Border Dispute: Doctor Mukul Sangma’s wrong Diagnosis

Doctor Mukul Sangma very unfortunately inherited a thorny seat from his predecessor and the issue that demanded his attention most is perhaps the border conflict both international and interstate. A medicine man by qualification (by mistake) and a politician by choice, Dr. Sangma’s arrival on the scene as the chief minister of the state during the ill-timed period was in a way a blessing in disguise, his earnest desire to solve the problem has earned him sympathy from the people, the NGOs and even media are willing to give the doctor the benefit of the doubt. Obviously, the layman in the street who depends on the NGOs and Press to formulate their opinion also saw his sincerity and his willingness to walk an extra mile to solve the border problems. Good going doctor, so far so good.

The good doctor may show his utmost sincerity in his effort to solve the border problem, but unfortunately his good efforts seem to go waste. The border dispute both interstate and international seems to go from bad to worse every passing day. One would expect a person trained in medicine to conduct a proper examination and order for a thorough and proper investigation before one would arrive at a conclusion and diagnose the cause of the problem. But the doctor seems to loss all the credentials that he had earned spending more than five years of his life in med school. Dr. Sangma is becoming a hundred percent politician and right now; like any of his predecessors, he does not seems to have any remedy under his sleeve to solve the problem.

Of course the long pending border dispute is a complex subject; but perhaps a little background information about the conflict in Jaintia hills will throw some light; at least, the dispute on this side of the state. I frequently visit the conflict zones both in peace time and otherwise. With regards to the dispute in the Muktapur sector of the indo-bangla border, a suggestion was made that the only solution to the problem is for the government to compensate the people for the land they owned which falls under adverse position. I have a reason for that and my recent visit and meeting with some of the land owners confirmed my theory that the only way to silence the gun in Muktapur is compensation. The cause of the problem is; when ever Indians tries to plough their fields (recent incident) or catch fishes from the pond in the adverse position (previous incident), the BGB resorted to firing in the air to stop the Indian from doing what they use to do. Some may argue that Bangladesh should maintain status quo and let farmer farm in the fields which lies in the adverse position. In my opinion; that is just wishful thinking. How long has the status quo been maintained and what status quo? After independence it was Indo-Pak border and now it has become Indo-Bangla border, what status quo are we talking about here? Is it a status quo with Pakistan or with Bangladesh ? Let us be realistic Dr. Sangma. The only solution at least on this sector of the border is to talk to prime minister and ask the Central Government to compensate the poor farmers for the land they are going to lose; because come what may, the BGB will never let the Indians carry out any activity in the land which they hold in adverse position. They deserve compensation because it is not their fault to keep holding the land. In fact it is the officials in government of India who gave them false hopes that status quo will be maintained and most of these lands have been registered in India . The Government of India is duty bound to compensate the farmer for this lost for no fault of theirs.

When it was reported in the press that Assam has started constructing road to connect Psiar, Khatksla and Moolaber, I said God bless their souls, the first thing the people of these area need is some motor-able road to connect their villages with the rest of the country be it Assam or Meghalaya. I am a frequent visitor to the area and I saw the kind of road; or to be honest the absent of any kind road to connect these villages. The three villages remain cut off from Meghalaya during the entire monsoon period because the bridge that the PWD department of Meghalaya has constructed on the Myntang River at Tihwieh which was sanctioned since 2004 is yet to be completed- trust Meghalaya to develop the border areas and it will take ages. The only connection that these people had with Meghalaya is the hanging footbridge across the same river. If our own department failed our people; can we blame Assam for doing what Meghalaya has failed to do so? The NGOs should take the PWD to task for taking more than five years to complete the crucial bridge.

Fellow Khasi Pnar can blame me for being soft or may be; even accused me of siding with Assam but I can help being pragmatic. The dispute area on Jaintia segment of the Assam-Meghalaya border which is also known as Block I and Block II has its genesis in the creation of the then Mikir and Cachar hills district. A commission was instituted to decide the boundary between the United Khasi and Jaintia Hills District and the new Mikir and Cachar hills district and the hope of the Pnar people to get back the land they claimed to belong to Jaintia hills lies on a thin thread of the so called note of dissent of one of the member of the Commission. Base on this lone dissent voice of late Larsing Khyriem MLA, a movement against the inclusion of some of the villages in the border with Mikir and Cachar hills district erupted and like any movement, this one too died a natural dead.

The main contention then; was that the villages, the rivers and the hills in the area bear a Khasi Pnar names, the rivers name is always prefixed with ‘um’ or villages with ‘nong’ so on and so forth and that majority of the people who live in these villages are Pnars. That is not true anymore, except for the three mentioned villages (Psiar, Moolaber and Khatkasal), the rest of the villages from Myngkoilum to Umkhyrmi and Jrikyndeng (now Zirikyndeng) are inhabited by the Karbis. It is rather unrealistic for Meghalaya to claim these villages because the majority of the people living in these villages are Karbis. It is also rather ironic that even the MDC who represents this area in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous District Council is half Jaintia or half War Jaintia to be more specific; his mother is originally of the Khonglah clan. But in spite of all that, the villages from Myngkoilum onwards are now under the KAADC.

In conclusion, I think good sense has prevailed on the DC of Jaintia hills and his counterpart from Diphu that they had come to a sensible understanding. Isn’t it is rather awkward to fight for a piece of land when we are all but part of the same country? When border between countries in Europe has started to vanish, why are we beginning to build walls between us? The people of these interstate border villages need development and sadly; they are yet to have road or even electricity connection. It is the duty of the state (whatever that may be) to provide them at least their basic needs. It is also the moral obligation of the two neighbours to arrive at understanding and bring to an end this long pending imbroglio once and for all and not to create breeding ground for insurgency on both side of the divide. Let the people in the border live in peace.

Writing on the walls: The signs of time

No piece of art or column in the recent history of Shillong ever had the kind of reaction that the stencil graffiti with potent messages achieved; with a single stroke. It has been a week since the graffiti was painted yet condemnation and debate about the graffiti continues unabated. The initial reaction of the people and particularly the religious organizations was that of condemnation, because the graffiti artist used religious images, but gradually there are those who had mature reaction of trying to look at what the graffitist is trying say? Certainly the graffiti were stenciled not just for the heck of it, but were splashed on the selected walls to stir some kind of consciousness in the society.

