By Dominick “DauniRoising” Rymbai
Our Christian hymns, with tunes derived from Welsh and Latin hymns and the Khasi rhythm, can lift anyone onto a higher spiritual plane. Also, a good rendition of the lamentation of Sier Lapalang’s mother can give any music lover of the world, goose bumps. The Beatles are great; besides meditation, they did come to our country to learn the sitar (and possibly the duitara too, if only). The music of the film Rock On (2008) is good; a musical hit of its sequel Rock On 2 (2016) is Hoi-Kiw/Chale Chalo by our own Summersalt band and the inimitable Usha Uthup. Working with Javed Akhtar, Usha Uthup, and the Amar-Akbar-Anthony of music directors Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is a dream come true for many Indian musicians. Interestingly, Ehsaan Noorani has been a big support of the annual International Blues Music Day celebrations in Shillong. One of the highlights of the musical journey of our own Soulmate band is the opening act for the pioneer of world music and fusion rock Santana and the legend himself jamming with them Live! on stage!
Who helps and supports all this? Blues Music fans from mainland India, the biggest of them all being a certain Anand Mahindra of the Mahindra Blues Festival. Our own Shillong Chamber Choir have performed for the American President at Rashtrapati Bhavan and also with the legendary Amitabh Bachchan. Their breakout performance and national attention? India’s Got Talent Season 2 (2010) and the support from all Indian music fans.
George Harrison had jammed with Pandit Ravi Shankar andUstad Zakir Hussain with the percussionist Sivamani. No less in effort and technicalities, the jugalbandi between the lead guitar of Rangdap, the bass of Gideon and the tabla by Rinku for PCN’s A Christmas Special 2020 did hit the right notes and feel. With 4.3 million views (greater than Meghalaya’s population), the latest YouTube sensation Kynmo by Jessie Lyngdoh has fans from all over India. Shekhar Ravjiani of Vishal-Shekhar fame remarked he got his first musical break in a movie made by our very own Pradip Kurbah. A musical genius and a national treasure of Tamil descent, AR Rahman composed the music and sang in Bengali and Hindi to the Bengali lyrics by another great Indian Rabindranath Tagore and Hindi lyrics based on Tagore’s originals – Jagao Mere Desh Ko. And Tagore has a strong Shillong connection. Only in India can such a synergy happen.
There was a time in the late 1990s and 2000s in Jowai and Shillong when it would be almost blasphemous to disturb the older females and their male partners-in-audience at evening primetime. Ekta Kapoor’s K serials were running. Ektaji would scarcely believe that when she designed her serials for a certain target audience, she would make die-hard fans in Meghalaya. Those fans know Smriti Irani (Tulsi before she joined politics with her real name) or Ronit Roy as Mr Bajaj before he made his name as a good character actor. The swag and hairstyle of Nagarjuna, Chiranjeevi and of course Mithun or Govinda is copied by many male fans in our hills. Some, grey with age and/or wisdom, still proudly sport their mane. The 2-Film series of Baahubali (2015 & 2017)has fans in some village called Tuber or Mannad in Meghalaya. With easy availability of Satellite TV and their Hindi-dubbed movies, Mohanlal, Mammootty, Diljit Dosanjh and also Ravi Kishen or Manoj Tewari do have fans among Khasis. M Karunanidhi was a scriptwriter; students of Literature would admire the English translations of his short stories. And, reams and reams of paper can be written on the influence of Hindi cinema on our lives.
