Month: June 2016

Rootsandleisure_Smokedbeef

Naga Dish | Beef with Sun Dried Spring Onion

We had a small get together at home and we cooked our fav smoked beef dish. Thought we’d share it with you all. Again like most of my dishes – non fussy and super tasty. Ingredients: 8-10 Dried red chillies 1/2 kg smoked beef 4 tablespoons of dried bamboo shoot 8-10 pieces of strands of sun dried spring onion ~500 ml of water Salt to taste Directions: Cut each of the smoked beef into 2″- 3″ pieces Put the smoked beef and chilies in a heavy lid utensil – put in salt and mix thoroughly Pour water , cover the lid and bring it to a boil and cook till done Clean and wash the dried spring onions, chop Just 5 minutes before you turn off your gas (after your meat is fully cooked) put in the chopped dried spring onions and dried bamboo shoot. Mix well and cover the lid and keep it for 5 mins. Serve with steamed rice, with vegetable and chutney on the side.

rootsandleisure-ikaiDolls

Cute Naga Dolls Handcrafted by Artist Ikali Sukhalu

Say hello to Ikali Sukhalu! She is a 29-year-old fashion designer from Nagaland, who has reached fame as the creator of ‘Lil’ Naga’ – a range of amazingly cute dolls that can lighten up anyone’s mood! She’s a graduate from Wigan & Leigh Mumbai in fashion technology and fashion business, and holds a degree from London College of Fashion. Her journey started in 2015 when she won NIAPA (North East India Academy of Performing Arts) contest. She also showcased her work “Tribal Trible” in the New York Couture Week in 2014. We caught up with Ikali and learned about her inspiration behind ‘Lil Naga’ – the range of cute dolls that depict Nagaland’s traditional tribal attire. Hi Ikali, what was the inspiration behind these Naga dolls? I saw them first in Hong Kong. There were these Chinese dolls and I thought it would be fun to try and make something similar but with a local twist. I started experimenting with them in my studio and voila! ‘Lil Naga’ was born. Each doll is wearing a Naga traditional …

rootsandleisure-tanyapat-11

Meet a young Entrepreneur from Thailand | Tanyapat

Meet Tanyapat Witayapreechasilp. You can call her TK 🙂 She is our first international guest and we are extremely excited to feature her on R&L! So say hi to this 27 year old passionate entrepreneur based out of Chiang Mai, Thailand.   Speaking to her, we could feel the connection that she shares with the 700 years old city Chiang Mai city even though her family is not originally from there. The city has hosted 20 different tribes over the centuries and has culminated into a hub of inspiration and creativity for not only people from Thailand but across the world. Drawing inspiration from the city, its culture and people TK now owns a business named “FIFTEEN” which is an online fashion brand and hopes to expand globally soon. “Hi! I live in one of the most charming city in Asia Pacific. I am in love with Chiang Mai. After I graduated in Creative Arts from Chulalongkorn university, I joined my family business [an architecture firm]. While at home, I used to travel to the mountain villages …

RootsandLeisure_Shinobi

WINTERMADE TEES BY ARTIST SHINOBI | MOA LEMTUR

Remember Shinobi from a while ago? We wrote about him and his art in an earlier post. Well, we have an announcement to make! He has launched his ‘WinterMade’ collection of tees, with his original illustrations. They are limited edition tees and are available in three (3) variations : Black, White and Dip Dye [Black ones are sold out]. “Why WinterMade? Well, am glad you asked. I am a December child, and I love Winter. The art I do doesn’t always look jolly or colourful. I’ve always been drawn towards art that takes a person through a journey – a journey that speaks about situations & stories, that are not-so-pleasant[dark] but teaches you valuable life’s lessons. I value such experiences as it enlightens you in a way that is deep and long lasting.” Hence the name WinterMade – Art served Cold.   Love them? Then good news! You can buy them online  HERE. Priced at INR 850/- to INR 950/-

RootsandLeisure_Weku Kapfo

Photography by Weku Kapfo

They say a picture speaks a thousand words. Emotions like sadness, happiness, loneliness . .  . are a daily affair but we cannot always express them. Meet Weku Kapfo, who has a knack for capturing the beauty of day to day affairs. His photographs are very honest and pure. Look at his photographs and you will instantly feel the emotions echoing through the image – be it a lone tree or a happily married couple.   Kapfo has a degree in Psychology and now he is pursuing photography full time. A photo posted by Weku Kapfo (@kapfo_visualarts) on May 6, 2016 at 7:05am PDT Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, talks about having to choose between two roads without knowing what lies ahead of it. Kapfo’s journey to achieve what he has today teaches us something similar – that there may be times when we take a few wrong turns but it’s never too late to turn back and follow what you love. Say hi to Weku Kapfo. Tell us a bit about yourself. Well, I …

