For a while now, I have had this picture in my head of a holiday where I stay in a house on top of a hill with an imposing mountain peak — something like the Mount Fuji in Japan — in the background.

An unplanned stay at the village of Kigwema, 12 km from Kohima, the capital of Nagaland, was a sort of fulfilment of this long-held desire. Not ruling out a trip to Japan just yet, however.

Located on the foothills of the state’s second-highest mountain peak Japfu (3,048m), Kigwema is a village of around 700 families who are traditionally Angamis, one of the major tribes in the state. The village has a history associated with the Japanese that goes back to World War II, when British and Indian forces fought the Imperial Army during the Battle of Kohima in 1944.

The backdrop of my visit was the famous Hornbill Festival in December last year. The cultural festival has been taking place in a village called Kisama, some 4 km from Kigwema, since 2000. People who visit Hornbill usually put up in Kohima. However, one needs to book hotels at least a month in advance since costs shoot up around then. We didn’t book ours and ended up scrambling for accommodation. Fortunately, we found a homestay in Kigwema instead. And the village became the highlight of our trip.

House on a hill

We reached the Zhasa Residence, the fairly new homestay, on a sunny morning. The house was a single-storey rectangular building in the main village square.

Our neat and spacious room on the upper floor had pretty windows. We spent most of our time in the house on the terrace, lined with pots of pink geranium. Spread out before us were views of the village square, which, under the sun, looked as attractive as a photograph. The sky was a clear blue and the temperature (about 15°C during the day) just right for sitting outdoors.

At night, the mercury dropped to about five degrees, but we still managed to be up by 5 am to watch the sunrise from the terrace. Some of the houses in the distance glittered in the dark, thanks to Chinese lamps and Christmas decorations. And the chill in the air seemed to dissipate as the sun rose, its rays lighting up Mount Japfu and slowly spreading to the other peaks in sight.

The picture inside the house was just as warm and comforting. Akhrie Zhasa, in her 20s, was our go-to person for everything — from requests for tea to information on the history of the village. We gathered for meals and innumerable cuppas in the kitchen that never seemed to sleep. We sat by the fire as we ate gooey rice flour cakes and sticky puffed rice. The repeated assurance — “You are like family” — made each mouthful special.

Viewpoints everywhere

A few steps from the homestay was a traditional wooden Angami house. It had traditional carvings of the head of a mithun (a local bovine) on the outer wall. Inside the house, the owner showed us how rice is pounded the old way — in a depression made in a thick slab of wood that looked like an oversized bed. It was also used for storing household items.

Almost every house in Kigwema had stacks of firewood. And from almost everywhere we could admire Mount Japfu. The neighbouring villages, at a distance of 5-8 km from Kigwema, seemed to greet us from the surrounding hills. Most of them have names that end with ‘ma’ (‘house’ in Angami dialect): Jakhama, Viswema and so on.

We also found three churches in the village. And we noted the love the villagers have for post-dinner chit-chats with neighbours. It seemed the favourite Kigwema pastime.

Road ahead

After Kigwema, we walked to the nearest village named Mima some 5 km away. One thing that stood out for us was its strikingly smooth road. Travelling to Dimapur, Kohima and Kigwema had taken a toll on our back, so the condition of the road that looped around Mima came as a pleasant surprise.

Smaller in size than Kigewma, the village has a helipad, a football field and a string of modern buildings — some are private residences while a few belong to the village administration. In a little over an hour, we had covered all of Mima. On the one hand were its pretty terraced paddy fields; on the other were its Angami residents, practising their traditional dance for a performance in some other part of the state.

At the Hornbill fest, between eating the varied pork dishes, drinking rice beer and visiting the traditional morungs (youth dormitories) we managed to slip in a short trek to the peak of the Naga Heritage Village, the venue of the fest in Kisama.

As we walked back to Zhasa Residence through dark roads and thick forests, there was nothing but a blanket of stars above us.

Ramzauva Chhakchhuak is a writer based in Shillong and Bengaluru