The beautiful hamlet inhabited by less than a 1000 people. (Source: Twitter)
For years the villagers in Kongthong have only communicated with each other through a very unique process of whistling identity instead of names
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- Last Updated: July 20, 2022, 11:50 IST
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From Living Root Bridge in Meghalaya to Hakki Pikki tribal village in Karnataka, India is home to some of the most unique, and fascinating places. Kongthong village near Shillong is probably one place that will make you want to extend your stay in India.
Located about 60 km from the capital city of Shillong, Kongthong village has around 900 individuals and is popularly called the ‘whistling village of India’.
Wondering why? The villagers here have tunes for names.
Apart from the undisturbed natural beauty, the unique tradition attracts travellers to Kongthong. The village residents here assign both a regular name and a tune to a newborn.
They call each other with these unique tunes and if this doesn’t intrigue you, we don’t know what will.
Kongthong is about a three-hour drive, about 53 kilometres from Shillong, nestled under the laps of lush green East Khasi hills.
The village has small cottages and the best time to visit the place is from September to October.
In this village, when a child is about to be born, the mother comes up with a unique tune or lullaby for the baby.
The mother sings the tune in the ear of her newborn and it becomes his/her name. The Kongthong villagers call this tradition Jingrwai Lawbei which means Mother’s Love song.
The unique tune has two stages, first by the mother and second by the child. As the child grows up, they form their own tune to call their parents or the villagers.
Once you visit the village, you may hear whistles and hoots echoing around. The hoots are mainly used to call the children back home for dinner or friends reach out to each other by tunes to call them to play on the streets.
The unique style helped them to communicate over long distances for generations. The origin of the unique tradition is not known yet, but it is believed that the traditional custom has been in the village since its establishment.
In November, last year, Kongthong was selected as the country’s entry to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation category for Best Tourism Village.
