In Massar village, women of one lineage of Nongsteng clan lose their hearing ability gradually as they age
From Abha Anindita
MASSAR, April 14: Marvelous Nongsteng, a 25-year-old resident of Massar village in Pynursla, was born with a hearing impairment, like almost all women in her clan.
Receiving a modest government stipend of Rs 500 monthly due to her disability, Marvelous has to spend Rs 300 daily for her commute to Shillong for computer classes. Having completed her graduation in Political Science from Synod College, she had dreams, as did her parents, but now she is not sure if she wants to complete her Master’s, as she has her family to look after.
Currently, she farms cucumbers in the village, but continues to commute to the city for her computer classes.
“I use the Sumo from the Pynursla market to travel to Shillong, and it costs me Rs 150 one way. It is expensive,” added Marvelous, who also worked as a teacher in Ri-Bhoi and Tura for one and two years respectively.
Marvelous has some difficulty in speaking, but is a proficient lip-reader, and understood everything that this reporter was curious about, with a smile as radiant as her name.
Nongsteng is one of the 14 households from the Nongsteng clan of Massar village who suffer from a hearing disorder, some born with it, while some lose it gradually while growing up. As women are the primary victims, they tend to pass it on to their offspring.
Belonging to one of the 14 households in the Nongsteng clan afflicted by hearing impairments, Marvelous reflects a larger issue within the community. This village, tucked away from urban chaos, hosts 110 households, with around 14 belonging to the Nongsteng clan.
The Nongsteng clan’s history reveals lineage segregation traced back five to six generations. Named after Shilot Nongsteng, the first documented member with a hearing impairment, the clan comprises two groups: “Nongsteng sngew” with hearing members and “Nongsteng-kyllut” with deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals.
Currently, 45-plus individuals with hearing impairments reside in 14 homes within the clan.
A village survey highlighted the prevalence of hearing impairments, with 14 households affected, totalling 53 individuals out of a population of around 675.
Furthermore, around 87 households of Nongsteng clan members with hearing impairments reside in neighbouring areas such as Pomlum, Umthli, Lyngkyrdem, Mawah, and Pynter.
Despite the linguistic differences between the Khasi dialect understood by the residents of Massar village and that spoken in Shillong, conversing with them poses no challenge, as the women are proficient lip-readers. Remarkably, although the village is just a brief distance from Wahkhen, renowned for its musical culture and instruments, the voices of Massar’s hearing-impaired residents fall on deaf ears.
Expressing frustration, one resident of the Nongsteng clan, when asked about the upcoming elections, showed little interest. In a mocking tone, she remarked, “Government representatives are as rare as media representatives, appearing once in a blue moon.”
“We’ve grown accustomed to it,” she added resignedly.
Similarly, Marvelous’s mother, Treina Nongsteng and her sister, Brella Nongsteng, make broomsticks for a living, and on being questioned what they think is the reason behind the clan women losing their hearing ability, sounded both helpless and clueless.
However, according to the local folklore, Shilot Nongsteng, an ancestor of the Nongsteng clan, allegedly lost her hearing after consuming a forbidden fish known as “doh-kha syiem,” or “the queen of fishes,” seemingly cursed by this act.
Interestingly, while Shilot’s descendants experience gradual hearing loss, with some born deaf, another branch of the Nongsteng clan, stemming from a different ancestor, does not face this impairment.
Legend has it that a man named Woh Ryndi discovered a mysterious woman emerging from a fish basket, cooking and cleaning his home daily. Intrigued, Woh Ryndi eventually married her, and they had four daughters: Teng, Pung, Lieh, and Lang.
After the birth of their children, the wife, known as Li-dokha, returned to the river for unknown reasons.
Marriages between the Nongsteng, Nongspung, Syiemlieh, and Kurkalang clans are prohibited due to their shared ancestry from Li-dokha. The fish remains sacred to these clans, and its consumption is forbidden.
The village has three schools, one catholic school, one Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) lower primary school and one SSA upper-primary school.
While the SSA mandates inclusive education for Children with Special Needs (CWSN) and emphasises overall education quality, including for CWSN, the lack of infrastructure in Massar’s schools often results in specially-abled children dropping out, unable to complete their education.
One teacher, speaking to this scribe, noted that teachers and students are often self-taught, with students gradually learning lip-reading to cope, but dedicated support would be beneficial. This year, both SSA schools, serving around 15 and 17 students respectively, have no students from the Nongsteng clan.
When asked why their children don’t attend school, one woman from the Nongsteng clan angrily remarked, “We do not have money to eat, how are we supposed to send them to school?”
The irregular provision of mid-day meals exacerbates the situation.
Although NEIGRIHMS initiated a research under Dr Abhijeet Bhatia to investigate the causes of deafness, efforts to obtain updates on the report were unsuccessful.
Despite numerous challenges, the united Nongsteng community, where they are not ostracised but included, remains resilient.
Marvelous, patiently, continues to dream, treating deafness as a minor obstacle, while another Nongsteng, who is now used to the style of life, is hesitant to use a hearing aid, preferring the silence she’s accustomed to.