By Gregory Shullai
Lumpongdeng had become a rank myth even before the first spade of earth had been dug out from its top soil. Divergent evaluations are not uncommon, but in Governments’ case for the development of the island with temporary structures only, there is not even the basic agreement about what that stands for among its supporters as much as there is among its critics. It would seem that one cannot properly speak of the Lumpongdeng Project because so many different conceptions are current, though this is typical of the manner in which importance is appropriated by any project that the State Government places its weight upon. Yet neither the often-misleading support for the project nor such slogans as the “fast unto death if the project is not shelved permanently” undertaken by GTF Secretary General Ritre Lyngdoh.
Green-Tech Foundation Meghalaya-India in opposition to the project, could beget an understanding of the significance of what Lumpongdeng meant to the people because one needed to understand what the people feel about and see in the place as compared to the proposal to enhance the tourism potential of the State in general. As it is there is a common general sorrow among the Khasi Pnar people over the desecration of their culture and its progressive decline into entertainment purposes only; and to think that their feelings were being ignored, convinced them that something needed to be done to prevent the further degeneration of their customs, especially the tradition of being heard before any decision was taken by the authorities.
Dismissing the need of being heard demanded the undertaking of the most drastic measure – a fast unto death, because there was no other way available to the people if they were to keep alive the tradition of being heard. While translations of their “Ka Jingsneng Tymmen” or “The teachings of the Elders” into the current dominant language is appreciable these were only excursions from which one returned though enriched to a more genuinely creative task. A new and more forceful language needed to be generated. There was a need for someone who could show that a heroic life was still possible in the modern world – in short for a Bah Ritre Lyngdoh.
During the few weeks leading upto the final abandonment of Lumpongdeng for tourism, the island began to be associated with the idea that somehow it reflected a historical identity of the people although nothing could have been further from the truth in the mind of those that saw it as a potential tourism attraction. These misinterpretations by the State were supported and perhaps inspired by the fact that tourism has taken a pivotal position in the allround development of the State because of the natural beauty, the friendly people and pleasant weather conditions in the Khasi Hills in particular. Social media, incidentally, having become the most trusted propaganda agent for the tourism potential of a place has lavished excessively high praise especially on the waterfalls, the lakes, rivers that criss-cross the country side and the pleasant climatic conditions that the Khasi Jaintia Hills afford as compared to the hot and humid endless plainlands that dominate the Indian landscape from Khanapara and beyond. The 4-lane highway from Gauhati to Shillong has added another pleasant experience for tourists who welcome the greenery that has a calming all round effect on the senses. Added to these natural assets is the friendly nature of the Khasi Jaintia people who instinctively take the opportunity to provide inputs such as friendly guest houses and clean diners all along the way that match the natural assets of these hills.
The topography and geographical location of the Khasi Hills and the friendly nature of the people contribute immensely to the growth of tourism and these assets have been so inextricably involved in and so symptomatic of the development of tourism during the last two decades that no summary account may seem possible. An observation and a study of the prospects of what tourism in these hills can become in the Twenty First century in a multi-dimensional perspective offers more than just a little prospect as a research theme; especially with the entertainment industry getting equally involved as an added attraction consequent upon the internationally acclaimed big names such as Def Leppard, Ronan Keating, Bryan Adams, etc making Shillongas a start to their live tours in India and South East Asia. To be honest State Government had little to play by way of promoting tourism since nature and the people themselves provided more than enough. However, there was another source that did a lot in advertising these hills to tourism – social media.
On the whole, social media posts that everyone is now glued on to have given a far greater impetus to tourism than any State sponsored programme has ever done, especially in the light of the ill-begotten belief that the State is the most corrupted State in the country – an embarrassment to the leaders which is becoming impossible to eradicate from the popular mind of both the local people and the tourists. Perhaps more than environmental and social facets in the opposition to the Lumpongdeng Project the greatest motivating force in the minds of everyone who opposed it was the threat that this project would foster even greater corruption in the State. This article, however, will not go into the corruption that the people suspect, it will concentrate only on milder forces.
The first is represented by the Green-Tech Foundation, a group whose influence exceeded that of any other environmentally conscious group by the determined “fast unto death” programme which awakened the State Government that the threat of violating the history and authority of the people of the Khasi Hills was not to be undermined. The members of Green Tech have more than just educated the people on the need to preserve their natural heritage; they have awakened the people to the role that the community must play in the preservation of what we have inherited from the generations that went before us. Consider the Law Kyntang at Mawphlang which is an ideal example of how a legacy is honoured. In addition to the need to preserve our inheritance, what has materialized represents the much-needed repudiation to the modernization of everything dear to the people. Secondly, Green Tech has shown to one and all the convictions that we hold dear and that no saccharine sweet justification from no matter how high an authority nor the deceitful manipulation by the use of money can distract us from the preservation of our traditions and land if we desire so.
For now, we have been able to arrest the inevitable and avert the catastrophic change in the scenic landscape we see while driving along the first dyke, for now we know that we still have people who hold the key to the way forward; people who are capable of demanding upon State Government to uphold our emotional attachment to traditions and nature and to the sacred memory that we the people are united by a common inheritance and that the desecration of this inheritance and its progressive degeneration into a money making industry is anti-culture because the common man still possesses deep feelings and great thoughts for what he has inherited from his predecessors.
Would anyone dare be bold enough to take a look into the secret of how societies came about? Very well! Here is a point we can all judge for ourselves to see into the dark past of how they came about. But wait a bit longer, the thoughts need to adjust to the dark and terrible secrets that is held therein. Gradually we see images that are clearly identifiable…barbarians and pirates and outlaws – they were the ones that demanded a need for ‘a society’. To this day these barbarians, pirates and outlaws still roam our streets and highways but no longer under those names…now we call them “politicians and holy men”. These are the modern-day barbarians…we need a far greater society to protect us from them these days.
To crystallize our present-day problems and to understand the attempts that people make to cope with them, one must forgo any temptation to associate them with politics and identify them instead as partners in their own causes. The fact is that the best way ahead is always on the side of the more difficult. One need not conjecture on this point because the fact remains that society has not become better than what it was i.e., we will not find better leaders today than the leaders we had at the start when the State was just created out of the State of Assam. There are many even today who are far more reliable and capable to lead the State than the leaders we have now, but most of them believe that after retiring from what they were involved in they have retired from active life altogether and this is where the problem lies. Regardless of age people need to place themselves in the midst of life instead of only attacking and complaining against what is going on.
In concluding let us remind ourselves that the two opposing values “good and bad” or “good and evil” have been engaged in a fearful battle since time immemorial, and though the latter value has certainly been on top for a longer time there are still places where the struggle is yet undecided in the sense that individual determination can still subdue offers from short willed and unreliable creatures. The abandonment of the 5-Star Project at Lumpongdeng has now made room for new things, above all for nobler proposals that blend with the landscape and simultaneously offer employment opportunities for our men and women such as houseboats on the lake.
