By HH Mohrmen
It is a general assumption that influx of outsiders and identity of the Hynniewtrep tribe are interconnected issues. It is also believed that the large scale influx of outsiders is an imminent threat to the identity of the Hynniewtrep tribe and community. Recently, prominent NGOs in the state converged to demand for implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in the state. No doubt the unabated migration of non indigenous population to the state and identity crisis among the children of the 7- Trep people are two important issues but to mix the two issues and suggest that influx is the only threat to the identity of the autochthon of the State is wrong to say the least.
In my opinion, identity is characterised by our looks – the physical aspects of it. It is also exemplified by the way we dress our culture and traditions. Influx may have little or no impact on these aspects of our life. No one can take away our culture and tradition from us; we can lose our culture only when we consciously decide to abandon it ourselves. No outside power can be of any threat to our identity and if there is any crisis of identity in the community it is but of our own making.
I was only aware of the efforts of the two Dutch artists to create an art work which depicts the situation of the 7- Trep as a tribe or a community it presently is in, when I was invited to the art installation by the duo to read an old piece from this column which has some connection with the art work. It is sheer coincidence that the couple from the Netherlands in collaboration with Martin Luther Christian University has come up with this idea at this crucial juncture for the 7 -Trep people. The signs of the times and I believe the art work too depicted a community in crisis or rather a community at the crossroads, and the vast impact of western influence on us, so much so we are gradually losing our 7- Trepness or our tribal identity.
The community, particularly the young are so influenced by the modern way of life; that they have gradually discarded their culture and traditions. Now Khasi Pnar women hardly wear jainsem even for occasions. I am not saying that this is wrong; after all what a person wears or does with his/her life is an individual choice but from the culture and identity point of view it is not an encouraging trend. Our young people are more at ease wearing jeans and skirts than jainsem. Well, Khasi Pnar men do not have a traditional dress to begin with. What we have is the jain-boh (dhoti) that we have borrowed from our neighbours in the plains. So if comfort and convenience is what makes people decide how and what to dress, then jainsem particularly the ‘sem Pnar’ is fast becoming unpopular.
Language too is part of the identity package or what defines us. It reminds me of an article in the Shillong Times few months back which was penned by a young woman who was irritated with her colleague who she mentioned spoke Kha-lish in the bus instead of either speaking Khasi or English. We are more comfortable speaking English or Kha-lish even among ourselves than speaking pure Khasi and in the internet where everything is happening now, the communication is in English even in the pages or blogs named as Khasi-Pnar or 7 Trep.
Majority of families now insist that their kids use English mommy or daddy instead of mei, bei, or pa, and aunty, uncle instead of meirit, mei duh, bei khian, bei lood, ma rangbah, ma heh, ma san, ma khian etc. And more importantly we are confusing ourselves when we use uncle and aunt for both our relatives from mother and father’s side. The two are not the same as per our culture and tradition. In the Khasi Pnar context ‘ki kha ki man’ are different from ‘ki kur ki jait.’ Here rests the unique identity of the Khun7 Ttrep from the others. And if we abandon our ‘khein kur; khein kha’ then what remains of our identity? The first court case with regard to the question ‘Who is a real Khasi?’ is a case questioning the Khasiness of a person who does not have ‘ka jait’ or the clan. Can we call a person a Khasi if he does not have ‘ka jait’ or if his name is not followed by his ‘ka kur’?
The most popular slogan of the foreigner movement spearheaded by the KSU was the one which says “Khasi by blood and Indian by accident.” my photographer friend from England took a good photo of the slogan and made it part of the exhibition he put on display around the world. Now that I come to think of it, I can’t help but think ‘what is a 7 -trep blood?’ ‘Do we really have true Khasi Pnar blood? Or the son of the soil blood?’ Is the Khasi Pnar blood so pure that it has not been watered down with blood from other tribes or race? Evidence proves beyond doubt that the 7 -Trep people had had inter-tribe or inter-race marriages with people we came into contact with. Even our culture and languages is being influenced by our neighbours in particular. The question is do we really have a pure 7- Trep blood to start with? And now mixed marriages so rampant in the coal mine areas, (again I am not saying that people cannot enter into mixed marriages) the point is that the so called pure Khasi blood is getting watered down. Who are the 7- Trep and what is their real identity?
The final blow to the ‘7- Trep identity’ is when we lose our roots and forget the intrinsic value that makes the tribe. We gradually lose our identity when we no longer try to ‘kamai ia ka hok’ be it at the personal or community level; we also lose our identity when we do not respect our ‘tip kur tip kha’ value system. And more importantly we gradually are losing our 7 Trepness when we do not live a courteous life and respect fellow human beings and God ‘tipbriew tip Blei’ and when we live a life disconnected from nature. A Khasi Pnar is only partly a Khasi Pnar if he has lost his connection with nature.
We are losing our land to the cement companies not because of anything else but because we are the ones who make a beeline to mortgage or lease our land to the outsiders. We are losing our land because the Traditional Institutions; be it the daloi or the rangbah shnong are the ones who first issue no objection certificates to people from outside to do business in their areas.
Therefore the threat to the 7- Trep tribe or community as one may wish to call it is not from the outside force, but from the inside. Influx has very little or no role to play in the issue. What we need to do is to rediscover and redefine 7- trepness in the light of the modern world. If only we can protect and preserve our culture then we can also protect our identity.
(The author is a researcher and an environmental activist)