Thursday, July 4, 2024

Ganga Lake- India-Mongolia share ancient spiritual connection



Umroi, July 3 – Ambassador of Mongolia to India, Dambajavyn Ganbold today said he sincerely believes that “India and Mongolia are spiritual connected” and evidence to that effect is the Ganga Lake in Eastern Mongolia. 




After inaugurating the 16th edition of India-Mongolia joint military exercise, “Nomadic Elephant” here, Ganbold said: “scholars say Mongolians, on their way back from India, use to carry water from river Ganga and poured into the valley in Mongolia, creating the Ganga Lake.” 


Ganbold said he “personally believe” the legend as true. “Every autumn hundreds of thousands of birds get to the lake before flying to India. This gives us evidence how we are spiritually connected.” 


Ganga Lake is a saltwater lake located in Dariganga sum, Sükhbaatar Province, Mongolia. The lake and its wetlands covers 32.8 square km and is an important breeding and resting area for endangered migratory birds. 



The Mongolian Ambassador said India and Mongolia have been connected from ancient times when monks and scholars from his country came to India on spiritual and educational journeys. 




Some of the scholars came to India to study at the Nalanda University others sought spiritual guidance in Buddhism. Stating that this ancient connection dates back to thousands of years, Ganbold said, it’s “our duty” to rebuild and continue this connection.




“Mongolian monks and scholars used to come to India and some from India used to go to Mongolia. With no means of transportation these monks and scholars used to travel barefoot crossing the Himalayas. If our ancestors, despite all these difficulties, managed to come, it’s our duty to continue this connection,” he added. 


Ganbold said this ancient connection was somehow lost during the 70 years of Communist rule in Mongolia. “We were behind the iron curtain and we lost some of the links,” he said. 

Emphasising on strengthening bilateral education like in the past, Ganbold added, it is also vital that awareness is created among the present generation about this ancient connection. He said once the present generation in India and Mongolia is made aware of this ancient cultural heritage, they would understand about this “spiritual and religious connection and get to know each other and can build trust.” (Eom)

Monday, May 27, 2024

A CAVER'S PARADISE - MEGHALAYA, INDIA

Pics courtesy MMA




Meghalaya is a cavers’ paradise and so far a total of 551 km have been explored and mapped from 1992 and experts say there is more to be discovered.

 

One of the renowned cavers from the state, Brian Daly founder of Meghalaya Adventurers Association said, this year alone cavers from UK, Ireland, Austria, Netherlands, Germany, USA, and India explored and mapped 13,895m of new cave passage.

 

The 2024 caving expedition took place earlier this year. This consisted of a week-long pre-expedition that focused on exploration in the vicinity of the village of Sakhain situated some 5 km south of Sutnga in East Jaintia Hills District.

 

In the Sakhain, 10 new caves were explored yielding a total of 1,458m of new cave passage. All of the caves were situated at the edge of the sandstone plateau and were almost all associated with waterfalls at the base.

 


This was then followed by a two-and-a-half-week duration main expedition that focused on the area around the villages of Tlang Moi and Muallian, both located on the southernmost tip of the Shnongrim Ridge. The international exploration team comprised 29 members.

 

Some of the new caves explored were in the form of deep shafts. The deepest of these was Trevor Khur which had an entrance pitch of 152m depth and is Meghalaya and India’s deepest known single pitch to date.

FRENCH ENVOY THIERRY MATHOU ALL PRAISE FRO MEGHALAYA'S BIO-DIVERSITY PRESERVATION

 

French envoy coming out of the Sacred Groove at Mawphlang, Meghalaya, India 


France’s Ambassador to India, Thierry Mathou after visiting the sacred groove at Mawphlang said the world needs to learn more about environmental and biodiversity protection from the people of Meghalaya, India.

 

Mathou on his maiden visit to Meghalaya, said:  “I had the pleasure to visit the sacred forests. We have to learn from you how to protect the forest, environment and biodiversity.”

 

During his visit to the sacred grooves, Mathou and his spouse trekked about 3 km of the forest and were given a guided tour by the traditional head of Mawphlang, Tambor Lyngdoh Mawphlang.

 

Located about 25 km from Meghalaya's capital, the Mawphlang sacred grove is one of the largest such grooves in Meghalaya and spreads over 70 hectare. The local indigenous population believes that the soul of their forefathers dwells in these forests.

 

It’s forbidden to take anything from these forests, not even a twig, as it’s believed that it would offend the departed soul. The Mapwphlang sacred grove and others have therefore remained untouched for many centuries and is home to different flora and fauna.

