Three-day community camp at Kongthong village: Where tunes and whistles echo

A Reporter

SHILLONG: With the aim of merging learning with experience and providing the students a platform to acquire knowledge through empirical evidence, the Department of Tourism and Travel Management, Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong, comprising 105 students and 7 faculty members, headed to Kongthong village, Meghalaya, to organize a three-day community camp.

The village is located at a distance of about 60 km from the State capital, Shillong. The unique feature of the village that attracts visitors is the tradition, which has been carried on since time immemorial, where its inhabitants, rather than using language and names, use sounds, tunes and whistles to call out to each other.

Each individual of the village has his or her own unique tune attributed to him or her at birth and is beckoned using that tune. Because the village is located along steep hills, the sounds of the people calling out to each other creates a pleasing echo that is probably never heard anywhere else in the world.

The students’ visit to the village has broadened their knowledge about community-based tourism as most of the tourism development initiative in the village is taken up by the community collectively. Tourism in Kongthong village is promoted by the Indigenous Agro Tourism Cooperative Society, led by Bah Rothel Khongsit, a resident of the village.

During the camp, the students’ activities involved studies on various elements like the geography, culture, history, heritage, community ethics and livelihoods of the villagers in the area through group interactions. This was accompanied by cultural programmes where both the students and the people of the community performed.

These cultural programmes were also attended by people from nearby villages like Mawlang, Mawsohmat and Khrang.

Also read: Meghalaya news