There is a joke in Nagaland about the state’s roads. They may stay rocky the year round, but just before Hornbill festival, they magically become world-class.

The subtext is that the festival has become so big and popular that it is politically inconvenient to keep the roads that lead to it broken.

Nagaland’s iconic bird, Hornbill, benignly spreads its wings as the symbol of incredibly diverse culture and tribal mosaic of the region for 10 days from December 1. A little over 12 km from capital Kohima, Kisama Heritage Village comes alive with 17 major tribes like Angami, Ao, Konyak, and Sumi descending in their blazingly colourful costumes to showcase traditional arts, crafts, music, dances, and cuisine.

When the Nagaland government launched it in 2000, it may not have imagined that the festival would grow into a global spectacle drawing over two lakh national and international visitors annually.

The growing soft power of the Hornbill festival is an opportunity to heal and build the region which has been........

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