Me’Gong festival ends with musical highs, literary insights and traffic woes

From Our Correspondent
TURA, Dec 10: The recently concluded three-day Me’gong festival at Baljek Airport, 34 km from Tura, not only brought the town alive with pulsating music but also showcased the challenges of handling one of the largest crowds ever seen at such an event. Despite being a major crowd-puller, the festival left many with a bitter aftertaste, thanks to traffic woes that plagued the region.
Local, national, and international stars graced the occasion, turning the festival into a cultural melting pot. The festival, now a significant attraction for people from across Garo Hills and beyond, faced an initial setback with incessant December rains wiping out the first day.
However, the subsequent days witnessed a musical extravaganza, featuring artists like Armaan Malik, Vengaboys, AMVA, DJ Dino, Valley Born, CYCO, Crack Gang, Chegim Durama, The Do’pos, Avora Records, Nokpante, DJ Favian, and the well-known local rock band Rip Rap.
The festival was inaugurated on December 8 by Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh, offering a sigh of relief to stall owners, predominantly local entrepreneurs showcasing their products.
Bollywood singer Armaan Malik, with his soulful renditions, stole the spotlight on Friday, engaging the crowd for over an hour. Saturday’s performance by Dutch Eurodance group Vengaboys further intensified the festival’s electrifying atmosphere, attracting record crowds from various parts of India and Garo Hills.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, a self-professed music enthusiast, was part of the captivated audience over the two days.
The festival reached its climax with the momentum created by Vengaboys, leaving no one disappointed on the musical front, on the concluding day.
As the Vengaboys’ act concluded at 11 p.m on Saturday, the nightmare for commuters began even earlier.
Traffic bottlenecks turned the post-event revelry into a slow crawl, with severe congestion lasting through the night. Locals also reported an ambulance stuck in traffic, along with night buses headed to various locations in Assam and Meghalaya.
With vehicles being parked on both sides of the NH51 by the festival-goers, traffic management became a nightmare leaving many on the road for hours despite them leaving the venue early.
There were also claims that inebriated policemen dancing and VIP traffic added chaos to the situation, prompting many to question the worth of the traffic hassle.
“The venue is huge though the approach to and from it is going to create serious problems in the future as well as it did over the past few days. We generally don’t get to see international or national acts at our doorsteps and this has only been made possible through the Me’gong festival. We hope this continues in the future as well though something seriously needs to be done about traffic,” felt one of the locals who came to the musical extravaganza.
As part of the festival, The Tura Me’gong International Literary Festival, organised by Don Bosco College in collaboration with the Achik Literature Society, added an intellectual dimension to the festivities.
The literary wing, featured discussions on Garo poetry, literature, folklore, and book releases.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma graced the literary event as chief guest and guest of honour, respectively.
The festival aimed to provide a platform for scholars, writers, and literature enthusiasts to engage in meaningful discussions on A.chik literature, fostering a love for the language among academicians and students.