TURA, Nov 17: Babadam, a nondescript Garo village nestled in an area renowned for preservation of the tribal way of life, barely 30 kms from Tura, is brimming with technicians, artists, and the who’s who of event management as last-minute preparations are put in place to host the first-of-its-kind Me’gong Festival, which kicks off on Thursday.
The three-day multi-cultural show is expecting quite a footfall with visitors coming even from as far away as New Delhi, Mumbai and foreign nations.
Diplomats from the Israeli embassy in India, French and Mexican embassies, including our very own foreign service officers manning some of the highly coveted embassies, including Sweden, have accepted the offer to participate in the festival which is going to be one-of-a-kind show that will have both traditional and international stars sharing stage.
One of the stars of the show will be the internationally reputed La Gota Circus of Javier Rendon from Columbia in South America.
La Gota, which means “The Drop” in Spanish, curates authentic performing art by high-level interdisciplinary artistes in urban circus, street shows, acrobatics and dance. They have toured and performed over 5,000 shows in 30 countries.
At Babadam, La Gota is expected to perform a dazzling crystal and fire show.
All the events of the three-day festival will be uploaded on Instagram by the famous video jockey, actor, TV host and travel vlogger, Shenaz Treasurywala, who is arriving in Tura to participate at Me’gong festival.
The Me’gong Festival is being organised by Keith Wallang’s Springboard Surprises of Shillong and funded by the Meghalaya Government.
“The name Me’gong has been given to this festival because it is a flower found in abundance in Garo Hills. Around this time, it is in full bloom. During jhum season, when the first rains fall, the young shoots that come out are harvested as part of the local cuisine,” narrates Springboard Surprises member, Kimberly D’Brass Momin.
The organisers of the festival are pulling out all stops to make this programme a grand success and one of the major highlights of the show will be the Brewers Competition.
Skilled brewers of traditional fermented beer are coming as far away as Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam to lock ‘pongs’ with the famous Garo “Bitchi” brewers of rice beer.
For spectators, who win the best brewer position will not dent their taste buds as they make a beeline to get a taste of the various brews that will be up for competition and sale.
The festival doesn’t end there; a Sakkin garo rice cake and a chilli-eating competition are also lined up during the three-day fest, which also includes a strongman contest to see who has the best hands in arm wrestling or the strength and stamina for other traditional games.
Some of best designer artists from Garo Hills will also be rubbing shoulders with their counterparts from Khasi and Jaintia Hills when young boys and girls from Garo Hills walk the ramp, displaying their unique designer wear.
From eco-friendly designer earrings and necklaces to summer cool tops and the famous Dakmanda will all be out on show during the festival.
Where there is a gathering, especially a social meet, music and dance cannot be far behind. So too for Me’gong Festival, which will start off with the traditional Wangala and Ruga folk dances followed by famous Garo musical group, Nokpante.
Artists from Shillong, namely Soulmate and Clansman, known for Khasi folk fusion and rapper Meba Ofilia, who won a VH1 award, are also due to perform at the festival.
With December knocking on the doors, the two festivals, 100 Drums Wangala and Me’gong Festival, could be the prelude to the start of the festive Christmas season in Garo Hills.