In the far east of Nagaland, there is a village called Choklangan that borders Myanmar. It's in the Noklak district. The village is famous for its stunning cascades, lively wildlife, evergreen rivers, streams, gigantic mountains, and a small pond called Aakhim is located at the bottom of the village. The small pond is believed to be medicinal water, and is well-preserved by the village people. It is situated below the route leading to the cultivation fields.

Before Aakhim was known to the community, it was passed down orally through generations that "Once there was an old woman in the village that had a terrible body ache, the pain was making her difficult to do her daily chores and unlike rest of her fellow villagers, her production was very less, and she was deprived of many things. One day, on her way to the field, she stooped down gently to the Aakhiam River and filled up a bottle. She went home and cleaned her whole body with the water and went off to sleep. The next day, she was miraculously healed." The story about her healing was reach all over the households in the village.

Ever since, it has been well known in the Khiamniungan region of Noklak District that whoever comes to pay a visit to the village always leaves with a bottle of the living water. They take it as a token and as a souvenir with the belief that they may be healed of diseases too.

Myth of its healing Properties:

As I interacted with the old folks of the village, I was told that the Aakhiam was originally named as “Sheikia Heutso". "Sheikia" was a disease communicated through uncontrolled and immoral acts. In present days, it can be referred as Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD). "Heutso" meant a small pond or a small stream in Khiamniungan Dialect. Aakhiam, the name came into being when Late Nokyen was the President of CSU as "Sheikia Heutso" didn't convey a good enough message about the water. As the water was believed to heal eye pain, skin rashes, body ache and many more sickness and diseases. The village folks prior to forefather’s days started believing that the water had some healing properties. Most of the village folks with this belief started visiting the Aakhiam early in the morning to wash their faces to cure them of eyes sore, acnes, scabies etc, the astounding thing was the water started healing the people. So, before deciding to write the story of this pond, I started to do personal experience as I had lots of acne on my face. I started visiting the pond every day and started off my day after washing my face from Aakhiam and miraculously my skin started improving.  I had lots of encounters, especially with the olden folks, listening to their different stories of the cure they got from the water. It's believed that they pond always remains stagnant, it is never dry neither stays complete, we can fill tanks, buckets & bottles from the pond, but the water level always remains the same.

A few months back, as I returned from Aakhiam collecting water from the jerkin to use it for washing my face. My grandma weaving a traditional handbag thread by thread, narrated to me a story of a young man named Tosangchiu. The boy Tosangchiu was from a village called Tsoipu he was taking refuge in Choklangan village as his village was constantly raided by enemies it was during the period when head-hunting was practised in the Eastern part of Nagaland. One day, he went into the deep forest to cut a tree for making machete (dao) holders, Specific woods are chosen for making machete holders and Tosangchiu saw one such tree high up on a cliff. As a young and athlete, he effortlessly climbed the cliff and started cutting the tree with his right hand while his left hand was holding on to a boulder. As fate would have it, the boulder he was holding on to cracked open, and he fell with the rock, consequently crushing both his hands as he made his uncontrolled landing on that fateful day. Grandma's eyes filled with terror and sympathy as she continued narrating the story.

I intriguingly asked her about the later hours after the accident, trying to extract as much information as possible. She continued, “Everybody in the village was worried as he didn't return to the village at the usual time. The news of him going missing spread like wildfire; soon the villagers gathered with flaming torches and went searching for him. They searched everywhere loudly calling out his name, after a long search, he was found on the bank of Aakhiam pond with his head bent and sipping the Living Water.

The thoughts of what must Tosangchiu been thinking during his accident ponder me, Young and unwilling to die, crawling searching for the pond with all the strength that he had. Maybe he knew Aakhiam would prolong his life or take away his screaming pain, or may be he just wanted a taste of it before going to the netherworld you can also keep guessing along with me, as he eventually succumbed to his crushing wounds.

Keeping the Aakhiam alive:

As I was returning from the field one day; tired and sweaty after a long tiresome day working, I stopped by this Aakhiam and took a sip of it and all my tiredness seemed to be gone. Just like everyone says it had no raw smell like other waters around, it had a different taste, something you can differentiate from normal water.

This Aakhiam for a prolonged period was not protected, but there have been initiatives and efforts to keep it as preserved as possible. A small roof was built above the pond by the initiative and is now it is maintained by the village folks headed by Choklangan Students Union. Till date, every once a month, clearing and cleaning is done around the pond to keep it clean and sustain.

If there is no step towards conserving the pond, the untold and precious treasure of the small village, Choklangan will slowly lose its important and its uniqueness. It pains me as I jot lines about the living river. The nature is indeed surprising and fascinating. It gives us so much, yet we human with our greed and ignorance lost it gifts. As I conclude writing the story of Aakhiam: The undying treasure, I vow myself to continue preserving and sharing the importance of the pond to my generation and the younger ones, as the new era of development step its way inside the Choklangan village.