The objective of every art form is to convey certain message to the society and rightly so the graffiti was called by someone as ‘the voice of the voiceless’, the voice of neglected people and the expression of a community whose time has finally arrived. It is now for the society and power that be to take serious note of it. The graffitist achieved what many writers, poets, painters, journalist, cartoonist and social activist has been trying to do for so long, to grab the headlines of city’s major dailies both vernacular and English and more importantly to be able to prick the conscience of the readers. The Maitshaphrang Movement did not even manage to grab the second lead of the newspaper when it announced the CI sheets scam, and did it spark any debate on the issue? Did anyone condemn the corruption involving people in high place? Sorry to say the answer to all the questions is an emphatic no. Reams of newsprint has been wasted by columnist, concern citizens and social workers to protest against rampant corruption in the state, but the issue died the moment the new issue of the daily hits the stand. The life span of the issue is extremely short and it remains in the public domain for a period of no more than few hours.

The graffiti has achieved another feat and that is making people question. What is it that the graffitist trying to say? Why did one use religious figure? The public already has answer, at least to the message; that it has to do with corruption which is plaguing the state. There is no second opinion about that. But why the cross is used? No prize for guessing, the cross symbolizes Christianity in its various forms and sizes. So, can the message be ‘why in spite of the fact that majority of the people are Christian still corruption is rampant in the state?’

In a way the graffiti is also like a mirror shoved on our face to make us take a good look at ourselves. We have all the brand of Christianity worth its salt in the state and some has been here for almost two hundred years, why do we still have rampant corruption? What about morality in the society? The graph in the crime chart always head north and we have high number of reported rape case and crime against women is; at its all time high. Our greed has overtaken our concern for the environment. The rich and the powerful in the society dictate terms not only in the political arena but in the society and even in the church. Majority of our leaders are Christians and they also constitutes the largest part of the state work force. Why development and wealth is concentrates in certain pockets only? Why is it that there is so much inequality? If this is not a religious question, then what is a religious question? And in spite of more that eighty percent of the schools in the state are run by churches, why are we still in the present dilemma? Where have we gone wrong with regard to teaching our young ones?

William Cantwell Smith the famous scholar of comparative religion mentioned of an incident during one of his vacation; when he happened to passed through a holiday home which has the words ‘for Christians only’ inscribed on its signpost. His immediate remark was ‘it was so unchristian.’ Are we becoming ‘exclusive Christians’ with an enormous ‘holier than thou’ attitude that Christians are predestined for heaven and others are doomed to hell? Do we still have this attitude that even among Christians; my Christianity is true and the other is not. If the graffiti has achieved anything is to make us question ourselves ‘what does it really means to be a Christians and how good a Christian am I? Does my Christianity confined to the four corners of my church and my fellow church members only? Do we reach out to the people outside the fold just because we hope to convert them to our fold some day? Or for that matter how do we consider when the church has achieved its goal? Is it when the church has the largest numbers of followers and the maximum number of church building? Or by how much change the church is able to affect?

One may argue that the Holy Father was unnecessary dragged to the controversy, what does the Pope has to do with the corruption in the state of Meghalaya? We cannot define the numerous graffiti with a single brush, anybody who follows the international news know that the church was and still is in a big problem due to the worldwide sex scandal which involved the priests. The allegation was even the Pope was involved in the cover up of a case in Germany when he was the Bishop in that country. The Pope has apologized to those hurt by the sex scandal many times and the last one even from a place no less than the Holy See. There is nothing for the church to hide everything is in the public domain.

The head of the Catholic Church in the state in one of his immediate interaction with the press in the aftermath of the graffiti affair, after clarifying what the church has done against corruption and social evils; requested that the person(s) involved in the act (graffitist) to come up openly and state what they want to say clearly. But that is not how the graffitist wishes to communicates and obviously the medium they use is very effective considering the impact that it has been able to create. The lesson that the people of the state should learn is that another medium of expression or protest has emerged and how tolerable are we to new changes? Are we willing to listen?

Recently; the press also carried report of business firm using religious figures as part of their brand designs, the media tried to provoke the people to react against such depiction of holy figure. NGOs and religious institution took the bait and instantly react which only indicate the society’s growing intolerance. Others have Shiva, Ganesha, Durga and etc on any brand one can think of and they don’t seem to mind. What have we become? Have we become like bunches of fanatics who tried to shut down anything from tweeter to facebook and ransack and abuse painters just because they have opinion different from what we believe? We live in a multi religious and multi race society; hence intolerance has no room in our world. To be able to live in peace with one another; we need to be more open minded and allow room for those having opinion different from ours. In the word of the famous Unitarian King John Sigismund “you don’t have to think alike to love alike.”

The last of the farmers of Lumshnong

It was finally over and the cameras stop rolling; I bate her goodbye and wished her a long and healthy life. Then I realized from the stifled voice of her answer; the deep feeling of emptiness and sense of hopelessness to continue with live. Her response was that of a spirit bereft of the zeal for life. She said why should I live long? Why would I want to live long? What is the point when there is no more land for agriculture? Grandmother Thrin Lamare is the remnant of the last farming community of the lost generation of Lumchnong village.

She is a jolly good old woman whose smiling face and jovial mood hid more than it reveals and like many of her contemporary she does not know her age. ‘Neither of my parents can read nor write,’ she told me when I asked how old she is. Hoping to roughly estimate her age by guessing from the age of her children, I asked, how old is your eldest son? ‘Do you for one moment think I can read or write? Do I look like somebody who can read or write?’ was her answer to my question. The unkempt grey hair on her head, the wrinkles on her face and her teeth less mouth is the only proof of the hardship that this genteel life had toiled for so long.

It was in the afternoon when the secretary shnong ma Puson Gympad took me and the crew to meet her. The woman with a frail and forward bending body has just returned from her small garden, the only remaining priceless possession she treasures. She was sitting near the fireplace with fire burning in the hearth and throughout the interview she was busy cutting the bamboo shoots, banana flower and green-chillies she collected to prepare dinner for the entire family. During the conversation; when occasionally smoke started to fume; she would take the bamboo cylinder and blow air on the fire wood to rekindle the fire while she continue talking to us. She was frank and spoke candidly about the past and her feelings about the predicament the village is in.

