Meghalaya

Meghalaya: ‘Whistling village’ nominated as ‘Best Tourism Village’ in India

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

SHILLONG-   In Meghalaya’s Kongthong village, a mother calls her child by a tune instead of a name. The villagers have two names in Kongthong-a regular name and a song name.

The Ministry of Tourism has nominated Meghalaya’s Kongthong village, also known as the ‘Whistling village’, for the World Tourism Organization’s “Best Tourism Villages” award along with two other villages in the country.

The two other villages that have been nominated for UNWTO ‘Best Tourism Villages’ award are–Pochampally in Telangana and Ladhpura Khas in Madhya Pradesh.

In this village, a mother calls her child by a tune instead of a name, like–Eeooow, Ooeeo, etc. The villagers have two names in Kongthong-a regular name and a song name. In fact, the song names have two versions, a short song and a long song.

The short song is normally used at home. The longer names are used in the forest to keep away evil spirits.

The musical names are called ‘jingrwai Iawbei’ in the village.

The village, with a population of around 700 people, has one school up to Class 8th, and 3 km is a secondary school. For  higher studies, the villagers go to Shillong.

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

“Two years ago, my adopted whistling village Kongthong was not known even to the people of Meghalaya. Now, it is ready for the Best Tourism Village in the world,” Sinha said in a tweet.

In January this year, CM Sangma had assured to release ₹1 crore for developing tourism infrastructure at Kongthong.

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