Our Bureau
MASSAR/SHILLONG: Massar, a sleepy hamlet in a valley surrounded by hills under Pynursla, East Khasi Hills, is home to a group of hearing impaired families who are getting special attention during the Lok Sabha polls.
The highest number of hearing impaired persons in the state is from the area.
The quaint village around 42 km from Shillong has hearing impaired families from Nongsteng clan, who are descendants of their first mother, Shilot Nongsteng.
The mystery is that while the descendents of Shilot gradually turn deaf once they grow old, another stock of Nongsteng clan from a different ancestral mother, does not suffer from the disability. There are also descendants of Shilot who are born deaf.
The hearing impaired villagers understand the conversation through movement of lips of speakers and also through gestures.
A visit to the village revealed that 13 out of 110 households have hearing impaired members, that is 53 out of the total population of 675. Besides, 87 households of Nongsteng clan members who are hearing impaired stay in Pomlum, Umthli, Lyngkyrdem, Mawah and Pynter.
To ensure that the hearing impaired voters are not left out of the Lok Sabha elections, the Election Department has appointed Batimon Nongsteng from Massar as the first special Booth Level Officer (BLO) for the disabled for the entire state.
During an interaction in the village, Batimon said she was committed to reaching out to the hearing impaired villagers of Massar and other areas under Pynursla.
Though earlier media reports had said Batimon was also hearing impaired, this reporter did not find any difficulty conversing with her.
However, Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Kharkongor said the process is gradual as some residents experience partial to profound deafness.
Headman of Massar Teiborlang Wankhar said there are two categories of Nongsteng – those who can hear (Nongsteng Sngew) and those who cannot hear (Nongsteng Kyllut).
There are villagers, who are both deaf and mute and there are those who can speak but cannot hear.
People gradually turning deaf in the village is being investigated by NEIGRIHMS.
“We are trying to help the people to recover from the disability. Every week we are sending the hearing impaired to NEIGRIHMS in batches,” the headman said.
Dr Abhijeet Bhatia, Principal Investigator from NEIGRIHMS who is studying the cases, is yet to find out the cause of the peculiar disability of the villagers.
“For the last one year, we have been carrying out research after the state government approached us. We are providing all medical assistance to them,” he said.
The headman said according to a story, long time ago, the husband of the ancestral mother, Shilot Nongsteng, brought a fish from the border village and cooked the same. After the duo ate the fish, they gradually became hearing impaired.
However, the experts from NEIGRIHMS are looking for scientific reason for the disability.
A separate study is being carried out by the Anthropology Department at NEHU.
The headman said the normal residents will help the hearing impaired to cast their votes during the April 11 election.
Due to the disability, children are not being able to pursue higher studies as they drop out of school, the headman said.
Bakmenshisha Khongbuh, who teaches at the LP school at Massar, said many students are hearing impaired and they learn by observing the movement of lips of teachers as no sign languages are used.
A resident of Massar, Ibanylla Wankhar, said the villagers do communicate to the hearing impaired families and there is no discrimination.