The year long campaign initiated by NDTV in association with Union Tourism Ministry to unravel the 7 best natural and man-made marvels in the country came to an end with the announcement of 7 Wonders of India at a gala ceremony held at Delhi on Monday, the 30^th of March.

The ’7 Wonders of India’ chosen through nationwide poll are:

1. Sun Temple, Konark
2. Khajuraho
3. Red Fort, Delhi
4. Jaisalmer Fort
5. Meenakshi Temple
6. Nalanda University
7. Dholavira site.

Arunachal Diary thank all it’s reader who had voted for Tawang Monastery in the race for ’7 Wonders of India’.

As I flip through the nostalgic pages, I feel glad to tread down the memory lane and find myself striving diligently like many others to accomplish the petite and simple concept called Pangsau Pass Winter Festival (PPWF) to reinstate the ‘Cultural Identity’ of the Tangsas as well to reinvent this picturesque precinct as the base for ‘Tourism Industry’. I presume, every individual involved will reckon the truth that the grueling itinerary of ‘Cultural Resurrections’ was an emotional journey mingled with pain, pride and pleasures. In fact, the year 2007 was an incredible phase of indigenous awakening and ethnic bonding, all the breathing souls of Tangsa community regardless of age, status and religion amalgamated with committed intentions to revive and celebrate the spirits of ethnicity as well to disclose the serenity of Tangsas Inhabitation. Gradually, PPWF has revolutionized the conventional mindsets and social taboos of a generation. Without any controversies, it has alighted to prove that any religion and many tribal traditions can commingle and co-exist together. As a result, the social merger of all the tribal communities without any religious differences has rejuvenated the social sentiments of unity, integrity and communal harmony, delineating the worthiness of tribal heritages.

Two remarkable years down the line, I’m in cloud nine because of the ripples the 3^rd edition of PPWF’09 is creating worldwide. The credit for this grand success goes to every members of the tribal society, the business fraternities and the Govt. Employees because they’ve toiled together to glide PPWF to the pinnacle. From a petite fete, depicting the Tangsa ethos to the colossal canvas, limning the many colorful tribes of the dawn lit mountains, the journey has been gorgeous and gratifying. Fortunately, the assiduous attitudes of the local inhabitants have coerced the utopian dreams as PPWF to transmute into pleasant reality. Now it sails upon the sea of changes, the Department of Tourism (DoT) has sponsored this to expand the perimeter of PPWF to the next level, signifying the beginning of a new era. I believe, with the fleeting years, under the aegis of Tourism Department it’ll rectify the past flaws and augment it’s horizon by transcending the unknown frontiers.

In fact, if exploited by the book the assorted aspects PPWF renders, then perhaps in the next decade it’ll change into an ample source of economic amplifications as the timely undertaking or change of guard has meliorated the vast scopes of commerce and culture. Optimistically, it is definite to influence the local economy as in the days to come; it is speculated that the economy will revolve around the several scopes created by it. Of course, the widening of commercial spheres will broaden the merry grins, demising the financial groans. “Winning starts with beginning”

With the éclat celebrations of previous year still enduring, the Organizers are optimistic that the PPWF’09 will magnetize more global guests this year as it has decided to introduce some new fascinating formats into the festival frames. The Organizers enlightens blithely that the PPWF’09 has
determined to broaden its scope by incorporating more incredible tribes and traditions of amazing Arunachal and mesmerizing North East, respectively. The resurrection of the ancient heritages of exodus era in these 3 delightful days of ethnic celebration is presumed to entice and entertain the global back packers and culture hunters. Besides, experiencing the exuberant spirits of multi-culture amalgamation and nibbling the indigenous cuisines, the mega event will also exert superfluous efforts to regale the eco-aficionados by opening its enthralling corridors to explore the nature’s treasure house and it’ll also proffer the rarest opportunities to wreath and revere on the grave of bravest soldiers of the war at the World War- II Cemetery, adds the report.

Two splendid years down the line, with little flaws and prudence’s, the assiduous endeavors to depict the tribal heritages, indigenous cuisines and ethnic etiquette along with the sighting of mindboggling bio-assets have become the hallmark of this mammoth carnival and as ever, it is sure enough to mesmerize with its flamboyant presentation and extensive ecoexploration, says the release.