She nostalgically recollected the time gone-by when agriculture was the mainstay of the village and no doubt they lived through hard times, but they seldom experience starvation. In spite of all odds; they practice Jhum cultivation because there are no paddy fields in the terrains of the Narpuh sub-tropical forest and the bank of the Lukha. There are times they face hardship because of poor harvest and they do not have enough rice; so they cook few grains of rice with millet and corn to satisfy the family’s hunger, yet they live a life of heart content,’ she recounted. She remembered walking bare feet and lived in the grace of the nature and the only disease that was prevalent those days was malaria, stomachache and fever. Health care was still a distant dream then; so the medicines they use are those available in the nature.

Her face brightened, and smiles broaden when she narrated about the recent past two three decades when Lumchnong was famous for its oranges and orchard covered a large part of village. One can still see these orchards dotted the landscape of Lumchnong, albeit in the shadow of their former glory, but the land does not belong to the villagers anymore. Ma Olbin Shylla an elderly man we met earlier in the morning, smiled as he reminiscence how he used to transport trucks of oranges to Silchar and to Jowai. Those were the heyday of the orange orchard in Lumchnong and the boom of orange business has benefitted all the people in the area. ‘Then, people were gainfully employed throughout the year’ he said. I asked him what he is doing for livelihood now. He said nothing, since they stop farming. When asked ‘now that there is no agricultural activity in the village, how do people earn their livelihood?’ He said ‘earlier our job was either in the woods among the trees or in field with the crops, now we just move among people.’

In the Grandma’s kitchen she continues with her chore and when asked what about the young people, do they still involve in any kind of agricultural activity? The old woman stared at us for a moment and then answered with action, ‘the young people now are busy in one thing only’ moving her hand in a gesture which imply drinking something from a bottle -‘this’ she said. Puson Gympad and Mario Rymbai who accompanied us, has nothing else to say but laugh and at the same time nodded their head in agreement. When I asked her about their orchard and plantation in the village, grandma Lamare’s answer was ‘what orchard, what plantation? Every piece of land in the village has been sold to the cements companies. Gympad the secretary of the village dorbar came up with approximate statistics that more than sixty percent of the land in the village and may be in the entire elaka Narpuh is owned by the many cement companies. I think ma Gympad is very mean in his assessment. Most of the families the only plot of land they owned is the land where their houses stand. The cement companies have literarily bought the entire elaka for a song.

Gympad the young secretary of the Lumchnong was obviously very angry and lamented ‘it seems the Government’s main intention is to quickly rob the eleka of its mineral wealth and not to develop the region as such. If that is not true; how else can the government permit the construction of 9 cement plants in the area within the radius of 5 kilometers only? In addition to the 9 cement plants there are also few captive power plants which are operative now. How long will the coal and lime stone last? The term sustainable development; it seems is not in the government of Meghalaya lexicon.

Puson foresee a bleak future for his village because till now no cement companies had even bothered to reclaim the top soil; that people can reuse the land for agricultural activity once the minerals are exhausted. One may question why, what happened to the proposed state mining policy? Who can wait for the government of Meghalaya’s mining policy? Will it ever see the light of the day when everybody in the Government from the MP, the CM of the state to the Magistrates and Police officers are mine owners by proxy through their wives or close relatives? Meanwhile the government can insist on the mining companies to device a mechanism to reclaim the land by conserving the top soil and also make it mandatory that each cement and mining companies plant trees as part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). But nothing of that sort is happening, our leaders are either busy in the business of government toppling or on a voyage to foreign land while topsoil is on its own journey to Bangladesh.

If the top soil is conserve by the companies then, we can still hope to see agricultural activities in the village sometime in the distance future. But few decades from now and while cement industries are still active in the area, agriculture will be the think of the past. How long will it take to revive agriculture again is a million dollars question.

Beimen Thin Lamare’s almost instance response to my usual polite gesture on June 28 was like a thunderbolt from the blue, it dawned on me then, that the moment I wished her goodbye; I also bate farewell to the agriculture activity in the area for she is one of the last of farming generation of Lumhnong village.

Behdieñkhlam The Greatest Festival of the Pnar

Behdieñkhlam is the most important and the biggest festival of the Pnars of Jaintia hills District. It is the festival paying obeisance to Almighty God the Creator to bless people with good health and prosperity. The term beh-dieñ-khlam comprises of three words in a Pnar parlance, ‘Beh’ literarily means to chase or to rid away and ‘dieñ’ means wood or log and ‘khlam’ means plague, epidemic or pestilence. Behdieñkhlam literarily means the festival to rid away plague.

The three days and four nights Annual Behdienkhlam festival of the Pnars always starts with the tradition of offering food to the ancestors. In the morning families would visit the market to purchase the best and the finest of fruits and foods available in the market. Come afternoon, families will be busy preparing offering from all sorts of foods bought from the market to offer to their ancestor in a tradition call “Ka Siang ka Pha” or “Ka Siang ka Phur.”

Of course preparation for the annual Behdieñkhlam festival was started many months back but the immediate rituals and sacrifices that precedes the designated days of the festival are the ‘kñia khang’ performed on Muchai; the first day after the market day of the week and ‘kñia pyrthad’ sacrifice to the thunder god on the Mulong the seventh day of the same week. But the festival officially begins on the sixth day (Pynsiñ) of the eight days a week traditional calendar of the Jaintias. The feast of offering food to the death is a mark of veneration and gratitude to the ancestors the forbearer of the clan and the tradition.

In the Khasi Pnar concept of the afterlife, departed souls reside with the Creator and eat bettlenuts in the courtyard of his abode. The spirit of the death (ki syngngia ki saret) every year, decent down to the Earth to partake in the feast provided by the descendant still alive in the world to propitiate the departed souls. Ka Siang ka pha is celebrated by every clan except when there is sickness in the family or if death has just occurred in the family. The family which had just met with bereavement, do not perform the offerings because the annual ‘ka siang ka pha’ has already been offered to the departed souls as part of the last rite of a person. It begins with family informing the children of their maternal uncles or their brothers (khon kha) about the preparation for the offerings to the ancestors. The ‘khon kha’ offers money (pyn-nam) as a token of respect, love and affection to their paternal family. In the Khasi Pnar clan system, the dead body of the deceased is carried to one’s clan’s ancestral house and all the funeral rites are perform in his maternal family home and even the charred bones of the deceased are placed in the clan’s repository stone (mootyllein). This also has a connection with one of the cardinal principle of the Khasi-Pnar known as (ka tip kur tip kha,) respect for one’s family of both mother’s and father’s side.

