By Shobha Rao Smilemaker

Dimapur, Apr 7: It was a sunny morning as i stepped on to the soil of the place i had always wanted to visit in the north east corner of India - Nagaland! Our airport entry point was at the Dimapur airport. I had heard so much of the different Naga tribes and the airport was filled with lots of artefacts showcasing the rich tribal culture of Nagaland.

Dimapur is situated at the border of two states and was leased for 100 years in 1963 by the Assam government to the Nagaland government. The ride from the airport across the city showed us the fully commercialized side of Dimapur with malls, shops, offices and surprisingly many half finished buildings. I was also impressed to note that most of the traffic wardens guiding the traffic in the hot sun were pretty looking Nagamese women!

The Dimasa Kacharis were an ancient tribe, who had established their capital here in the 10th century on the banks of the mighty Dhansri river.

The name Dimapur is derived from the Kachari words Di which means "water", and Ma which means "large" and Pur which means "city". This was literally ' a great town on the bank of the river' ruled initially by the Kachari tribes till 1535 and later by the Ahom tribal Kings.

We visited the main sightseeing spot at Dimapur which is the Kachari ruins of the ancient Dimapur fort. The impressive brickbuilt main entry gateway structure, still stands strong after all these centuries.

We were surprised to see absolutely unique monolithic structures that look like giant mushrooms. It is believed to reflect the presence of some kind of fertility cult which must have been used in rituals indulged by the ancient Dimasa Kachari tribes! The ruins of the ancient Dimapur fort bear mute witness to the superb Kachari architectural and sculptural skills.

The fort used to be surrounded with two water tanks, which now just look like dried up ditches.

We had our packed lunches under the shady cool trees. I noticed the entry gates of the Assam Rifles which is the countries oldest para-military force that guards the Indo-Burma border.

Again as we drove through this commercial city, and I saw ornamental gates, displaying what looked liked two crossed tribal weapons on the top.

I read nameboards of their original villages like the Angami colony Kuda and more.

There are other places of interest like their city clock tower or zoo, but the weather was too hot and we decided to move on out of Dimapur to the next welcoming sight which said- 'Welcome to the hills of Nagaland!'

Yes i will always remember with a smile my first entry point to the North East India at Dimapur in Nagaland!

Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.