Visit Amazing Arunachal for more information.

Nampong 20^th January: Phusum Kimhun Chairman DoTC strikes the traditional gong to inaugurate the long awaited 2^nd Pangsau Pass Winter Festival 2008 here in Nampong today. On this propitious occasion he released the POI (souvenir) and two audio albums. He further added that this kind of festivals augments cross culture relations and exposes tourism potential of the area. The other guests were DC, Changlang, SP Changlang and many others were also present in the inauguration.

Chief Guest Sri Poshum Khimhun inugurating the PPWF by striking the Gong

It has been highlighted that the PPWF 2008 is the gateway to the shrouded paradise of Arunachal Pradesh and it has been able to showcase the disparate tribes of the state. For the first time the locals and the guest have been able to witness such huge throngs of tribes belonging to different part of AP. Breathtaking performances by the indigenous groups mesmerized the audiences.

Setong Sena, Speaker Arunachal Pradesh Assembly in his speech extended his apologies on behalf of Tako Dabi, who cancelled his trip due to bad weather and thanked Sri. Khimhun for gracing the occasion in such a short notice. He also extended his appreciation to all the crowds and the workers who made this festival a reality. Further more, he said that this kind of cross cultural festivals will definitely enhance the relationship with Myanmar. Sri Tonko Bahadur Rai, Speaker Assam Assembly also graced the occasion and inaugurated the Indigenous Food Fiesta.

The traditional dances presented by the various tribes of AP enthralled the audiences specially the Foreigners who were high in numbers loitering around the festival ground appreciating the breathtaking displays of ethnicity. The Masses also enjoyed the performances of the Myanmar’s cultural troops.

The dignitaries signed for Peace, a signature campaign entitled “We stand and Sign for Peace and Unity”. It was a successful campaign as almost all the visitors present in the festival ground left their signatures and massages.

The VIP entourage than went to visit the Tangsa Hut where the people belonging to various sub-tribes of Tangsa performed SAWI (old traditional songs) that elaborated the histories of migration. Thereafter he inaugurated the Photo Exhibition presented by Arif Siddiqui. The timeless pictures of Stillwell Construction period and Contemporary Jairampur, collected from various sources, throughout the day it was the major attraction of the visitors.

The Pangsau Pass Winter Festival has so much to proffer. The extravagant event unveils the shroud from the concealed world of the Tangsa. The warm smiles of the Tangsas let forget the freezing temperature. Appreciate and admire the simplicity and hospitality. The myriad sub-tribes of Tangsas hypnotizes with the foot tapping beats of drums to the haunting melodies.

The grand event fascinated the visitors and the locals alike. The blazon of Tangsas spirit was on full swing. The multi-cultured traditions flaunted. The brandish of age-old traditions captivates the imaginations. The PPWF highlighted the cultures and cuisines of the Tangsas and the various tribes of AP. The War Cry and gunshots of the Tikhaks enthralled the audiences and the haunting song of the Pangwas, which expressed the saddest thoughts, compelled to recuperate the bygone era of nomadic life.

As the festivals attracts hundreds of visitors from in and out of AP, the remaining two days promises many more visitors from far and near. Practically its economic boom for local traders and if the things persisted the way it is now than the future of this festival is bright enough to enhance the economy and cross border relations.

Thanks Arif.

Find more of Arif’s photo here.

The final countdown of 2^nd Pangsau Pass Winter Festival (PPWF) 2008 has commenced. Six more days (20th to 22^nd January) and the spectacular PPWF 2008 will be officially unveiled for the whole world to glimpse the spectacular display of cultural carnival, traditional sports and indigenous delicacies. The ethnic extravaganza is geared up to enthrall the guests from across the globe. Its festive time as the New Years begins blended with ethnic amusement celebrating ethnic diversity. The dedication, determination and perspiration of the locals have created a magnificent stage for the ethnic cultures to hurtle the hurdles and triumph over the emotions. The concept of the PPWF is not to get contained within an area & favor a tribe, but it desires to spread its wings and fly beyond the horizons to disclose the mysteries of amazing AP.

