Picto Diary - 07 December 2019 (4) - Hornbill Festival Day Two

Above: Diorama of Kohima Ridge. Battle of Kohima. World War II Museum. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

Excellent representation of battlefield where British and Commonwealth troops made a final stand to prevent the onward movement of Japanese troops to Imphal. April 1944.

Drums stands in background.

Above: Drums and Sgt. Kumar of The Assam Rifles regiment of the Indian Army. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

The Assam Rifles, "The Fighting Fourteenth," played a critical role in holding back the Japanese at The Battle of Kohima, April 1944, during WWII. Today's Indian Army retains the strong regimental tradition passed on by the Brits.

Japanese armaments shown in foreground. Drums knows the weapons. He correctly points out that the captured rifle shown in the image is a Japanese model 99.

The role of Indian soldiers in both WWI (where two million, mostly Punjabis fought) and WWII (where there were 2.5 million Indian soldiers) has received historical short shrift.

Above: Tripura dance group. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

Above: Naga King Chili Eating Contest. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

Naga King Chile eating contest.

Blood pressure check required before entry. Guinness Book of Records 2007. Naga King Chili. Hottest chili in the world. In world competition to create the world's hottest chili, other chilis have since surpassed the Naga King Chili in strength.

Ambulance and team of doctors present.

Hyper hyped with metal sound track and enthusiastic announcers.

Announcer: We are not responsible!!!! It will change your life forever!

The event session was timed. The winner downed ten chilis in the space of one minute.

Koessler and Drums went down to the stage to get caught up in the event. Koessler was persuaded by the announcers to try a Naga King Chili, not as a contestant, but, as part of the hype. He took a half bite of one and about had to be hospitalized. A local friendly plied him with milk powder and he was OK within a few minutes. I give Koessler a lot of credit for joining into the frenzy of the event. How the contestants can down seven to ten of these things is a mystery.

Above: Drums, TIMDT, and Koessler in stands. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland, India. 07 December 2019.

The Hornbill Festival was a sensory feast.

Yesterday, I walked into the stadium between two columns of Naga tribes people, male and female, colorfully dressed in their tribal duds. The tribes people, forming two lines, facing one another, with me and other spectators walking between them, were rhythmicallly chanting. MMMMM (two, three, four), MMMMMM (two, three, four), MMMMM (two, three, four)... They moved back and forth as they chanted. The effect was mesmerizing. I teared up, overwhelmed by this unique travel experience.

We weren't the only foreigners (gringos, as Drums liked to call us), but foreigners were few. There were a lot of photographers, many of them foreign, who were capturing images from every angle.