Hornbill festival is one of the largest cultural festivals in the world. This year marks the 25th year anniversary. Our state, Nagaland, is already faced with a budget deficit of some thousand crores, but to keep the tag of 'Festival of Festivals' intact, money has been pumped in for the success of this event. After all, bill is a crucial word to complete Hornbill.
For the time being, the amusement brought about by the Hornbill festival might help us to divert ourselves from the pertaining questions like unemployment, poor infrastructural facilities, corruption etc. On social media, some of users have ranted about it.
True, tourism is also a way to generate state revenue, and Hornbill festival provides the best opportunity for promoting tourism by attracting domestic and international tourists, no doubt about it. However, when a state aims to be a tourist destination, it has to be backed by a strong Destination Development Plan or else investment will turn into expenditure, the loss of which cannot be recovered even in the coming years.
Right from its inception, Hornbill festival has received its fair share of criticism, mainly from two groups: one that questions about its economic feasibility and the other, who are more concerned about its impact on our spirituality. However, both the groups might agree on keeping our rich Naga culture alive. History has it, one of the ways by which culture is kept alive is through commercialisation of it. Wine is an integral part of French culture and this culture of theirs has been kept intact through its sheer accessibility and promotion. Hence, it's wise not to push our culture to a frozen peak just because a middle ground cannot be achieved due to overlapping of opinions and ideologies.
Lastly, in my opinion, the venues where major events are supposed to held should be strictly supervised. Till now, no catastrophe has happened, thankfully never a stampede. However, what if a short circuit ignites a fire and engulfs the arena, but yes, to its credit the festival is celebrated in open air, I am just getting paranoid.