Sri Tako Dabi, Minister for Water Resources Development and Parliamentary affairs has consented to grace the occasion as chief guest and will inaugurate the three days Winter Festival at Nampong starting on 20^th January.

The decisive moment has arrived that the youths of Arunachal consider and defend sincerely their ancient heritage because it’s a marvelous endowment from the exodus era. Few years back who might have thought that the forgotten customs of the isolated tribal people dwelling far away from the maddening crowd would fascinate the urban masses to travel around the secluded countryside just to witness the indigenous dances, traditional dresses and taste a glass of U or Apong? It’s a moment of truth, a triumph of tribal heritage and a time to celebrate ethnicity. Disregard the craze of highlife, overlook being highly qualified, forget the appetite of urbanism but be proud and be grateful that somehow ethnicity still survive and thrives in this part of the world. So, be there to celebrate the moment of pride. Don’t be stunned or surprised of inheriting the primeval legacy but be pompous and proud that you are one of the tribes that still can cause ripples worldwide.

Unfortunately, AP is not renowned for its nightlife or fast life but it is famous for the lively tribes, the organic foods, the terrace cultivations, the incredible landscapes, the thatched bamboo houses, the unique dialects, the innocent smiles, affable natures etc. The PPWF 2008 is working on this track to promote or showcase the matchless characteristics of tribal peoples and the indigenous resources used for survival. The cultural carnival is sure enough to mesmerize with its colorful presentation.

As PPWF is synonyms to Eco-tourism thus the ADC Sri M.Roy, Jairampur, has decided to keep the entire area POLY FREE ZONE and in this regard he has prohibited the use of POLY BAGS within the Festival area. This will gradually be implemented in entire Sub Division very shortly. It is a huge step towards creating an unpolluted and greener environment.

Curious Children looking at the hoarding of festival: The Nampong and Jairampur are excited and inspired for the 2nd PPWF – Photo : Arif Siddiqui

Find more on Pangsau Pass Winter Festival here.

For details of the festival contact: -

Arif Siddiqui
Media & Publicity In charge
Pangsau Pass Winter Festival 2008
Land – 03800-222770, Hand – 09436057366

Email – arunachal.arif@gmail.com

Bribing some top-notch bureaucrat or politician for a job in government department is so common for the people of Ziro and Arunachal as a whole, and to find a niche in life without greasing anyone’s palm seems rather sporadic to me. My cronies asked me if I was wound up by the tidings when I got a job as teacher. As a matter of fact, I might have been if it happened thirteen years back. And if there was any dab of happiness in getting this job, it quickly died down with the update that the school, where I was needed to teach, is at the periphery of provinces.

I discussed so much about the contretemps of being posted at geographical fringes with my friends, that ‘would-be’ my first visit to Radum was beginning to look like an upheaval task. When I finally made the journey I realized it was much easier to tough out than painfully thinking or talking about admonition. It was undoubtedly a dispiriting and wearisome journey though, but at the same time was not impossible either. There were two mountains to ascend and descend, and a stream thrown in between which becomes a river and unable to cross in rainy season as the student, who aided me to carry my baggage, explained to me while crossing the river which was reaching up to my thigh already. Many a times, while climbing the mountain I thought my lungs will collapse from respiring very deeply, and at times my knee will give in from interminable trek. It took more than three hours to reach Radum. My colleagues told me that I was swift for a beginner.

Radum is a hamlet, populated by denumerable Nyishi families and hidden behind extremely steep mountains. It is even hard to imagine that the people would dwell in such hostile terrain – virtually cut-off from human civilization.

When I first saw the dilapidated school building and the staff quarter, I felt incommodious. I wondered how they could reside in the building which was old, haggard and patchy and urgently needed a fix. And the building could cave in anytime, I feared. When I arrived at Radum, it appeared as stillness enveloped the entire village. I expected some teaching staff will receive me when I’ll show myself up in Radum. But they were nowhere to be seen; even the villagers couldn’t able to tell me there whereabouts. I returned home with heavy heart, weary mind and absolutely pooped soma. And for a day, I found myself in awkward situation whether to resign or embrace the job.

