How North East Festival in Delhi is helping to dispel myths, misinformation regarding the region

On Saturday, the fifth edition of the North East Festival was inaugurated by Union culture minister Mahesh Sharma at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for The Arts in the national capital.

New Delhi, Nov 4: On Saturday, the fifth edition of the North East Festival was inaugurated by Union culture minister Mahesh Sharma at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for The Arts in the national capital.

The tagline of the three-day long festival is "connecting people, celebrating life".

The very idea of the festival is to help dispel myths and misinformation surrounding the Northeast region of the country which because of its distance from the mainland India remained an enigma for many.

The festival is promoting the region through its cuisines, handloom products and musical performances by various well-known artistes from the Northeast.

"The festival will see performances by artistes like rapper Borkung Hrangkhawl, heavy metal bands Pulse Pandits and Girish & Chronicles (GATC) and Traffic Jam. The fifth edition also has the NEF Rock Battle, which will see rock bands of Delhi colleges competing against each other. The winner will win a cash prize and also get a chance to perform on the final day of the festival," stated a report by IANS.

"One can witness about 30 dance forms like Naga warrior dance, Hojagiri of Tripura, Bamboo dance of Mizoram, Wangala dance of Meghalaya and much more. This year, a separate stage has been dedicated to fashion. There will be fashion shows. Buyers and sellers can also meet," added IANS.

In fact, Delhi's relationship with the region is not a very pleasant one, as often people from the Northeast have alleged racial attacks against them in the national capital.

"The festival helps to build bridges between the natives of the national capital and Northeastern people, who are staying in Delhi to pursue their education and career.

"Since, the Northeast is far away from the national capital thus very little is known about the places and its people. However, things are changing in the recent times. There is a lot of awareness about the region now. People from the mainland India love food, music and culture from the Northeast region," said Sewali Das, a student from Assam, studying in the Delhi University.

OneIndia News