Since the offering is for all the departed souls, foods of every kind are placed in brass plates and must be in odd numbers 5, 7 or 9. Care is also being taken that favourite food of the deceased is placed as part of the offering which could be anything from fruits, cigarette or even alcohol. The next part of the rites is the role of the maternal uncle to invoke the spirits to partake the offering. The maternal uncle will also pray to the departed souls to bless their descendant with the good health, prosperity and progress in all walks of life. After the Maternal uncle’s invocation, the whole family gathered for the rites, stayed in silence for sometimes in a symbolic moment to allow the ancestors spirit to partake the offerings. Then the offering was shared among the family members.

Only a clean female member of the family is allowed to prepare the offerings, women who is in her menstrual cycle is not allowed to do the preparation. Not all clan perform their offering to the death on Pynsiñ, there are also clan which perform ‘ka siang ka pha’ on Muchai the last day of the festival.

The significance of the ritual is the fact that even though the ancestors had departed from the clan many years ago, their love, respect and reverence for the deaths is still alive. Behdieñkhlam is appropriately starts with the offerings to the ancestors, because every tribal community has profound respect for their ancestors.

In the Pnar weekly calendar “Mulong,” is the day before the market day “musiang,” the market day in Jowai is also the local pay day and Mulong is also the second day of the fest. By the end of the day all the Dieñkkhlam, all 9 round neatly carved logs were kept at their allotted place in the Iawmusiang area. The 9 Dieñkkhlams cut from huge trees were prepared and carried to their respective place by the 7 localities of the town namely Tpep-pale, Dulong, Panaliar, Lumiongkjam, Iongpiah Loompyrdi Iongpiah, Loomkyrwiang and Chilliang Raij being the khon Raij was by tradition given the responsible to prepare and bring two round log called ‘Khnong blai’ and ‘Symbood khnong’. The important aspect of this day is that male members of the Niamtre marches in a dancing procession accompanied by traditional drums and flutes to bring the dieñkhlam from the different woods where the many dieñkhlam were prepared to the town. Early in the morning families are busy preparing ja-sngi (lunch) for every male member of the society to join the community to bring the dieñkhlam.

The third day of the holy week is “Musiang” it is also the last day of the week and on this particular day all the Dieñkhlam and the Khnong are carried from the heart of Jowai town to the respective localities. Apart from the 7 dieñkhlam and two khnong; hundreds of 15 to 19 feet trees called ‘ki Dieñkhlam khian (small Dieñkhlam) were cut by the followers of the Niamtre. 2 or 3 of these tiny Dieñkhlam were kept in the frontage or patio of every house of the followers of the Niamtre. The tiny Dieñkhlam are used when the community dancer come to bless the house with proper rituals and use it to beat the rooftop of the house symbolizing ridding away the plaque and evil spirit from the house and pray to the almighty God to bless the family. Behdieñkhlam will be incomplete without the ‘dieñ.’ KC Rymbai Daloi of Elaka Jowai also expressed his concern about the consequences from the large-scale cutting of trees during Behdieñkhlam. By tradition every tree cut during Behdieñkhlam was done so with proper prayer and asking for exoneration from the Mother Nature (Bei ram-aw) and the Ryngkaw the basa, the gods; the guardian angels of the area.

Muchai is the last day of the Behdieñkhlam festival of the Jowai Raij and it is also the first day of the eight days a week traditional calendar.
It is rather a hectic day for the religious heads of the Niamtre, the day started at the wee hour of the morning with the tradition of ‘kyntiñ khnong’ at the Priestess official house. The programme was followed by the Ka Bam tyngkong led by the Daloi at the clan-house of the first four settlers of Jowai town. But the main part of the festival was the coming together of all the khon (children) ka Niamtre at the sacred Aitnar, a pond in which the last significant part of the festival was performed. The dance at Aitnar was that of the people who finds joy on the arrival of U Tre Kirod (God) with the celebration of Behdieñkhlam. It also symbolizes the oneness of the people and everyone joyfully joins without any distinction. The ‘ia knieh khnong’ traditions where men compete to set foot on the ‘khnong’ symbolize cleansing of the souls and blessing for good health.

The climax of the day is the arrival of the colourful Rots brought by the many dongs of the Jowai town to be displayed at the Aitnar, and all the beautiful Rots are then rid-off as part of the offering.

Dat Lawakor, the last part of the Behdieñkhlam is about the farming community in the Jowai Raij, asking God to indicate which of the two valleys around Jowai, the Pynthor neiñ or the Pynthor wah will yield a good harvest this year. Interestingly, the Pnar sense of direction is only of the East and the West and they have no words for north and south but simply call the two direction as ‘wah’ and ‘neiñ’ which literarily mean up and down.

It is a football played using a wooden ball with no goals. The only rule of the game is that the team which can carry the ball to the designated end wins and the particular direction will reap better harvest that year. So if the team on the upper side of the road wins, the indication is that the Pynthor neiñ will reap a better harvest and if the team from the lower side wins, the valleys in the Pynthor wah will obtain a better harvest.

Dat Lawakor is the last public event of every Behdieñkhlam, although the Daloi, the Lyngdoh and the other religious dignitaries still have a last ritual to finish at the Lyngdoh’s residence called ‘pynlait sarang.’ Finally the Daloi and the other religious head can now go and sleep in their respective wife’s house. To maintain the sanctity of the religious rites, self-purification by way of abstinence from sleeping with one’s partners is observe by religious head. The religious are even prohibits from visiting their respective wives residence throughout the festival.

There altogether 6 Behdieñkhlam festival celebrated by the Pnars throughout the year, the first behdieñkhlam was celebrated by the raij Chyrmang, then followed by the raij Jowai, Tuber, Ialong, Mukhla and raij Muthlong.