All my family members including my close relatives and friends plumped for the pick that I should take up the job. I thought, perhaps it was my kismet – a career hand-picked by God for me. So I decided to stay and put up with all the adversity.

Adversity is adventurous in a way, only it’s an eternal and we’ve to endure it with grunts. Honestly, I was a tad upset when I learnt that I had to march more than forty kilometers on foot to arrive at my destined school. Absence of electricity and communication in Radum and its vicinity was indeed unpleasant but it wasn’t of primary importance to me because the candle and the torch light could fill-in and serve as a substitute, and because I have a hope that the power will reach at Radum in near future. However, it was humorous to watch the naked lamp post which was rusting and on verge of falling apart and which can still be seen around the village. The villagers told me of the times when they had electricity at their hamlet for couple of months. As of now, it seemed as if no one is bother about the absence of electricity. Besides, the villagers are using the wire to fasten or tie the fence. And I don’t blame them at all for using it, seeing that it comes handy as rope. At least they’re making good use of it. What else one could do with the wire when it doesn’t carry any electric current?

The basal issue in Radum is drinking water. My colleague once told me, “Had it not been for the landslide which knocked down the water tank, we might still be having running water in our school compound”. I presumed the state of water reservoir was perhaps beyond repair. So I had to take a half an hour of vigorous exercise of ascending and descending the mountain in every morning just to wash up. And the water from where we fetched was neither well nor it was spring. Though it looked like a shallow furrow that had filled with rainwater, it meets our daily requirement of water – cooking, dishwashing and if we would use water sparingly we would save some for tea also. Sometimes, when the student would get ahead of me and see me sloping down the mountain, they would bellow and inform me that the water reserves had completely drawn down, and then it would become ineluctable for me from doing some more workouts (I had to descend beyond the water hole near the foot of a mountain) of sloping down where there was another source of water. If it is not for the scarce supply of drinking water and lack of basic amenities, Radum could be ideal vacationing spot for both nature lovers and tourist. The vast green foliage stretch on all directions as far as the eye can see, not to mention the multitudes of colorful birds that chirp and hops on them. And at night, the stars appear so bright and nigh as if we could pluck one of them. On a clear day, even a snowcapped mountain can be seen from Radum. For some, the weather can be pleasantly befitting but it reminds me of my hometown – unpredictable, cool and windy which doesn’t go well with me. Maybe, altitude engenders it and the chillness of wind perhaps derives from the far-off snowcapped mountains. Apart from weather; there is many more I have yet to see and explore, viz. the mystifying waterfall, which the denizens believe is haunted, and if any unfamiliar visitor comes by this waterfall, will meet an unnatural death. Because I heard a similar anecdote from one of my Naga friend, so I got anxious to travel and see this place as soon as I can but what they told me is that it may take a long time to reach there. Besides, I thought it is vain to go there without an equipment to capture the unexposed sight.

During my first two weeks stay at Radum, I couldn’t ingest the food my colleague provided me, as everything tasted so stale. Besides, scarcity of water enables us to wash our utensil rarely. Therefore, everything looked so filthy and unhygienic that I would shelve my meal until my stomach grumbles. As the day passed, I got accustomed with the coarse meal and it mattered a little whether the food was well-cooked or hygienic. In any given day, the smell of rat meat can make me puke, and I made it taboo to consume anything that is not domesticated. I reckon the taboo is wholly based on our perception. And if we twist the way we perceive things – even the poison becomes comestibles and the impossible becomes possible. Believe me, I am yet to taste the delicacy – rat meat, of course.

There’s nothing much to do at Radum when the school hours will end and the students will leave for their respective chores. Sometimes I would stroll around the village and watch the tall mountain. And sometimes I would immerse myself in the world of Mario Puzo’s Godfather and sleep, or my colleagues and I would play volley ball match where the loser team would buy a chicken for dinner.