In football, when Eugeneson Lyngdoh or Redeem Tlang perform well for the National Team, a fan in Goa, Kerala, Bengal or Punjab or one of the metros would feel the same level of pride as any Khasi would. In cricket, the win of the 2020-21 Test Series in Australia is celebrated by every Indian cricket fan, resonating from the Kutch to East Jaintia Hills. The win is made all the more celebratory, when practically a B-team of India conquered Fortress Gabba at the deciding Test match. It may sound exaggerating, that feeling of the win at the Gabba is probably better than the win of debutante Senegal (practically a French B-team) over the defending champions France at the opening match of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. While in Delhi, the writer will never ever forget the memories of the night of 2nd April 2011 when India won the 2011 ICC World Cup. That night, citizens from every state and UT of India residing in Delhi NCR, converged upon India Gate to celebrate the win of the National Team. A Khasi, brought up in the matrilineal traditions, would swell with pride for Pomu Das, Sania Nehwal, Mary Kom, PV Sidhu, Dipa Karmakar and PT Usha.
The pristine environ setting of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie, where the elite All India Services Officer Trainees have their foundation courses, helps build lifelong beautiful friendships (including marriages) among the trainees. Former Home Secretary of the Government of India and a friend of North East, GK Pillai from Kerala and our own Toki Blah were roommates and are good friends. However, life in a good Business School of India, like the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade – Delhi, is not exactly conducive for long-term relationships with its almost cut-throat competition for grades and job placements (preferably in US Dollars). Of course, Indians being jugaad Indians and stemming over the tide, friendships, romances and marriages did blossom among the writer’s batch mates. A decade down and communication lines are still running, the writer can safely claim that friendships were struck with a Bania from Punjab, a Sardeshmukh from Maharashtra, a Bodo from Assam, a Tiwari from Uttar Pradesh, a Rongmei from Nagaland and a Zomi/Zou from Manipur. A batchmate from IIFT-Delhi and an IAS officer, a Chiluka from Telengana, was helpful and supportive when the writer made some attempts to crack the Imtehaan-e-Hind, UPSC’s Civil Services Examination.
The economy.
A popular Scooty model on Shillong roads, TVS NTorq, is manufactured by a company headquartered in Chennai. Lakadong turmeric is very popular in mainland India. Online shopping for goods from the mainland is common; even big businesses in Shillong used online platforms for their supplies from as far as Kerala and Kanyakumari. Every morning, trucks with number plates of Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir drop their goods at Khlieh Iew, Shillong. Andhra Pradesh, the rice bowl of India, is an important supplier of our traditional & essential food item in Meghalaya, Ja Step, Ja Sngi and Ja Miet – Rice. Some of the ingredients to make Dosa, Jalebi, Rasgolla and Chole Bhature (or Puri) come from the mainland; these dishes do sell well with the Khasis. Tourists from the mainland add up to the income levels of the Khasi entrepreneurs. With employable skills of good command over English and decent Hindi too, a number of Khasi men and women are employed by the services sector of the Indian economy. Their remittances back home, push up consumer spending and quality of life in the home state.In a globalised economy made smaller by technology, the list can go on and on.
If one goes through the history of our country since 1947, there were/are major challenges in its every decade of existence. Some or the other issue, appears(ed) to be threatening its unity, integrity and sovereignty. If the United States is a melting pot, India is a fresh salad bowl. With such diversity, even within the majority, there are bound to be a lot of centrifugal and centripetal forces at play. Non-state actors tend to take advantage of the goodness and power of assimilation of our soil. Balkanisation is a scary thought.
In Greek mythology, Hope was the last to come out of Pandora’s Box. Where there is hope, there is possibility.
The Idea of India has never claimed to be a Thousand Year Reich. The bonds and connections between our ancient hills and the ancient mainland, strengthened by the Indian nation-state, must have crossed three millennium. As we enter the third decade of the new millennium, on a wing of prayer and a spring of hope, are a few lines from a patriotic song of the Hindi film Hum Hindustani(1960) starring Sunil Dutt and Asha Parekh,
Chhodo Kal Ki Baatein
Kal Ki Baat Purani
NayeDaur(Journey/Run) Mein Likhenge
Milkar Naye Kahani
Hum Hindustani, Hum Hindustani.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal; they do not reflect those of the Government of Meghalaya. An MBA(International Business) graduate of IIFT-Delhi, the writer opted for public service in his home state. Email – dominick.rymbai@ gmail.com