Alternative Arunachal Part 01 (Dree, the indigenous festival of monsoons, rice and changing people)

The application is there with the UNESCO office for recognization of the area with large valleys of rice surrounded by mountains of Bamboo and Pine Sacred Groves as World Heritage Site. The Japanese experts say that the indigenous variety of rice is the highest density known globally. This grows in the Apatani Valley as wet cultivation, with fishes (mainly carps) growing in the water of the rice valleys helping them to grow faster and the bamboo and pine leaves and pine needles of the adjoining hills make the natural compost, fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides for the fields. The communities believe that the secret of this best rice crop of the world is in the sacred groves, where the souls of the ancestors live and are free from human interference. This should not give an idea that the Dree Festival is all about Rice and Fish, which is certainly the daily market, but the festival for me is more of the delicious Dog and Mithun dry meat with lots of black Apong.

This was not that of a very planned or well thought journey to Arunachal Pradesh. Casually I happened to reach Dibrugarh by Rajdhani Express from Siliguri, after an overnight journey was picked up early morning by Prashanta, the community leader who runs the Dihing River Camp with Help Tourism. Next day, on the 3^rd of July, 2013, we ferried over through Bogibeel Ghat, where a 5kms long bridge on 42 pillars is expected to complete by 2015. All these ferries in the Himalaya are a lifetime experience with landscape and people in focus. Sometimes when I see these bridges being built, I feel sad for an endangered Indian ferry culture, which supports thousands of families and brings together diverse communities through their skills. The cost of these bridges could have probably subsidised the ferry culture for the next 02 decades.

Sorry, I often get carried away with the traditional culture of the rivers which keep people connected to them because of their day to day use. The entry was through the bordering Assam town of Shilapathar and finally driving through the Ego River Valley landscape, where Help Tourism hosts their guests in community camp sites, I reached the Along area for overnight rest. While I was entering through the Leikabil check-post, the Incharge asked me if I was there for the Dree Festival. I suddenly remembered about this main festival of Central Arunachal Pradesh and I left early morning the next day driving through the Subanshiri River Valley reached Ziro late in the evening on 4^th July.

First, I must tell you all about the good things that can happen, I met the Ambassadors of Northeast at the Dree Festival at Ziro. Arif Siddique, the famous photographer for representing India’s Northeast through his lively and typically Northeast photographs, Lou Majaw for his globally famous musical voice from Northeast, Tagge Kanno for his understanding of the NGO movement of Northeast at the global level and Asit Biswas the main story builder for National Geographic and BBC Wildlife filming in Northeast were at the festival and we all got together to an extended celebration in the evening.

Though the images will do most of the explanation, but to talk about Dree, it is a festival of borrowing and lending of food grains to balance stock at home and compensated after the harvest. The present fixed day celebration of 5^th July was started in 1967 in the Apatani valley of Ziro. Though the festival is more about the Apatani tribe, but it remains incomplete without the participation of the Nyishis and Galongs. The priests and GaoBurrhas in warrior and traditional dresses complete the ceremonies of chicken, egg and mithun sacrifice. The main headgear of the Apatanis, which has been inherited generation after generation has a typical comb whose origin is lost and may be found out through the picture enclosed. This headgear is taken out, prayed and displayed only during the Dree Festival. The fusion of tradition and modern fashion comes with a fine line and the elegance of this balanced fusion is reflected in the entire festival. It is sometimes hard to believe at places like the Apatani valley, which is supposed to be remote can display so much of modern lifestyle too.

As I fly out of the valley with the setting sun in the western sky, I believe that one day I would be flying out further East to the neighbouring countries singing the success of India’s Look East Policy. An opportunity to find the origin of the hair-pin in the Apatani headgear, passed on from one generation to the other since time unknown.

Legends of the Lake of No Return and Stories from the Pangsau Pass

The Khamti community in Arunachal Pradesh say that Pang Sau means ‘camping place’ and when they migrated here as Tai-Khamtis, they did take rest here. Today also they visit the Pangsau Pass as a pilgrimage to pay respect to their ancestors. The Singpho and the Tangsa communities too consider this pass as a sacred place.

 The Pangsau Pass came into importance with the building of the Stilwell Road, also known as the Burma Road or the Ledo Road. During World War II, the CBI (China-Burma-India) theatre sprang into importance with the Japanese and the Allied forces trying to cover grounds. It became necessary for the Allied forces to connect the Ledo base in Assam, India with Kunming in Yunan, China. The air route was not only expensive, but ‘flying over the hump’ became almost impossible. Finally, General Joseph W Stilwell took up the responsibility to built the road through Burma, starting from Ledo, going through the ‘Hell Gate’ in present Jairampur and then the legendary Pangsau Pass and Lake of No Return.

The area still has the remains of the heritage wilderness, community traditions and happenings of World War II, which the world with nostalgia wants to experience. Keeping this in view the local communities of Jairampur, Nampong, Manmao and Rima got together with Help Tourism in 2006 to warm-up for the ‘Pangsau Pass Winter Festival’. The official event was launched in 2007 with the active support of Government of Arunachal Pradesh.

Arunachal Pradesh celebrated her 25 years statehood in India on the 20^th of February, 2012. This was a Union Territory of India under North East Frontier Agency and Governed under the Governor of Assam till 1972. On 20^th February, 1987, Arunachal Pradesh became the 25^th state of India. Inbetween this was a Union Territory placed under the Chief Commissioner. To enter any place in Arunachal Pradesh, even every Indian citizen has to seek permission under the Bengal Frontier Regulation Act 1872-73, implemented by the then British administration.

The 02 best ancient neighbours, connected through Buddhism historically are fighting over their borders, mainly over Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese defence forces reached Tezpur in Assam in 1962 and still issues stapled visas or no visa to Indians from Arunachal Pradesh, with the claim that these Indians in Arunachal Pradesh are Chinese citizens and would not need a visa to visit China. I am sure travellers in China and India will always want to visit each other’s country, like the Buddhist era, with respect for each other’s country and sharing the great knowledge and traditions. All travellers worldwide look forward to land travel or river routes in Asia with single Asian Visa.

There is an event which was organized during this year’s PPWF 2013 (Pangsau Pass Winter Festival 2013) by the PPWF committee, Assam Rifles, Nature’s Beackon and Help Tourism, the common man’s bicycle expedition from Ledo to Pangsau Pass, an event for people in Upper Assam and Eastern Arunachal Pradesh to realise their ownership on the Pangsau Pass. The popular Assam legend says that the Tai Ahoms, when they entered the Lohit-Brahmaputra valley through Pangsau Pass, under the leadership of the Great Chaolung Sukhapaa in the early 13^th century, they pledged never to return beyond the Nangyang Lake, which came to be known as the ‘Lake of No Return. The Allied forces part of the story says that while flying over the hump, all radio signals would be lost and the lake would hallucinate as a landing area, and as the cargo planes would force land over there, lost in a densely forested landscape, the big flying carriers would be lost in the lake waters forever. Many local people still find remains of such planes scattered in the hump and lake. 

There are some extraordinary experiences of travellers to this area in all respects: journey, nature, people, rivers, food, history, legends etc. All those who are interested in contributing to the legends of the Lake of No Return and stories from the Pangsau Pass, and want them published in this blog, please email write-up or photographs or documents to atishdipankara@gmail.com.