 

Another aspect of these forests is that the locals have been performing religious rituals in these cared grooves for their well-being during war, epidemic and farming.  

 

“During COVID we performed special rituals outside the groove,” the traditional head informed the French Ambassador.  Mathou on his part said India and France share an “exceptional relationship.”

 

He said since this is his first visit he is trying to understand and get ideas on how to better economic and other cooperation. 

EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF A RAT-HOLE MINER TO DOCTOR

 


Defying the odds Dr. Kamphereiei Pala crawled out from the dark, eerie rat-hole coal mines to the world above to become a healer of the body and soul.

 

“I lost my way in the labyrinth of the rat hole coal mine one winter. I cried and called for help and nobody could hear me and after almost an hour of struggle I was finally rescued,” Dr. Pala who worked as a rat-hole coal miner in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district spoke about his extraordinary struggle.

 

Rat-hole mines are traditional coal mining practice in Meghalaya, India. It involves workers manually digging holes to enter into coal reserves. These holes are barely 3 to 4 feet in diameter and miners can barely crawl in. The miners chisel the coal as they keep digging inside and get the coal out in rudimentary trolley made of wood. 


Several miners have lost their lives in these rat-hole mines. Most of these workers come from economically weak families and some come from far off places like Nepal and remote areas of Assam. 


Meanwhile, now after completion of his MBBS degree from Guwahati Medical College, and working as an intern in the same institute, Dr. Pala recalled: “I have worked as a labourer in many trades, but rat-hole coal mining is the toughest.”

 

Dr. Pala is one of the four children brought up by a single mother, who also worked as a labourer, in Moolamylliang village, East Jaintia Hills district. He said that to pay school fees and also help the family financially he had to work as a rat-hole coal miner and also do other odd jobs.

 

“I had to work right from the time I was in class 4 or 5. I worked in shops, as handyman and many others and then as a coal miner...It pays well and why it shouldn’t, as you have to crawl over 200 meters every day to scrap coal inside a labyrinth of shafts,” Dr. Pala said.

 

The miner tuned doctor isn’t done yet and has a mission before him now. “In our villages early marriage results in broken families and then a cycle of poverty ensues, just like in the case of my family. I want to stop that,” he said.

 

His goal is now to become a pediatrician, so that he can interact directly with mothers and also their families. “I don’t know what the future holds for me, but I believe my calling is from my district where there is poverty and such cases of early marriages and broken families,” he added.


 

Dr. Pala with his mother

Dr. Pala said that in his journey so far, several people including the WeCare foundation founded by BR Medhi, have mentored and helped him financially to pursue his studies. “It doesn’t matter from where you came from, what matters is, where you are going,” Dr. Pala reasoned.


FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION TRULY MULTINATIONAL

 

The French Foreign Legion (FFL) is a symbol of multinational unity, which attracts recruits from Mongolia to the West Indies, Europe to Africa.

 

“I discovered FL’s recruitment from YouTube. There are three Mongolians in the FL now. I love the cheese in France, but I miss those from my home in Ulaanbaatar,” said Kush Enhuush, a Mongolian soldier in FFL, who participated in the 14-day India-France military exercise “Shakti” which concluded at Umroi, in India's northeastern state, Meghalaya on May 26.





 

Similarly, Blake from St. Vincent Islands, West Indies misses cricket, the sun-kissed beaches back home. Blake, a corporal in the FFL, says he tries to visit home, but the 10 hour flight plus the tight vacation schedule doesn't always allow it.

 

“I have been in the FFL for the past six years and I sometimes miss my home,” Blake said.

 

Barry from Guinea, Africa has risen to the rank of second platoon commander after starting as a recruit, the lowest rank in the FL. “My home is a six hour flight from France. There are also recruits from Kenya and Chad,” Barry said with a heavy French accent.

 

Sundar Singh from Haryana, a 24-year-old went to France in search of work and ended up being in the FL. “I thought why not try in the army and I joined. We are paid well. It's about Rs. 1.5 lakh per month and goes up to Rs. 2 lakh when we serve in a foreign country,” Singh informed.

 

Twelve Nepalese soldiers are part of the current exercise. S. Thapa from the FFL’s infantry regiment mentioned that most Nepalese recruits are aged 24-25 years and bond well with other nationalities in the FL mess.

 

The FFL, established by King Louis Philippe on March 10, 1831, allows foreign nationals to serve in the French Army, primarily to protect French colonies. At its peak, France had over 80 colonies, second only to Britain’s 120. Today, France has 12 overseas territories, necessitating foreign recruits to serve globally.