Of acidic water, mining policy and the fate of hydel projects in the state

Scribes from Jaintia hills district; this writer in particularly has time and again raised hue and cry against the unscientific coal mining in the region which has drastically affect the environment and particularly the water bodies in the district; but sad to say all the voices raised is like a mere cry in the wilderness. All the efforts to raise this issue in the public domain land on the deaf ears of those in power.
In the Jaintia hills Coal was first mine in the Wapung village and its vicinity in the early seventies, since then it appears as if coal magically blob up like bubbles of a boiled water in almost every parts of the district. Now Wapung has practically stop producing coal altogether, but its adjacent villages like Sohkymphor and others still produce coal in drove. It has been more than three decades since coal mining was started in Jaintia hills district, in these thirty odd years; mining has done more harm than good to the common people of the coal mining areas. Not only the environment that was drastically affected, demography of the region has changed, the society has changed and the livelihood of the people downstream has also been affected, the question is why does it take the state government three decades to wake up from its slumber? Why it never strikes the government that it needs to regulate the unscientific coal mining that was in practice in the state. The leaders of the state were living in fool’s paradise not having the vision to foresee the imminent threat that the unscientific coal mining has in store for the environment and the people. And for that matter what has the Meghalaya Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) done to protect the environment?
Now all of a sudden NEEPCO brought to light the plight of the Kupli Hydro electric project which was commissioned about the same time people start mining coal in the Wapung area. It was a known fact that the entire stretch of the catchments area of Kupli river in Jaintia hills are coal mine areas and it is also an open secret that coal produced from Jaintia hills has high sulfur content, yet like the state government NEEPCO woke up to the reality only recently, when it is almost too late. NEEPCO has just recently accepted the reality that the acidic water of the Kupli River is having a toll on the life span of the project and even the capacity of the project to produce electricity. This scribe has already wrote (on a vernacular paper) about the plight of the river Kupli long time ago, mentioning the fact that water bodies of the river was polluted to the extent that one cannot see not even a single aquatic animal in the entire stretch of the river. This writer has also report on English daily from Shillong (not the Shillong times) about the fate of the river Lukha few years back and about the same time a premier monthly magazine from Shillong the Nort East Panorama carried this writer’s article entitle Jaintia Hills the land of the death river. This scribe has walked miles on the banks of many of these affected rivers of Jaintia hills and has literarily wept in his heart when he realizes the fate of all these rivers. Even the MSPCB has done precious little to control the pollution of the water in the rivers. As a matter of fact if we are to judge the MSPCB by the notification that the board publish in the press; it look as if the job of the MSPCB is merely to conduct public hearing for granting permission to start a new cement plants in Jaintia hills. If we are to judge by the condition of the water in the many rivers of the Jaintia hills district; it is suffice to say that the MSPCB does not live up to the public expectation i.e., to control pollution and it has failed the state miserably.
Now the big question is; what about the Myntdu Lechka hydro electric project? Like Kupli, the entire stretches of Myntdu River’s catchments area are coal mine areas except for a small stretch around Jowai town. Is the MeSEB realizing the enormity of the problem that the acidic water on the river could cause to this yet to commission project? What measure has been taken by the MeSEB to prevent this project from suffering the same fate as the Kupli hydro electric project? Or are we waiting for the eleventh hour when it is too late to save the project? Because Myntdu, Lukha and Myngngot (Umngot) rivers from Jaintia hills flow to Bangladesh, the country is lucky that people across the border did not protest against the polluted water that flows to Bangladesh.
The only rivers in Jaintia hills that were still not affected by random and unscientific mining are the Myntang and the Myngngot (Umngot), because these rivers flow from the area where there is no mining activity as yet, but the pertinent question is how long will it be before Umngot also suffer the same fate as Myntdu, the Lukha and Kupli. It will not be too late before the haphazard dumping of coal in the Mookyndur area and the coal mining at Shkentalang, Thangbuli and Jarain areas could cause the same damage to the Umngot the way coal did to the Myntdu and Kupli. If the government does not start control the flow of acidic water from the catchments area to Umngot River, the Umngot project will suffer the same fate as the Kupli and Myntdu and the proposed Umngot hydro electric project will die before it even starts. The other proposed hydro electric project of the state be it the Kynshi or other will also suffer the same fate if there is mining activity on the upstream of the river.
The other question is what does the MUA Government hope to achieve by introducing the states mining policy after coal mining has been going on in the state for more than thirty years now? This is a classic example of putting the cart before the horse. If it is the environment that we hope to preserve and protect, then I’m sorry to say that damage has already been done. In spite of all the facts and figure staring against us in the face, yet the land and mine owners still has the guts to protest against the effort of the government to regulate mining! The land and miners owner should first ask how they mined coal what have they done to the exhausted mine. Or are they trying to say that just because they owned the mineral rich area then they have all the freedom in the world to pollute not only farmland in the adjacent area but even water in the down stream of the river. The Government should listen to the coal mine owners and land owner only if they can clear the mess that they have already made, let them closed exhausted mines properly then give them the right to talk to the government. And why only land and mine owner protested against the draft mining policy? There is no protest from other section of those involve in the coal business because there is no local people directly involve in coal mining in the district. Only rich coal mine owners are benefited from the present arrangement, they bought new houses in the Jowai and Shillong because water in their area is already polluted and the poor has to live in the same place and suffer.
I often ask this question time and again; if coal mining can cause so much damage to the environment and the people, then the people of Jaintia are waiting for a catastrophe to happen when all the cement companies start production in the district. One can say that the plan to introduce Meghalaya’s own mining policy is a little too late but like the old adage says better late than never. One hopes that with government’s good intention; we can save the remaining area of the district from going the same way the coal mining area did. Coal owners, coal traders and NGO should join hand together to save the environment of the remaining area that we have, we have seen with our own eyes the damage that has wrecked the environment of our district, let us not think of one self or of one’s own generation only and let us look beyond one’s own selfish interest. The Coal owners and the NGO should support the Draft Mining policy so that coal will be scientific mined even though it is a little late. If we want clean environment we have to work hard and pay for it, we cannot simply sit tight and continue mining the usual traditional way and hope for a pristine, clear and healthy environment, that our state and district is famous for once upon a time.

