Impesshye Kohima! (Thank you Kohima…) - Kohima Diaries 4

Well! Tomorrow morning I start my travel at 9am. I will be back to Delhi – waiting for me is work, pending meetings, stretched traffic signals, unconventional weather, Gurgaon’s power cuts, running life and a lot to rush. Last 3-4 days, I have been feeling the heat already!

The beautiful valley of ‘Kohima’ – introduced to me the simplest life I ever thought of. I actually had never thought of a life without television, with a struggle for vegetarian food, with a walking habit and me finding the time for it and lot of time for soul searching, with a routine of waking up at 7am and going back to bed around 9.30pm or 10pm at night and beyond this, never feeling the need for a day to get any longer. It was all said n done during the day and I could get a peaceful sleep as I was never worried or in a rush to get up another morning with a lot of post-its on my mind. Ah! Such a pleasure n peace it has been for last 20 days.

And back home, many-a-times I wanted the day to get longer as 24 hours were not enough. If it isn’t work always, it can be catching up with a friend, visiting a party, dating Rohit, having a peaceful lunch/dinner, visiting parents etc., we lose many a times on a most of such simple & important things. All because of ‘The Rush’ –this is one thing I never saw/felt/heard or experienced in Kohima. Amazing city – it gave me time to observe, think and do some soul searching. So the curiosity of why so different has now turned into something like – ‘Different is simple and simple is good’.

And for the experience I would like to say ‘Thanks’ to the Department Of Technical Education, Kohima for giving me the opportunity to be a part of their Integrated Program of Advanced Retail Management and experience an altogether different yet beautiful life.

My Take-Away’s from the brief Visit:

   ‘Uncomplicate Life’: Life is only complicated if we make it that way. We need to find peace in simple things. People out here are so simple and yet so satisfied. What are you rushing for?

2.       ‘Do not compare’: Somehow, I felt that life here is beautiful because no one believes in any kind of comparisons. Everybody is happy with whatever they are blessed with and of course, at their own levels they are trying to improve it. Again with no rush, they have their faith and their hard work. Their minds are at peace.

3.       ‘Prioritize & communicate’:  People here know their priorities right. They don’t do things for pleasing others; they don’t burden themselves with unnecessary tensions. They know their priority and communicate with so much ease.

4.       ‘Be Proud of your Place’: One should be proud of the place one belongs and should be respectful about where it started – the journey called ‘Life’.

 [Yes, though people here are lazy to take up things and to initiate but surely the Government & Youth are bound to spread awareness and the best thing is wherever they learn or earn, they are all eager to come back & contribute to their city, their state.]  We all think like that at some point or the other but how many of us actually do that? And the people – I have met have no religious or conservative motives – they just want to be back and do something here – at their land of festivals.

5.       ‘Love & Affection’: Yes, I am taking back lot of love & affection from the people here. Their simplicity mesmerized me at various levels. My students were like a bunch of variety in many ways. They weren’t street smart like those from metro geographies but they were sincere & eager to learn & experience new things. They accepted the course & change with open arms. I made a very good friend here – who not only took me around to places but also helped me understand the culture and people here. And all these people gave me wonderful memories.

6.       ‘Judgments are not good’:  I always believed in ‘no early judgments’ and people close to me know that I do not jump on judgment easily. This visit helped me reinforce my belief. People here shall not be judged on what they have experienced & are exposed to because we need to understand the pitch of life we have and they have. We have gained speed and momentum and we are busy chasing happiness in the form of jobs, money, exposure, achievement etc and they have earned peace with the very belief – we are here to live –happily.

Are you wondering again – How?

Kohima Diaries- 3, Kohima War Cementry

When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,

For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today"

Saturday, we visited the Kohima War Cementry. I have never been to such a place before so it was slightly difficult for me to explore and learn about such a place where a war was fought and people had died saving that place.

It was even disheartening to know that there also lay the graves of warriors who died an unknown death as their identities couldn’t be traced. My heart mellowed thinking about their families. Rohit, my husband who has a deep interest in history told me about the Tennis Court around which the British Indian troupes fought the Japanese.

Though I was happy that people here are proud of this place and CWG is maintaining it in a very respectful way. It is not commercialized though it always flashes on Nagaland Tourism. You can actually read out the names of those who fought here and lost their lives, those who were in any which way a part of those battalions.

Walking down from the War Cementry- we found an Aircraft which was very much a part of World War II but is now placed inside the Governor’s residing premises so we couldn’t click it. But it was devastating to find the tank of World War II in such a pathetic condition with lot of beer bottles, canes and filth loitered around.  We wondered – why in the world is the government ignorant about this.

All in all – a great experience with lot of mingling thoughts about those who actually gave their lives for our today and tomorrow.