R&L_The 115th_Featured

Restaurant Review : The 115th at Dimapur, Nagaland

Review by : Pur Lkr When a culinary dream meets an appetite for business risks and that journey is deftly guided into unchartered territory, even largely common dishes get served up with beautiful twists. At least that’s what our experience at The 115th, a perfect fine-dining space in Nagaland that was established less than a year ago, tells us.  The restaurant is the dreamchild of  a young lad –Kezhabu Rio, whose expertise and creativity of harmonising new tastes with the old has brought forth his new restaurant venture in the quiet town of Dimapur. The 115th is located at Shoppers Point, Kohima Road – which promises a wonderfully scenic ride and is ever bustling with shoppers in the weekend. So, if you’re looking for a nice family lunch, a romantic date night, or a get-together with your old pals, the 115th may just be the place – with its relaxed ambiance and the delicious food! The 115th’s decor will strike you as a quirky balance between cool ambience, modern design and simple structure. The place is lit up …

RootsandLeisure_CombatAcademy

Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Nagaland

  What does the future hold for entrepreneurship? Every year experts predict categories which will lead the way in the year ahead. Fitness made its way to the top ten categories for the year 2016. The world of fitness has yet again shown its muscle in the enterprise world. And, under it – falls Mixed Martial arts which is now the fastest growing sport in the world. Needless to say, everyone now wants a piece of that cake. But, do you have what it takes to be successful in the business? Let’s take notes from the very best and in this case the very first and also the only one. With a goal to give the people of Nagaland a platform to learn – and a taste of what mixed martial arts is all about, Khremelie Metha established The Combat Academy. Remember a decade ago when the Ultimate Fighting Championship, also known as UFC (the premier MMA organization), was completely unknown and critics wrote them off with two words ‘human cockfighting’? Valued over $1.65 billion, it was featured on …

RootsandLeisure_old woman

I’m 80 and I love bamboo weaving

“When I was younger, our family used to go out in the wee morning hours to work in the paddy field. After a long day there, I would come back and do bamboo weaving. I’ve been weaving since I was a child and I looked after my family with whatever I earned from it. With age (I’m 80), I’m not able to do hard work in the fields like those days but I’m so happy I can still do weaving – something I really enjoy doing. My advice to the younger generation is to never stay idle; find something you love doing – it will make your days much more fulfilling – especially when you are older . . .”

RootsandLeisure_Pito

A Baker’s Story | Pito Kiba

  “If I could have my way, I would wish for a world that never runs out of cakes” the unassuming Pito Kiba tells us, on a fine Sunday afternoon. Between sips of tea, I couldn’t stop asking questions to know the brain behind such works of art (just look at these pictures!).  Meet a friend and a baker, Pito Kiba. At 26, he is his own boss and has a successful career as a professional baker. How about we begin with you telling us who’s Pito Kiba and what made him choose a slightly unconventional career like baking? I am 26 years old, happy doing what I love and enjoying every moment of my life right now. Getting to this point in my career was not straightforward – it was only until I had I tried out a series of options. I did my Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, English, and Journalism from Kristu Jayanti College at Bangalore.  Then I did my Master’s degree in English from St. Joseph’s College but I still couldn’t decide on a job …

RootsandLeisure_KharuDesign

Product Design & Photography | Meet Menuolhoulie Kire

Today’s incredible social media growth and its level of invasion in our private lives have driven most of the youth to feel the much-feared word – ‘FOMO’ aka Fear Of Missing Out. And although it can have a very negative effect on us, it can also play out positively depending on how we turn things around. FOMO is not about just peer pressure anymore. It is also about stacking up your career against everyone you know on the digital platforms. And it’s not surprising, that only pursuing our daily lives without pursuing other hobbies and interests is considered, if nothing else, boring. This time at R&L, we caught up with one such talent who is pursuing two careers and is scaling heights. We met up with Menuolhoulie Kire (M.Kire) from Nagaland who’s delving into two very creative fields – furniture design and photography. R&L : Hi. Tell us a bit about yourself! M.Kire : I am a dreamer and love to push myself to materialise new ideas. I did my Masters in Design from IIT Guwahati. …