The fall of the Berlin wall: reminiscence

Nineteen years ago on my return from England; ma Garland Challam the past president of JSU on seeing me for the first time after my sojourn in Britain asked, what in your opinion are the major difference between our life and society here with that of the people in England? He ended his talk abruptly and then he pointed towards the stray dog which was walking in front of us at Iawmusiang market in Jowai and remarked; are we any better than that (stray dog) if we compare the socio economic development of the two societies? I remember I told him that the difference is the elevation on which we stand, I continue by saying that while in England I was standing on a higher platform which enabled me to see the world much better and much clearer, here we are on the ground and we can hardly see anything. While giving him this answer I remember clearly the fact that live-scene of the fall of Berlin wall and the collapsed of Nicolai Chauchescu of Romania rolls like BBC live TV news on the back of my mind.
My answer was influenced by the media coverage of the two incidents that I saw live on TV then; I still remember people using chisels and hammer to literarily break the wall in the fall of 1989. Back home till then people still have to depend on the good old AIR and Doordarshan for our daily dose of news at an hourly interval. Before the arrival of Cable TV Network live coverage was not even known in the entire country, thanks to Pranoy Roy we were able to get our weekly dose of international news from his weekly programme -The World this week. In Shillong, if my memory serves me right; it was the people of posh locality of Lachumiere who had the opportunity to first watch cable TV in the comfort of their homes. In the 1989 England not only BBC has live coverage of all the events that happened in the world, Rupert Murdoch Sky TV has started to invade the British Sky and only few yuppies can afford to own car phones (not to mention mobile phones). Coming back to the subject matter; though history was made across the English Channel in the continent of Europe, I feel as if everything happened at our seminary’s backyard in Rusholme, Manchester.
But it was last summer that I had the opportunity to come close to the Berlin wall (yes of all places) in Washington DC. When I was asked what I would like to do on my first day in the DC, of the many offers that was placed on my table; apart from getting myself photograph from every available wings of the White House, I chose to visit the Newseum. Newseum is a News Museum where one can watch news papers and TV clips related to many history-making incidents in the whole world which was published and broadcasted during the incidents by different news channel and broadcasting corporation. Newseum also display news related memorabilia from the two World Wars and it also has a section which shows the visitors how news was broadcasted from newsroom. In front of the Newseum one can even read the current daily newspapers from all over the US of A and from many parts of the world. It was near the section were Pulitzer Prize winning photograph were displayed that I chance to see few pieces of the infamous Berlin wall all in its original shape, size and even colour. It was mentioned in the brochure that the Newseum has the largest collection of the remnant of the wall in the entire world. The collection also comprises a tower with a floodlight from where East German border police stand guard against any East German citizens who try to cross the border.
The fall of the Berlin wall was truly a people movement and the fall led to the imminent collapsed of all the communists’ regime in the entire east European countries. Like the proverbial deck of cards the fall of the Berlin wall led to the fall of dictatorial rulers in Eastern Europe one after the other.
Looking back, understandably in twenty odd years so much has changed, even in this far corner of the world. We are now not only talking about live coverage of events around the world or broadband internet connection, young generation are into facebook, twitter and what have you. One can’t imagine the rapid change when I come to think of it that twenty years ago; I remember I had to go to my neighbours house to watch TV and even if one use a very tall bamboo, the only programme that we have to satisfy ourselves with are those broadcasted by our good neighbour Bangladesh TV. One also has to move the antennae every now and then to get a satisfactory signal. Now DTH TV of every hue and colours beams their signals to hundred of household even in the farthest corner of the country. Media has indeed help change not only the way we communicate; it help redraw the boundaries of many countries but it even have a huge impact in our lifestyles. One day media in its many new avatars will be like a shadow to a human which follows him or her everywhere one goes and the digital shadow will be something that one cannot avoid or run away from, media will then stop being a platform but a shadow and that is scary.

Tourism Potential of the Jaintia Hills District

Jaintia Hills District in a Nutshell
Jaintia Hills is one of the three original District of the State of Meghalaya, it was carved out of the erstwhile Khasi-Jaintia District of the Composite State of Assam in the year 1972. It is situated between 25o 3” to 25o 45” North Latitudes and 91o 58” to 92o 47” East longitudes. It covers an area of about 3819sq kms and located in the altitude between 1250 and 1750 meters above the sea level. The District shares its border to the North with Assam, to the South with Bangladesh to the East with Khasi Hills and to the West with Assam again. People who live in this District are called Pnar with the exception of those live in the Southern slopes of the District called War, while the War call the people and the Jowai town they live PNA. Although the people are called by different names and they speak a slightly different language, the people share similar culture and follow common traditions. This takes us to the next the most important subject of this write up which will help us understand the people that we are concerning and that is the Culture of the people.
People for so long has this misconception about Jaiñtia Hills. The District has more often than not been associated with Coal - the so called Back diamond and of course wealth. Well I’m not trying to say that this ill-conceived notion is not true but what I mean to say is; neither does it represent the complete picture of the District. Apart from the spoilt environment polluted by drastic coal mining, Jaiñtia Hills has a huge scope for developing tourism in the District. The District indeed has some incredible sites and it also has in its possession some unique flora and fauna distinct only to this part of the Country. Apart from the flora and fauna and the tourist spots, Jaintia Hills also has many historical monuments and of course a rich culture, from traditions to food, from dress to pottery, you name it and they have it.
While the district is preparing for the annual tourism fest, perhaps it is not out of place to try exploring the tourism potential of the District Jaintia Hills.
I would rather not start with the familiar tourist spots that one must have already read in the Meghalaya Tourism brochure, but as the theme of this article suggest, the object of this write-up is to discover the vast tourist potential of the District which has otherwise remain unexplored.