When I got back home after spending two weeks at Radum, I couldn’t attune myself with the sophistication of urbanism for two days. The only noises at Radum were the winds in the forest or the spatter of rains on tin roof, interspersed with babel of voices from hostellers. I used to regard my hometown, Ziro, quite reinvigorating until I came face to face with the wide open spaces of countryside. Now I feel congested amidst myriad of vehicles and souls. Moreover, it is like a one large septic tank, always stinking of feces and urine – be it a shopping complex or housing estate. I guess I have to endure this hellish stench till my vacation is over.

“No wonder,” one Arunachalee student of Delhi University said. “Ours is a land of hunters. To expect of birds-even rats and snakes are not spared.”

The old folks of Yazali, Yachuli and Ziro, however, felt that the area is still quite rich in bird populations. Sight of birds in roadside and jhum or cultivated area depends on the different times of day and the different seasons of year. They also acknowledged having spotted almost all the bird species mentioned and illustrated in the Salim Ali’s ‘FIELD GUIDE TO THE BIRDS OF THE EASTERN HIMALAYAS’ in the area, though not all of them have local names. They also agreed upon the fact that the numbers of various bird populations are dwindling due to hunting or may also be due to addition of more and more of forest land under cultivation area.

The bird populations, frequented in vicinity of cultivated area, are different species of pigeons, wagtails, kites, hawks, eagles, kingfishers, hoopoes, owls, hornbills, jungle fowls etc. A good number of migratory birds also visit this area. The birds such as heron, ducks, cranes and others used this area, especially the Ziro valley, as a stop over for their long journey from Siberia or Tibet to the plains of India and back. This author is told that some species of the migratory birds (also known as game birds) are conspicuously missing since last four – five years. “Now they seemed to have changed their path for the fear of hunters,” Said one bird lover.

Hunting is quite popular in the area, particularly in Ziro valley. Ring road in Ziro has served at least one purpose- easy access to otherwise undisturbed wooded forest some four years ago. Today one sees hunters roaming about here with improvised guns, round the clock, and hunting whatever they see on their way- deer, monkey, birds and so on. Birds being the most easily visible prey are the soft target.

In fact hunting is a popular sport of the people of Arunachal. Along with illiterate and uneducated villagers, government officials and public leaders with improvised guns have joined the race. Such a culprit has been booked and punished elsewhere in the world but the law enforcing agencies of the state are, to some extent, blind to such activities.

“What a rubbish!” said an old man from Hari village when this author told him that the killing of birds such as hoopoe, hornbill etc., which are the threatened species, is offence against the law. “If birds are not to be hunted and relished, what is it for?” He is an illiterate lot. He is not aware of what we were taught in our schools; that every living organism has their own role in an ecosystem.

In fact birds are benefactor of man in many ways. They exercise a very important role of biological control. The birds such as flycatcher, hoopoe, woodpecker and others (in fact most of the birds) control the population of insect pests by feeding on them. In their absence, these pests would multiply in numbers and cause havoc to our commercial trees and crops. We can imagine how devastating these pests could be from the fact that when locusts move on in swarms, extending many kilometres, devour anything of grasses and leaves that come their way. Some birds known as the birds of prey such as owl, hawk eagle etc., kill and devour thousands of field mice, rats, ground squirrel etc., which are menace to our agricultural crops. Besides, they are an important agent of seed dispersal and thus conserve the forest. The man did not plant those huge trees of the woods; it is the birds, wild animals and some natural agents that did it. The bird that feeds on fruits of the tree also engulfs their seeds which come out with their droppings in some distant places and sprout out into seedlings.

Needles to mention, birds enhance the natural beauties of the area.

Moreover, in these days of eco-tourism, Arunachal Pradesh has huge potential to become its destination and bird watching and bird hunting (with cameras not with guns) are very much the part of the eco-tourists. Once we stop killing birds for our pleasure, restore their habitat and they are coming back in good numbers, we will be able to attract many such tourists, especially the foreign tourists, which will boost the tourism industry of the state.

Do we need to think twice before shouldering our responsibility? Let us save and protect our feathered friends. Hunting surely is an exciting sport. What a noble idea it would be to hunt birds and wild animals with cameras in place of guns!