Whistling village in Meghalaya vies for best tourism village award

THE VILLAGERS call this tune ‘Jingrwai Lawbei’ which means mother’s love song.

Each of the 700 villagers in Kongthong is not known by a name, but by a tune.

In what will boost the tourism sector further, the ministry of tourism has selected a village Kongthong also known as whistling village in frontier state of Meghalaya for entry into UNWTO’s (The World Tourism Organisation) Best tourism Village award along with two other villages in the country.

The village located in the East Khasi Hills district, about 60 km from Meghalaya’s capital city Shillong is known as whistling village as villagers call each other with a unique tune. Each of them has a unique tune for calling each other and this tradition has been going on for generations.

The villagers call this tune “Jingrwai Lawbei” which means mother’s love song. Each of the 700 villagers in Kongthong is not known by a name, but by a tune. Within a week of a baby’s birth, the mother assigns the child a tune, which becomes their name. The mother has to make the tune different than the already existing ones in order to ensure that the child’s identity remains unique.

However, there are no records of when this unique cultural practice started.

According to local villagers, the practice has existed since time immemorial and has given a distinctive cultural identity for the village and its residents through the practice of the unique “Jingrwai Lawbei”.

Though, the villagers have two names — one is a regular name and another is a song name.

The song names have two versions — a long song and a short song and the short song is normally used at home. People of this village also use whistling as a method of conveying their messages.

Nestled between

Meghalaya’s Sohra and Pynursla ridges — 65 km from Shillong — is the village called Kongthong. The village attracts tourists for its beautiful views and greenery.

The village is in the Khasi Hills. The residents follow a matrilineal tradition where the children inherit the mother’s family lineage and clan.

According to locals there are 10 major clans in the village and four of them, namely Khongsit, Majaw, Lynrah and Pohnong, all of whom claim to be founders of the village.

In 2019, Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar Rakesh Sinha had adopted the village and suggested a UNESCO tag for the village.