THE FASCINATING TALE OF THE WHISTLING VILLAGE OF NORTHEAST INDIA
Remember the time you whistled for the first time or perhaps tried whistling during your childhood. Whistling is not just used to produce tunes but also as a secret code among friends or even love birds.
Well whistling is seriously an art form that needs practice like any talent or skill does. But what if whistling becomes a custom to call and convey messages to each other. Although it sounds fascinating and surprising at the same time but whistling is truly a normal part of life for a village in northeast India. And this unique village is known as Kongthong Village , located in the East Khasi Hills district, which is 60 km from Meghalaya’s capital city Shillong. Surrounded by lush greenery forest this village is not just beautiful but also captivating because of its unique whistling custom. People of this village use whistling as a method of calling and conveying their messages to their fellow villagers and that how it is known as the ‘whistling village’ or the singing village.
Why?? Well because the villagers of Kongthong call each other with a unique tune. Each of them follows a unique tune to call each other and this has been followed as a tradition from generation to generation. Basically the villagers have tune as names. Once you enter the village, you will be captivated with the sounds of whistles echoing all around the village hills throughout the day.
This tune is termed as “Jingrwai Lawbei” by the villagers which means mother’s love song.
There are two stages of tune formation in Kongthong Village:
In the first stage after the birth of a child , the mother hums and whispers a unique tune for the child and with time the child becomes familiar and attached with it which becomes his or her unique naming tune. Later every one in the Kongthong Whistling Village call each other through the name tune.
Meanwhile in the Second Stage when the child reaches adulthood he/ she creates a tune to communicate with family members and fellow villagers.
This is how since ages the villagers communicate with each other over long distances via unique whistling. While the origin of this custom is still unknown but as the villagers say this has been a part of their life since its establishment.
In 2019, Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar Rakesh Sinha had adopted the village and suggested a UNESCO tag for the village.
Last year in November in 2021, Kongthong village was selected as the country’s entry to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation category for Best Tourism Village.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma even tweeted last year – “#Meghalaya’s whistling village Kongthong is selected for entry to the @UNWTO ‘Best Tourism Village’ along with 2 other villages in the country.”
Kongthong village is about a three-hour drive from Shillong and with around 80 households and 900 inhabitants farming is the main source of livelihood for the people of this village. The best time to visit the place is from September to October. So Next time when you plan a trip to shillong, make sure to extend your stay and include khonthong village in your must visit list as undoubtedly you will be captivated by the unique Kongthong village – the ‘whistling village’.
संयुक्त राष्ट्र के पर्यटन संस्था (UNWTO) में सर्वोत्तम पर्यटन गाँवों के लिए नामांकित होने पर मेरे द्वारा adopted मेघालय के गाँव Kongthong में खुशी की लहर : pic.twitter.com/ECG5xPgxO0
— Prof Rakesh Sinha MP ( Modi Ka Parivar ) (@RakeshSinha01) September 9, 2021
#Meghalaya's whistling village Kongthong is selected for entry to the @UNWTO 'Best Tourism Village' along with 2 other villages in the country.@kishanreddybjp @tourismgoi @meghtourism
— Conrad K Sangma (@SangmaConrad) September 8, 2021