 

It’s not that the FFL served only for the interest of France’s colonies, but they also took active part in different wars, including World War I and II, although in limited operations.

 

The FFL now constitutes about 7 to 8 percent the France army’s total strength and is the only unit in the French Army open to people of any nationality. About 90 percent of FFL’s commissioned officers are French and only 10 percent Legionnaires normally rise up to the rank of an officer.

 

For many FFL’s recruit from developing nations, one of the prizes is French citizenship after a five year contract in FFL. “My citizenship papers are being processed,” Barry smiled. (Eom)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Mukroh: Guns, Grief and Gooseberries

It was past four-thirty in the morning. The car headlamp beams were softly caressing the asphalt of the lonely National Highway 40 at 100 km/hr. Slowly, a magnificent sunrise lit up the horizon. It was a hazy canvas painted orange-reddish by an artist par excellence. 


The hues fell softly on the  few trees, spared by the loggers, in  an otherwise barren hill top. The dark-orangish glistening canopies of these  trees zipped past with a whoosh of (probably) thankfulness.

 

The journey took on a whole new meaning after the car took a left detour from the National Highway towards Nartiang. This is the shortest route to Mukroh (Meghalaya, East Jaintia Hills district) that cuts through Nartiang, but is an insane joyride of 50km on non-existent roads. The other road to reach Mukroh, which is only a bit better, is through Laskein block, cutting across the small town of Shangpung.

 

The car was now doing 20/km. All this while the occupants were half asleep, but the non-existent road hit the nerves more than the strongest coffee.  Suddenly, everyone was alert and looked around wiping the frosty car windows with pulled down jacket sleeves - there was nothing artistic about the environment to write home back and this was and is the reality of Mukroh and its surroundings.

 

For those who saved the ordeal of travelling 127 km on a chilly winter morning, half of it on a seemingly bombed road, a Google search gives predictable answers. “Six dead in Mukroh in police firing” and many more such headlines. Assam police say they opened fire in self defense after villagers attacked them following the interception of a timber-laden truck of smugglers. Mukroh villagers claim otherwise. 

 

Be that as it may, what Google won’t tell you is that Mukroh and its people have been left to its own devices, both by Meghalaya and Assam governments. Consider some scenes about Mukroh and its people.

 

Scene 1: An unattended toddler wrapped in an old shawl sleeping on a bamboo mat in the courtyard of a thatched hut, with nobody around.

 

Scene 2: At a distance, few men arguing and struggling with a bicycle pumpto fill in air in their Maruti Suzuki 800 car tyres !  

 

Scene 3: A ramshackle LP school, doubled up as an Angandwadi centre, with a huge crowd of womenfolk gathered with their babies outside it. They were taking home their weekly ration of one kilo Atta-Suji. Mothers, who should have ideally been in high schools and dreaming about their careers are now parenting full-time - breastfeeding infants wrapped in shawl and waiting for their luck.

 

Scene 4: Girls and boys, carrying head loads of water. Some of these kids are as young as six to seven years or even younger. Other kids carried their siblings on their backs tied with shawls. Many of these children don’t go to schools. Other children were seen playing on the road with playthings such as wooden carts and car wheels.

 

 

Scene 5:  The "village doctor" wearing a sandal comes riding on a motorbike from Assam to administer medical care to a patient.

Scene 6: A boy wearing shorts and a gumboot on a parched land, which looked as a marriage between abject poverty and a will to survive.  

 

Scene 7:  Teenage girls and women in charcoal fields. Toxic fumes filled the air as the workers burned timber and dumped them under the earth. Nature turns this charred timber into charcoal. (Caution) It's not safe to take pictures as some of these charcoal fields are illegally run by "powerful people."

 

As we emerge from these scenes, the village signboard "Mukroh" sits neatly beside a smooth road that was recently built by the North Eastern Council.  


"We have nothing except this  road...," a young mother said, as her eyes darted away towards a non-privileged world. A world with no clean drinking water, electricity, roads, health care, poor literacy rate and many other privileges that we sometimes take for granted. 

 

Elsewhere, an auxiliary nurse and midwife whispered that people in the area don't believe in institutional deliveries, despite the health care workers' warning about the risk of home deliveries and emphasis  on family planning. That explained the large number of children loitering around on the village roads.

 

A child in Mukroh is deported into an adult’s world, where uncertainty and hopelessness is the state of affairs. It’s an adult immediately after it can shoulder the strength to take care of its siblings. The child, sibling and childhood are tied to the umbilical cord of destiny in checkered maroon-black shawls.


