Glimpses and happy memories that I brought back from the third edition of North East festival, New Delhi!
There is a beautiful piece of India that we fondly call as Northeast. It is made up of ‘Seven Sister states and Sikkim’. Together they ( Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura, Sikkim) boast of a rich cultural heritage and gorgeous landscapes. The capital of India, New Delhi had a date with Northeast just recently. A 3 day carnival called Northeast Festival (Connecting People Celebrating Life) was alive between 16th to 18th October at IGNCA Ground, Janpath. I attended the second day of this extravaganza and loved every bit of it. The pictures below will give you a glimpse of it.
Northeast Festival – Connecting People Celebrating Life
Me and my friend strolled around the whole area and we enjoyed reading around the lovely facts about Northeast. Here I would love to share a few facts with you too…
Majuli in Assam is the world’s largest river island.
Arunachal Pradesh is the Land of the Rising Sun.
Mawlynnong in Shillong, Meghalaya is the cleanest village in Asia.
Asia’s second largest Buddhist Monastery is located at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh.
Wow, I loved the positively around the state. In fact this was my first visit to this festival and it really helped me to create a beautiful perception about North east.
MUSICAL EXTRAVAGANZA
We managed to visit the IGNCA ground only for two hours and thus we were not able to catch up with any of the thirty dance forms that were presented at this three day festival but the fashion show and the musical performance from Traffic Jam was the highlight of our visit. And of course we brought back some hand made flowers! Girls cannot live without shopping.
Before you scroll down to look at the pictures, you must watch this video which I managed to make when the band ‘Traffic Jam’ from Manipur played the the tune of Sara Jahan Se Acha… It was lovely!
We all know that there is a big strength of people who do not know about the food, music, handicraft, art, culture of these eastern states of India and thus this festival was a great chance to be enamored by the Northeastern beauty and their accomplishments. Yes, its time to narrow down the gap that exists between northeast and rest of India. Let us not forget that we are all from one country.
Right there, close to the entrance, next to the shopping arena, there was a cartoon tree and the art work assembled at this one place was wonderful. Lovely sketches! Wish I had more time to do the art appreciation.
We did not miss checking out the beautiful hand loom and handicraft exhibition. There were not many shops but each one had a special significance to it and it showcased an authentic specialty of the Seven sister states and Sikkim.
The most beautiful orchids are found in Northeast and also world’s 70 percent comes from there. This eastern part of our country boasts of world’s seven richest biodiversity areas and we still don’t know much about it.
After exploring the shops, we walked to the center stage and were able to catch a glimpse of this fashion show. No doubt, the women from north east are pretty and talented in all fields.
While strolling around, we were met by two photographers whose pictures were showcased in this wall that has 120 captures. It was great to learn about the three photography clubs- Noida Photography club, Faridabad Photography Club and Ghaziabad Photography Club. Check out their FB pages and if its holds interest for you, be a part of it. They run on a no loss, no profit basis and do everything that a amateur and professional photographer would love to do.
220 languages are spoken in Northeast region alone but the language of music needs to translations. Who doesn’t know that and rock and pop music runs in the blood of North eastern fraternity? One must check out the Hornbill festival held in Kohima, Nagaland. It is one of the biggest music and dance festival.
The band was super fun!
This flower shop was super tempting. The owner was a sweet and warm lady and she had some amazing flowers to offer. They are all made by hand but they look so natural.
There was a tree house too. It made for a lovely photo point. We reached there when it was pitch dark but in the day time, I would have wanted to climb to the top too.
The whole campus was decorated in the lovely colors that signified faith and religion.
The camp in the painting as well as two cute little camps made right below the painting looked super tempting. I returned inspired to do it some day. Who doesn’t know that Tawang is amazingly beautiful?
There were 25 chosen food stalls with authentic food items. I can confirm on this because we could not find any North Indian or South Indian food but strictly North eastern. Since it was Navratras, I had to refrain from giving a shot to the chicken Momos. On the other days I would have just not let the chance slip by.
The festival was a great way of connecting people of India. No doubt, the traveler in me is inspired to travel to North east soon but this too was a great way to get tempted to read more about this part of the country that is full of varied richness. I have never been to eastern India and I really look forward to crossing the Siliguri Corridor popularly as ‘Chicken’s Neck’ some day. The rich hilly terrain, the beautiful national parks, tea estates and of course the Momos are a must do in Northeast. What do you say?
Well, If you did grab a chance to be at the fest, do share your experience. Next year, we must all go!
Happy Blogging!!
Beautiful photos , Thank you 🙂