Cultural Village
If at all the Tourism Department is planning to promote certain village as a cultural village, then Lyrnai in Jaintia is one village that can be a strong contender for the honour. This hamlet small and in-accessible it may be; is the keeper of a unique Pottery tradition distinct only to this village and its suburb. If any young person tells me that he had never ever heard of Lyrnai Pottery; that’s fine by me, it will not surprise me; not a wee bit. But I will be dumbfounded or even shocked if anybody would tell me that he had never ever tasted ‘Pu Tharo’ in his life time. One may ask what exactly does Pu Tharo has to do with Lyrnai ? Well to start with there won’t be any Pu Tharo if it is not for Lyrnai Pottery or as it is commonly known “Khiew Ranei” in Khasi and “Kchu Lynrnai” in Pnar. The pots for baking Pu tharo are made in Lyrnai only and nowhere else.
Lyrnai is a small hamlet of a little less than 100 families about 6 K.M from Ummulong village, and though the village is only 6 K.M from the NH 44, it is still in-accessible by road. People still have to walk for few hours to reach the village. Though the main occupation of the villagers is farming, yet the village is famous for the distinct art of making pots that they inherited from their ancestor. Incidentally in my travel around Jaintia Hills, I found that Lyrnai Village is the only place where people are still involving in the art of making pottery; I think even in the whole Khasi Jaintia, Lyrnai is the only place where the art of making earthen pots is till being practiced albeit at a diminishing rate. Nosibon Lamare an old lady of about 70 years told me once that they have been practicing this art since time immemorial and she took part in many Expo and Exhibition conducted by the District Industries to showcase this distinct art of the village. The old lady who can barely move out of her house then (when I last visit the village), told me that; once she was even put to some kind of a challenge somewhere in Shillong in a place she could barely remember. The test was to try if Putharo taste better using utensils other than the Lyrnai pots. After a brief silent, the old lady continued, “When it comes to Putharo or Pumaloi, they just can’t beat Lyrnai pots you know.”
Lyrnai pots; does not only include pots that are used for baking Putharo and Pumaloi, but there are some pots of a different shape and size that are used for other purpose also. Some of the pots made in Lyrnai have religious significant; these pots are still being used by the Doloi of Nartiang to perform some rituals. Without these pots the ceremony will be incomplete, so the Doloi will order them much in advance and in huge quantity. Another type of pots make at Lyrnai is also used by the people in the traditional animist religion for the purpose of keeping a piece of the cut umbilical cord that connect newborn baby with its mother. This particular body part of the mother and the baby is needed for a ritual that is normally being performed during the welcoming ceremony of the baby.
The process of making the pots is time consuming, the first part of the process is to collect the necessary earth from Sung valley, and soil is available only on this valley. Making Lyrnai pots is seasonal because the process of drying the pots and burning them in fire pit can only be done in an open space and of course during dry season. The colour of the pot derived from the bark of a certain tree.
Lyrnai pottery or ‘Khiew Ranei’ as it was commonly known in Khasi, is a dying art, very few people in the village involve themselves with the art of making the variety of pots, fortunately other villages like Tyrchang adjacent to Lyrnai has learned the trade and are now making the earthen pots. Saving Lyrnai pottery is also saving the Pu tharo and pu maloi, the two unique and exquisite delicacy of the Khasi Pnar. The Tourism Department can start by doing some kind of a survey and move towards making Lyrnai a cultural village, by doing so; we are also helping in protecting and preserving this unique tradition. Lyrnai is also on the way to Nartiang so a tour comprising of Lyrnai village, Nartiang and Thadlaskein can be identified as one tour circuit.

Religious Tourism: Nartiang unexploited tourism potential
For so long Nartiang was merely promoted by the Tourism Department for its famous Dolmen and Menhirs as a monolith park. The Monoliths was erected by the famous Mar (giant) U Marphalangki of the Phalangki clan. The unique standing stones park which is under the auspices of the Archeological survey of India, is the only place where one could see the largest collection of these distinct culture of the Khasi Pnars. Otherwise the dolmen and menhirs can be seen dotted almost in every beautiful landscape of the hills. Nartiang Park is also fortunate to have in its possession the tallest monolith in the whole of the Khasi Jaintia hills, but that’s not all. Nartiang being the summer capital of the erstwhile Sutnga monarch of the Jaintias, is also blessed with monuments that people of those era build for posterity. Sad to say that while Sajar Niangli’s lake at Thadlaskein is very well preserved and protected, Sajar’s lakes in Nartiang unfortunately failed to get the same attention from the power that be. The Sutnga dynasty was not only success in building and creating historical monuments in its former summer capital, but the last of the Sutnga rulers has also achieve another feat and that is converting the tribal population in the village to Hinduism.
The Pnar of Nartiang has successfully adopted and follows Hinduism. The main deities that they worship are Maa Durga and her male counterpart in the Hindu pantheon -Shiva. The remarkable thing is that they were able to blend their adopted religion beautifully with the culture and ethos of the people in the area. Legend have it that the erstwhile king of Jaiñtia use to perform human sacrifice in the famous Durga temple to appease Durga and her many incarnations. It is also believe that the severed head of the sacrificial human fell directly to the Myntang River through a secret passageway and the priest claimed that the temple is in possession of the sword used by the Kings in the yesteryears to perform human sacrifice. The Durga temple could be the star attraction of the proposed religious tourism at Nartiang, but the Shiva temple in the same village is no less significant. The last time I visit the temple along with Erick Miles a friend from USA, the pujari told me that the Pnar of Nartiang have special name for Shiva and his Pnar name is u Sahmai. The young Pandit even told me of a legend that once u Sahmai left his abode and stayed in the forest near by till he was persuaded to return back to his abode in the temple. The distinctive local architecture of the temples and the unique image of the deities both Durga and Shiva could also attract worshippers to Nartiang.
With this huge potential, Nartiang can also be promoted as a Religious tourism destination. If thousands of believers dare to face the bullets and bombs of terrorist to undertake a pilgrimage to Amarnath, Nartiang; if it is properly packaged, can be marketed as a religious tourism destination. Few years back Central Puja Committee from Shillong has initiated steps towards making Nartiang a destination for religious tourism. Let’s hope that good sense will prevail in the Tourism Department and it will generously encourage and support CPC initiative.

Discover Southern Slopes of the District
In the earlier write-up; I had suggested that one tour circuit in the District can start from Jowai then proceed to Thadlaskein and from the Lake the tour can continue to Lyrnai, the proposed cultural village famous for its unique pottery. From Lyrnai the conduct tour can proceed to Nartiang where we have the famous Monolith Park and the temples for those who are interested in religious tourism. Less we forget Nartiang being the summer capital of the erstwhile Jaintia Kingdom; the village also has in its proud procession the other important historical monuments like the lakes dug by Sajar Niangli and his followers and other important monuments. The tour will take one whole day to complete. However that’s not all that this District has to offer to the tourists, the next tour circuit can be south bound and as usual it will start from Jowai.

