Kongthong also called Whistling Village in Meghalaya nominated as ‘Best Tourism Village’

Meghalaya holds pride in having Mawlynnong, ‘Asia’s cleanest village in Asia’ in 2003 which has been entitled by Discover India. Besides cleanliness, the Mawlynnong village also achieved a 100 percent literacy rate. It is not the end; the village is also home to the one and only Living Root Bridges in the World, which is one of the best places of tourism in India. It is also quite noticeable that the site has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. It is an irrefutable fact that Meghalaya is full of mysterious and incredible destinations.

Last week, The Ministry of Tourism nominated Konthong Village located in East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya as World Tourism Organization’s ‘Best Tourism Village’. Two other villages called Pochampally and Ladhpura Khas from Telangana and Madhya Pradesh respectively have also been nominated under the same category. Without any further ado, let’s know why the Kongthong Village has been nominated as one of the UNWTO’s Best Tourism Villages and what are its unique and less known facts.

Amazing Facts of Kongthong Village:

Kongthong Village, nestled between Meghalaya’s Sohra and Pynursla ridges is a very small village with around 700 villagers and is situated in East Khasi Hills district, which is approx 60 km from Shillong, capital of Meghalaya.

There are specific valid reasons why Kongthong village is one of the most prominent villages of Meghalaya. It is because of the amazing locations and its unique tradition where each and every villager has used whistling as a method of calling each other. The villagers call each other with a different tune so that it can identify the person easily from others and such tradition has been followed for generations. This unique cultural practice started since time immemorial and has carved a distinctive cultural identity for the Whistling  village. 

The people of this whistling village have called this tune ‘Jingrwai Lawbei’ which means mother’s love song. Whenever a child is born, the mother assigns her child a tune, which becomes the name of the child. Coming to the naming of a child, the mother must make the tune a different one from the existing ones so that the name of the child can be unique and identified.

Each of the 700 villagers have two names- one is a regular name and another is a song name. There are two versions of the song name: a short and a long song. The short one is normally used at home (pet name) and another is used in the forest to ward off evil spirits. 

Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar Rakesh Sinha had adopted the village in 2019 and had also suggested the UNESCO tag. The village invites hundreds of tourists every year with its beautiful panoramic view and breath-taking greenery. 

If you are looking forward to travelling somewhere like heaven, Hope you should consider witnessing the beautiful tourist places of North East India which can give you the valid reason why you must visit the wonderland before you die. Visit and experience the beauty of North East India Tourist Places like never before in your past holidays.