By Our Special Correspondent
SHILLONG, Dec 17: A display of Meghalaya’s famed clay pottery work was the cynosure of all eyes at the recently concluded Winter Tales Festival at Ward’s Lake. The exhibits were put together by DaKti Crafts, an NGO working in amongst many other things, reviving the clay pottery work of the people of Tyrchiang and Larnai in West Jaintia Hills. This was a dying craft as there was no one to really promote them.
It was then that Rida Gatphoh of DaKti and her team who now also run the showroom of The Meghalayan Age store at Karol Bagh, New Delhi, decided they were going to showcase these crafts. DaKti also works with various craftsmen/women from across the state such as those experts in bamboo and cane works; the craftsmen from Garo Hills who intricately sculpt out the most aesthetically pleasing wood and delicately turned out wood carvings which were on display at the festival.
The beauty about this festival is that the wood sculptors also worked on their craft for interested visitors to watch and for aspirants to learn from the experts.
The craftspeople from Lyrnai too demonstrated the entire process of pottery making with the use of black clay, how it is mixed hand melded and shaped using the hands. They are then fired to harden them. The clay they use is mineral-rich and are found only in the Sung valley near Puriang which is also a rich rice growing area.
The pottery are a beautiful smoky black colored and are used for cooking and baking the Pu-tharo and Pu-maloi both rice based dishes unique to the Khasi-Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya.
Winter Tales seems to provide a place for everyone — from the orange farmers of Mawphu near Sohra where the best oranges are grown to young bakers and wine makers — they have them all.
The varieties of wine are mine boggling and it tells us that we have a young crop of expert wine makers in Meghalaya who use all the local fruits and even ginger for spicy wine.
There are a variety of home-grown teas from Khasi Hills and Garo Hills which are professionally processed and attractively packed. In the Garo Hills stall there is tea made which is a concoction of tea leaves with Bael fruit. The food stores all did roaring business but what makes Winter Tales so special is their attention to details.
The theme for this year is “Come Clean, Go Green.” A panel discussion on this was held on the second day on Friday.
Moderated by The Shillong Times Editor, Patricia Mukhim, the panelist included HH Mohrmen a renowned environmentalist and columnist, Kyntiewbor War, owner and promoter of Ever Living Museum in Mawshbuit, Dr Glenn Kharkongor, Chancellor Martin Luther Christian University and Ambassador, Gautam Mukhopadhaya.
Each of the panelists listed out a practical action plan to reduce the pressure on the environment also by involving Gen Z (the post millennial youth) who are concerned at what is happening around them but don’t know where to start. Several young people at the venue responded by asking what they could do and who they could work with to heal the environment. This programmed was live-streamed so that those who could not be present at the venue could also participate. This was followed by a solemn pledge taking ceremony.
The pledge crafted out by DaKti Crafts which was read out was repeated by the audience which included a huge number of children and youth.
No festival is complete without music. There were young children and known bands that sang their pieces. The group from Pynter that plays Khasi traditional folk songs using locally made instruments and drums had the crowd swaying to the drumbeat. A visitor from Bangladesh actually said he wanted to dance and moved along with the rhythm.
Gatphoh too played and sang a song dedicated to the environment. “I have created the lyrics keeping in mind that the environment has both humans and non-humans and we often forget this aspect. This song is to remind us that we have to be mindful of all creatures on planet earth.”
The final day saw a story telling session on the book The Mystery of the Cave, a bilingual story book in Khasi and English with illustrations of the inside of the caves and the stalactites and stalagmites delicately crafted by renowned artist Careen Langstieh. The English part was read by Kynsai Ria Kharkongor and the Khasi part by Patricia Mukhim who also translated the book into Khasi. The English version of the story was written by Dr Glenn Kharkongor.
Later there was soft launch of the book Birds of Meghalaya, jointly written by Kynsai Ria Kharkongor and Dr Sandra Albert. This was followed by a quiz on identifying the birds of Meghalaya which created quite an excitement among the children and adults as well.
The panel discussion on archiving threw up several intriguing questions about what is it that needs to be archived. Is it just the beautiful and unblemished or the ugly, sordid pieces of history? The discussion remained inconclusive.
What mesmerised the crowd were the paintings by local artists which were on display. A visitor speaking to this correspondent said, “I have never seen such as array of arts, crafts, paintings, food and games as I have today. I came from Nongpoh and brought my children here to see and learn from the varieties of useful daily implements such as the wait tyngkrong (a meat cutter), and I am amazed at the handmade Christmas decorations and candles. There is so much talent in Meghalaya. It is good that Winter Tales has given all these entrepreneurs a platform. In fact we should have one such platform for every season. Why should it only be Winter Tales?”
Well, the organisers should take note of this and the government too should learn a thing or two from such platforms. Everything need not be pushed to December.
The Ward’s Lake took on a green look since all the material used for the stalls are leaves and other biodegradable material. Waste management at the venue is scientifically managed. Students of the Environment Department, Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU) were seen segregating garbage at various points.
The only point of dismay is the ugliness and the stench from the Ward’s Lake which does not seem to have a single fish today since the pollution of the Lake has made it impossible for any living creature to survive.