Among the legends

Fieldwork, essentially as an ancillary academic discipline, not only connects the academic queries, with the ground situations and events, but also locates the researcher with the topic, people and their culture. Importantly, post-field report is a significant input on the discourse, and returns layers of meanings and significances on the discourse itself. 

     A field trip to the historic capital of the erstwhile Khatsawphra Native State in the present day Nongkhlaw, Mairang in the West Khasi Hill district, Meghalaya was just not an academic checklist to accomplish, but a carefully chartered pursuit in association with the clansperson of the said village — Bah Don, who is also our colleague, friend and our guide to historical, cultural, customary and culinary matters of importance. His narratives were the ‘third eye’ with which I could see the past in the present as an augmented reality. 
     After an hour of a pleasant drive from Shillong in the newly constructed highway, there was a break for breakfast. After having it with Monalisa, when I asked my bill for atta (meaning chapatti) and tea, I was shocked as well as surprised that it was too less for what I ate. Somewhere, I felt that it is unfair to pay so less for the labour and love ki kong have put behind the freshly prepared food. I told my dilemma to Bah Don and others — they said, “the Khasis are like this!” I boarded the bus thinking of the culture, political economy, location, and also of the many other bills that I had paid elsewhere. 

  As I was on my way to know more about another Khasi —Tirot Sing (1802-1835) — the one who led the first uprisings against the British in the north east India —now known as the “Khasi rebellion of 1829-1833” associated with the “Nongkhlaw massacre,” there were legends, historical notes and sites as well as  anecdotes attached to his revolutionary act that we were trying to relate in the fieldwork. After we reached the Nongkhlaw, the sardar (village headman) joined us, and directed us to the historical sites. Of the caves, Krem Siej Tyra is a hide out that Tirot Sing and his troops used. Like Tirot Sing and his troops many years ago, we all descended into the cave. Inside the hundred metre long cave, I found that the monolith still stands awaiting Tirot Sing. Many dared to sit in his stone-throne, and clicked the selfies and the photos. I took few photos of the solitary structure as my mark of respect to the legendary hero. Krem Pyrda, named after the first resident lady, is another hide out about a hundred and fifty meters long. After a quick visit to these hideouts, we found Pepbah, a cremation site for the Syiem and his family on the way to Maw Shong Bishar, a judgment seat of Tirot Sing. Now, the locality is developed into a tourist attraction, but I doubt whether such initiative is really worth or would have been approved by Tirot Sing himself.
     The next site was the Phan Nonglait Falls, on the banks of river Umsaw, associated with the legend of Tirot Sing and Phan Nonglait. Here again, Bah Don narrates (his version) of the legend associated with Phan Nonglait. The story goes like this — Phan Nonglait, a young beautiful Khasi damsel drew the attraction of the Britishers. As an act of revolution, she enticed the white men, and offered them drinks. Since the British soldiers were drowned both by her beauty and the drinks, and anticipated to have pleasure with her, she disarmed them, and threw their weapons in the rock hole in the river. Later, she signalled the Tirot Sing’s men, and the weapons were seized by the them, and the Britishers were killed. The legend acknowledges Phan Nonglait as the beauty who enticed the Britishers, but she is also acknowledged as the female freedom fighter among the Khasis in the historical records. Interestingly, the Britishers could not ‘think above the drawer string’ and fell into the honey trap. It was not different for me too. I too was enticed with the story. Following Bah Don’s narration, I not only imagined brave Phan Nonglait (who must be great great great grand mother) as a beautiful woman but also about her feminity and beyond. I began to muse Phan Nonglait as a nymph or even puri (of the Khasi folktales) of the river Umsaw, and the romance continued till someone called me to join for the lunch.  

Apart from the sites, the culinary treat that we had at the Phan Nonglait Falls was beyond imagination as a part of the fieldwork. Again Bah Don arranged the local Khasi cuisine Jadoh Khaw, local red rice prepared with blood and offal of the local chicken cooked in the traditional ways by the clansperson. It was accompanied by many side dishes notably Thieye’s 'Naga pork’ and Sana’s ‘Garo chicken.’ It was a culinary fieldwork too fortified with Bah Don’s commentaries. The food not only told many stories about the Khasis’ foodways, but also of love, sharing, and the unique culinary culture that the food signifies. In other words, the lunch that we had on the banks of the river Umsaw was not just a meal, it was a link to the community and vice-versa. Still the taste lingers on my mouth, so the praise. 
  Our next destination was Lum Kyllang, three giant granite rocks - a man, his wife and his child — a pareidolic like me can associate it even at the 5400 feet. It is also associated with a Khasi folktale that Bah Don narrated to us. Kyllang is believed to be the deity of storms and hurricane -- an unconquerable spirit. After paying the fee to the local headman, we reached the summit to be astonished with the heavenly view of the earth below. To be at top of the Lum Kyllang was not just a feat to achieve the uphill climb, but also a way to connect with the characters and their feats in the folktale. In a way, it connects you with the tale, and stirs our imagination seeking truth and rationale of the event that is now a folktale. After a moment of euphoria, as we descend the Lum Kyllang, we were also descending from the world of the folktale to our everyday world. 

On our way back to Shillong, we all had tea followed by a photo session — signifying a cherished time spent together and also creating a memory to cherish later, respectively. But what I relish the most is the moment that I spent in close connection with the people and their culture. A fieldwork that connects with Tirot Sing, Phan Nangloit or even Jadhoh Khaw or with the Lum Kyllang — where the legends and folktales entwined with our lives creating an augmented reality.