers in India. I discovered several news articles and web pages referencing her and all this only made me more curious to meet this intriguing Naga celebrity. So, I shot her a long, descriptive email introducing myself and expressing my eagerness to meet her, thereby assuring that she didn’t have much choice about hosting me in her home in Nagaland!
So, off I flew to Guwahati to meet my first hosts – a charming couple who live in a school campus that ranks among the best in Guwahati. Not only were they the epitome of hospitality but they displayed a delightful zest for meeting travelers and learning about their exploits. Well-travelled and adventurous themselves, (the host was an avid biker who gets his kicks from riding up the Himalayas), they were full of valuable advice for newbie travelers in the North East.
I left Guwahati the next day to catch an overnight train to Nagaland to meet Phejin. The inter-city express leaves Guwahati at 10:30pm and puts you in Simaluguri at 8:00am. I then took a shared auto to Naginimora from where a sumo taxi service was available at noon to Wok Ching. Phejin picked me up from Wok Ching to go to her village Shiyong since there is no public transport available beyond Wok Ching.
Phejin Konyak is the eldest daughter of the chief of the Konyak tribe; a tribe renowned for their head-hunting ways a generation back. She is now a mini celebrity in Nagaland for having hosted Gordon Ramsey and starred in his show called “Great Escapes” – a journey seeking the most exotic recipes in foreign lands. Her family and their signature black-pudding-in-bamboo recipe featured in the show and she has since received much respect and adoration for turning the spotlight on Nagaland.
For me, it wasn’t so much the thrill of meeting a celebrity that drove me towards her village Shiyong, than a desire to meet someone who embodies the strength and grit of Naga women in a society where women form the concealed backbone. She is the first one from her tribe to be educated in an urban setting and hasn’t looked back since. For someone to have lived in cities like Delhi and still have chosen to come back to her village to teach in the local school, it is admiration and emulation worthy. She has been instrumental in sending her younger siblings to far-away towns for education and exposure; in helping break ground for a branch of a renowned school in the village for high school education; in communication with various government organizations about the need to preserve the dying heritage of the tribes; and in maintaining such an air of modesty about her obvious worth that it is downright endearing.
During my stay with her family, I couldn’t help but notice how effortlessly she juggles her day job as a primary school teacher, her responsibility as the spokesperson for her tribe, her duties as the perfect hostess and her role as the first-born in the family and as helper in her family occupation of farming. She engineers her care-free travels to provide the perfect foil and balance for her otherwise frenzied life, it seems.
Amidst walks in her family’s tea estate, she tells me about how some travelers, albeit very few, still lack common sense and courtesies integral to the community of couch surfers. How can you teach someone common sense, she laments. When I asked her whether she feels overwhelmed sometimes with all the responsibilities and dreams of escaping to a foreign land, she said, “Why should I? There is no other place more interesting than India and more peaceful than home in this world.” Well said.
I spent a couple of days with her family, talking with two of her teenage sisters who know a little English but much about boys. My serious attempt to understand the differences between Naga and Mizo features was given a comic twist when one of her sisters promptly said, “It’s very easy – Mizo women have bigger boobs and bottoms”. “But”, she added in the same breath, “Naga men prefer fewer curves”. Thank God for that.
Those were lazy days, lying around watching mist enter the spacious bamboo room on the terrace, flipping through old issues of Lonely Planet and taking walks in the village attempting to photograph local children. Unfortunately, my attempts at photography remained largely unsuccessful because the tribesmen believe that when they get their picture taken, their soul is taken away– perhaps Indian celebrities can take a cue from this belief.
After two days of absorbing the Konyak lifestyle and mingling with the family, I had to bid goodbye to Phejin and her kin but only after extracting a promise from her that she would visit me in Bangalore soon. After all, hospitality is best enjoyed when there is an opportunity for reciprocation.
Now, I am not one of those intrepid, impulsive travelers who leave home with just a map in hand and cash in the pocket. On the contrary, I spend weeks researching a place and planning every detail of a trip so much so that the travel itself becomes predictable sometimes. But this time was different. I went in search of a person instead of a destination and found the journey equally edifying, eye-opening and enjoyable all through.
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