A tour circuit the feasibility of which the Department of tourism can explore is a tour towards the sounther slope of Jaintia hills in the Amlarem sub division. If a tourist will head south on the Jowai-Dawki road or rather Jowai- Muktapur road, the first stop will be at the Thlumuwi. River Thlumuwi used to be famous fishing spot, but thanks to the drastic coal mining the river is not even a shadow of its past pristine beauty. Though a lot of harm has been done to kshaid Thlumuwi, the fall which lies to the right on the Jowai Muktapur road stills captivate the rowing eye of nature lovers. To the left of the bridge is one of the star attractions of this tour – the famous stone bridge and a collection of dolmen and menhirs. The bridge was the only link between the erstwhile Jaintia King’s winter and summer capital and the monoliths served as a resting place “Kor shongthait” for the trekker to rest and relax before they continue on their arduous journey. The stone bridge is an existing example of the genius of ancient Jaintia engineering. The King’s entourage consisted of large numbers of his staff and of course few elephants and inspite of the load the stone bridge was strong enough to support the Royal entourage on his journey to and fro Nartiang to Jaintiapur which is now in Bangladesh.
While traveling towards Jarain, on reaching Skhentalang a glance to the left and and one can enjoy a captivating view of an enchanting natural beauty. The cliff at Skhentalang can also be good for rock climbing. Before reaching Jarain there is a lake which is currently being developed and Jarain also use to be famous for its ethnic ale. The village of Jarain and the surrounding of the Amlarem the Block headquarter is the area famous for one very unique heritage of the District- the pitcher plant. There is an effort to protect and preserve this very important flora and fauna of the District by the Jaintia Hills District Council and the council has allotted a section of its protected forest for this purpose. The portion of the forest which can be called the Pitcher plant Park is on the left of the Jowai Muktapur road and it situated in between Amalrem and Jarain in a place called Myrkein. It may be mentioned that apart from Balpakram National park this unique insect eating plant can be found in different parts of Jaintia Hills like in Chyrmang-Yongnoh near Jowai, Myndihati, Wahiajer area of Khliehriat Sub-Division, but Jarain-Amlarem area is the only place where we can found it in abundant and the park is easily accessible.
On reaching Amalrem one has to take left on the Amalrem-Muktaput road and head for Syndai. Before reaching Syndai the next big village is Pdengchakap and the famous Lechka Hydel project is near Pdengchakap.
Syndai is a small village on the Southern slope of Meghalaya’s border with Bangladesh but this tiny hamlet has in its procession immense collection of heritages both natural and man made. In the natural heritages category we have the famous Syndai cave, which is not, only one of the beautiful cave but it is also one of caver friendly cave. The cave has been electrified to help make it easier for cavers to enter and explore the cave. Apart from the natural cave in the village, is also blessed to be on the route of the famous Royal Path that connects the two capital of the ancient Jaintia Kingdom. So on their frequent shuttle between their two capitals the Kings build some very rare monuments on the whole Royal Path and particularly at Syndai. In front of the Syndai cave stand a ruined temple partly destroyed by time and weather and also by the banyan tree which grow over the temple. Near the temple there is a small stone path that leads down to the wah Umpubon (river umpubon), just few minutes walk from the temple, lies a stone sculpture. It was a sculpture carved on one lose rock, the sculpture was that of Ganapati or Ganesh, the elephant headed god of the Hindu pantheon. The path from the Pubon leads down to the wah umpubon, here also one can see few sculptures, and the prominent is that of the elephant under the river water.
Now a few minutes walks to the left of river pubon (after crossing the Jowai Muktapur road) one can see the magnificent bathing ghat. Rupasor is a bathing tub carved on one very huge rock. Rupasor is a 10-meter square shape and its depth is 4 meter. The rocky bathing tub was well carved with steps that lead to the path (similar to the modern-day swimming pool.) To the left of the pool an elephant sculpture was sculpted from the same rock, but sad to say the trunk of the elephant is broken. The pool was well planned that drains were carved on both sides in such a way that water would continuously flow to and from the pool. On the entry to the Pool, there was another sculpture of the Sun and the Moon on the rock. From the pool a walk on the steps dawn the path that leads to the plains of Bangladesh, there is a stone bridge of a better architecture work. The bridge was made in arch shape, but one wonders how they could do that when cement was not even heard of in those days of the yore. The stone where carved in such a way that it fit into each other like a building block and joined by an iron rod the two stones fits into each other tight and strong enough even for elephants to walk over it.
Throughout the journey one can see Bangladesh and view of Bangladesh itself is magnificent sight. There are also several view point and the most important was the one on the side of the Khli fall near Amlari village. If one is adventure enough, one ca proceeds on the border road to Dawki via Muktapur. Dawki itself is one tourist destination famous for the river Umnongot and its bridge and it is also famous for its “Ja ah” Dawki’s own unique Jadoh. On the way to back to Jowai Nongtalang can be another stop and in this village also there is lot to see and understand. The village has two important view points and it also has many ancient monuments which testify to its glorious past of this village.

Nongtalang Village: The Keeper of the tradition
In the last episode we have introduced Nongtalang and it is one of the oldest villages in the war Jaintia area. The important thing about Nongtalang is that this village is one of the few villages that can rightly be called ‘the keeper of the traditions’ in the warjaintia area. For reason being the village which still has the large numbers of its dweller still follow traditional tribal religion, and still keeps a lot of its traditions intact. Nongtalang is the only place where the ‘Rong Khli’ (Tiger festival) is being performed as and when necessary. Rong Khli is a festival that can be performed only when some one in the village killed a tiger. The festival which was normally held in late winter and early spring is rarely being practiced now a day may be it is due to the fact that there are no more tigers in the prowl in the area. However the village also follows a unique tradition of village administration in which the High Priest of the traditional tribal religion is also the Headman of the village. As mentioned earlier the village has two view points from which one can have a grand view of Bangladesh, the scenic beauty of these two points’ only needs a little more improvement to convert it to a park par excellence. The village also has a cave but perhaps not fit for amateur cavers. Being one of the oldest villages, Nongtalang also has a few collection of monolith. But the distinctiveness of the village as such lies in the ability of its people to keep the typical warjaintia customs intact. People in warjaintia area particularly in Nongtalang still strictly adhere to joint family systems, which means that the entire family lives under one roof albeit in a separate unit.
The village also has quite a few monoliths in and around the village; most of these megalith have certain religious significances. Nongtalang is the only place where the tradition of erecting monolith is being practice till this day.