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Shodhyatra-26 |
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Of King, Kingdoms and Kindness
26th Shodhyatra (East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya), January 3-9, 2011 (Part - II) |
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| Abstract |
Cherrapunji is the second wettest place on Earth. Yet, people in the city get water supply for hardly two hours. Denudation of not just hills but also the hopes of the people in certain parts is evident from the barren landscapes, as if, intentionally untended. With more than hundred explorers walking together, it was easy to understand how does isolation breeds inquisitiveness and ingenuity. The collective traditions of governance are contending with aspirations of the modernizing youth. Some institutions are crumbling while others are being revived. Water conservation suffers but there were villages where people were trying to conserve forests. The educational situation was not good. The place was broom capital of the country but hardly any value addition takes place locally. Yet, the region was rich in knowledge and creativity. |
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Steep climb for schools
Schools are available only till standard 4th in the remote village of Rammai. Moreover some of the children were not much interested in going to school (as they have to traverse long distances and endure a steep climb everyday). Mothers breastfeed their children and later give them mashed banana and over boiled mashed rice and soup. Children are given Areca nut husk for chewing when they are teething. Areca nut branches are used for brushing teeth as well. The common health complain in this region is leg pain (due to lifting heavy of loads). The average number of kids in a family of village Rammai is seven! (Maximum number being 15 and the minimum being six). On enquiring about it, it was found out that the villagers consider children as God’s ‘gift’ and thus birth control is not practiced. Marriage within clan is unacceptable.
After an interaction with the villagers, we then again began our uphill walk to Laitryngew where the night halt was planned at the ‘Don Bosco’ school. Coal mining is the primary source of income generation and livelihood sustenance here. A few important crops grown locally are cabbage (Kubi), carrot (Kajor), peas (Motor), beans (Pynbai), legumes, radish, potato etc. Other spices condiments are ginger (Sying), garlic (Rysun), turmeric (Shin rai) etc. Jied Nongram (45) is the acting village head, the sardar. There is a Presbyterian institute and higher secondary school in the village.
The beautiful homes
The next morning we saw a simple local innovation of a wooden gate connected to the pole using a hinge made of tyre serving as a door closer. Sohra rim is a small village having 113 households, most of them dependent on daily wage labour. Here also vegetables were grown mainly for self consumption. The important crops are pathao (exotic water melon), pathao risang (indigenous water melon), cabbage, potato, tomato etc. The village is well known for its art and craft practices like basket making. Lasubon Walong, is renowned for his extraordinary sculpture work in the region. Laitylli and Laikyrsoi are two SHGs (self help groups) in the village busy with rearing cattle and poultry. There is a sacred grove, hardly 1.5 km away, called as ‘Lawling’ located towards the west of the village where entry is totally restricted.
Mrs.Talben of Ladmawphlang village was complimented for her beautifully organized house, efficient four-tier energy harnessing and roof top water harvesting system in place for last 50 years, indeed an impressive blend of modern with traditional! Main source of income in the village is through coal digging or rock transportation. At Ladmawphlang village the school only exists till 7th standard. For higher classes, students have to travel 25 km to Cherrapunji. This village is mainly affected by water borne diseases and has no qualified doctor; just a nurse and a small dispensary. We met an elderly lady on the way who was selling medicines for three major problems: fever, leg pain and diarrhoea. This gave us an insight as to what could be the main health problems faced in the region.
Khasi society is Matrilineal and matrilocal. After marriage boy generally goes to the girl’s house. Boy changes his surname to that of the girl’s. All of the family’s property goes to the youngest daughter and she takes the responsibility of the family. A woman has the highest position within the family. Despite this, women have little or no representation in the governance. The infant mortality rate is low here but most of the young ones suffer from malnutrition.
The David Scot route
On our way from Ladmawphlang village to Mawngap village, we trekked the David Scot route and crossed the Umiam River. Many shodhyatris slipped while crossing the river, though no one was seriously injured. After this followed a trek of another 200 m and a river in between after which one has to walk four kilometers to village Mawngap.
While walking down the mountains covered with greenery, moist breeze and hazy clouds, it did not require much effort to absorb what nature could do, if left to itself. But that is not often the case. Crops here are grown on residual moisture. Dew or rain water is sufficient for home plantations. But with better rain water harvesting, much could be done. But structures that could sustain heavy rain and yet store enough water, have not been developed yet.
Venturing the highest point
As we began for Mawbynna village, just outside Mawngap, we saw a mechanic Naheti, who had made a small contraption of an old tyre to keep tools in a garage. We also saw a tree having rose like flowers, locally called ‘Tamelia’ (Camellia japonica L.). It was a long walk of 16 km wherein we climbed up to the highest point of Shillong- the Shillong peak (1965 m above sea level) and then descended to village Mawbynna. Along the way green house on the roof were seen as well as maize cobs hanging in verandah of each house. Rows of flower pots were seen in almost every house. Just a little before Mawbynna, we met a small trader originally from Bihar selling biscuits and other confectionery items going from village to village. Everybody seemed to know him and even children would come to him and buy things. Face to face market with such bonhomie was alive still, as in many rural and even urban areas.
The young movers of Mawbynna
Mawbynna Village has two lower primary schools having 56 children. An idea competition was organized where a lot of children enthusiastically voiced their ideas. The brother-sister duo of Abhadha Kharjana (ploughing through cycle) and Renold Haerad Kharjana (who designed a model of Eiffel tower and agreed to fabricate the cycle plough) were the joint winners of the idea competition. Nisha Bihange Tariang and Wanrihum Kharkongor too won a prize each.
Soniya, Ribaa, and Iban showed their collection of local seeds while Belida and Lynthia collected the local vegetables and explained their uses and significance to the shodhyatris. Sibalin, Dakahi and Bamedet presented variety of local fruits. Device for plucking fruit from tall trees was an idea that won the prize as well. A little girl took the stage to talk about the bad hygiene habit of the villagers, she was not very happy with that and appealed to them to refrain from answering nature’s call any where carelessly. Everybody praised the model of Eiffel tower made by Renold. After a good round of interaction with the children at Mawbynna and taking lunch, the group walked another nine km to reach Smit, our final destination.
Smit is one of the famous village of East Khasi hills district, also known as the coldest place of Meghalaya where the temperature goes down upto -2°C during the Month of December. The village is also renowned for its academic excellence. Many of the State and Union Government civil servants are from this village. It has eleven lower primaries, six upper primaries, and six secondary and a higher secondary school. Not surprisingly, it has both electricity and water supply system in place.
Late in the evening the shodhyatris enjoyed songs sung by two blind musicians by the bonfire.
Of King, Kingdoms and Kindness
The beautiful house of the Sardar of Smit, Shillong was visited by the yatris on the last day. We learnt about the governance system there - Khasi region is divided into seven kingdoms (khyrium). A democratic method of choosing the village head is followed. If people dislike him then all the elder people of village decide and remove him (no need for voting) if people like him then he can be the head for next six years. Only indirect taxes are imposed here. If a person is found guilty of doing any wrong then he is given a chance to mend his ways. No fine is imposed. Whenever the priest has to send invitation to village headman or provincial headman she sends a beautifully tied rope called ‘Kyrwoh’. It encodes all the information about reason of meeting and time of meeting. Many people of Smit still have not converted to Christianity and follow the traditional system. We visited ‘Jingsad’ (wooden religious palace) of ‘Hima Khyrium’, where traditional rituals of Khasi are performed. It is completely made up of Khasi pinewood; even the connectors are made up of Bamboo. There is a sacred pillar called ‘Rihshod Blei’, made up of pine tree, inside the ‘Jingsad’ which only Queen mother can touch. It is believed that through this pillar the prayers are conveyed to God.
The Land of Paradoxes
News about social conflicts few days ago among garo and rabhas, two ethnic communities living on the border of Meghalaya and Assam had reached the yatris. Everyone was praying for peace and cessation of hostilities. The press conference at the end of the seven day yatra was organized at Smit after the visit to the palace and all the shodhyatris shared their expe-riences. The hospitality of local communities and rich biodiversity and natural resources had made a deep impression on everybody’s mind. But paradoxically, even the brooms for which maximum cultivation of grass Thysanolaena maxima (Roxb.) Kuntze took place here, are not made here. Only raw material is sent to Kolkata where few traders control the trade of brooms all over the country. Same applies to the spices and condiments. Almost no in situ value addition takes place here. Obviously poverty was a consequence. Despite considerable demand for education, the infrastructure (particularly secondary schools) is poorly distributed. Despite so much rainfall, chronic water scarcity during offseason made all of us feel ashamed about our governance system. With such a rich scope of eco-tourism, even that was not developed well. Desertification was a serious threat, and unplanned and unscientific mining was damaging nature no less. The ethics for conservation of sacred groves deserve to be celebrated and nurtured. National attention needs to be drawn to the terrible pain that people suffer
with so inadequate facilities for
health education, water conservation, value addition, and livelihood in general. We hope that clouds that embraced us and moistened our eyes, will forgive us if we are unable to permeate
the insularity of the system. But we
will try. |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee 22(3)19-21, 2011 |
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