 

In this world, Amaradeo Chauhan the village doctor may not hold an MBBS degree, but definitely is a life saver. He lives in Mokoilum, about 5 km from Mukroh and makes no qualms in saying:  “I am not a doctor. I come here and administer injection, saline and also minor medical procedures. I charge Rs. 100 for my visit apart from the medicine cost.”

 

Nearby, Sem Rongpi, the forester from Assam and his men were basking under the sun and had spread out boiled gooseberries mixed with turmeric and salt. The forester also helped in getting us a few fresh gooseberries from the trees nearby.

 

The gooseberries left a sour taste in the mouth. Quickly spat it out, but the tartness remained, so washed it down with water and immediately the body and soul was diving deep into a world of sweet elixir only to be interrupted by the wails of sirens.

 

The Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council chief, Thombor Shiwat was leading a delegate in the area. The convoy was endless. “This is our land,” he asserted standing beside a pineapple farm on the roadside. A man quickly stole an unripe pineapple from the farm and smiled sheepishly.

 

If this area and the people really belong to Meghalaya, why the neglect? Shiwat had no answer, neither did the Assam side. “This is Assam territory,” Faiz Ahmed Bhabhuyan, in-charge of Mokoilum police station said, sitting inside a tent set up outside the station.

 

He looked distressed after being recently transferred from a comfortable town posting. He somehow managed to pull up a smile and offered us the best of Assam chai.

 

After some time, he opened up: “We don’t have electricity here. We have solar panels to power the lights and charge our mobiles. We don’t even have a TV… Deforestation is a huge issue and illegal felling is a big concern in this area.” 

 

We moved on for lunch at the house of a JHADC member. There was a sumptuous lunch spread out. The lunch consisted of pork, boiled silkworms, chicken and an assortment of local delicacies. “There are issues which need to be resolved sitting across the table,” one of the villagers said, munching the local delicacies.

 

As we moved on, the temporary Meghalaya police outpost, made with a plastic roof, looked like a bewildered foreigner who  lost his passport. The haystacks on the ground made a lunch table for a Meghalaya police jawan. “Jai Hind,” a jawan greeted.

 

It was getting late and darkness was seizing the horizon like a nightmare  gripping a child’s sleep. There was nobody around to soothe the child back to sleep. As the car tumbled away from the forested area, the trees behind seemed to  huddle frighteningly in one big dark void. 

 

Life at present in Mukroh is like one huge dark void. People feel lost, unidentified and there are all the evils that lurk in the darkness and frighten these poor people. 


Life in this area is also like that gooseberry, sour and tart, with nobody to act as a catalyst and activate the sweet elixir to provide hope, direction and certainty to life. 

 

Nevertheless, people will continue to wait patiently outside anganwadi centre's, try to fill vehicle tyres with bicycle pumps, carry headloads of water over distant hills and ravines with the hope that the toddler will wake up to a better future. So let’s not stop dreaming.

Monday, November 14, 2022

Channa Barca price Rs. 2 lakh

If the price of Hilsa has hit the rooftop consider Channa Barca or Snakehead Barca the price of which is unbelievably high in the international market just because it’s rare and beautiful.

 

This species of fish is endemic to a few states of the northeast and Bangladesh. The cost of a baby Channa Barca of 2-3 cm length may fetch Rs. 4000 in the international market and an adult which may grow to a meter or a tad longer may fetch over Rs. 2 lakh.

 

Found in a few pockets in Bangladesh, upper Assam, Nagaland and also in Garo Hills, Meghalaya.  This rare freshwater fish is highly territorial carnivorous in nature and can live both in water and land.  During the lean season this fish can burrow into holes near wetlands and rivers and hibernate till the water level rises again.

 

It is a critically endangered species due to loss of habitat and also because the species has a low fecundity or low reproduction rate. “This fish cost over Rs. 40,000,” Balkam Sangma, Fishery Officer from the Meghalaya State Technical Research and Training Institute (MSRTI) said, pointing to a Chana Barca bred in captivity.

 

The fish Sangma pointed to was no longer than 15 cm. He said that in Garo Hills it’s locally called Nachi and people are still unaware of its value in the international market and its rarity and sells these at a price like any other abundantly available fish.

 

In Assam it’s known as Garaka Cheng or Pipli Cheng. Its scientific name is Channa striata. This fish is  found in upper Assam especially near the wetlands of Orang National Park.

 

Poachers habitually smuggle out this fish to destinations such as Indonesia, Thailand and other South East Asian countries where this fish is in high demand as an ornamental fish and also as fish food.

 

“We are trying to raise awareness about this rare and endangered variety of fish and also trying to breed it in captivity with new technology such as the re-circulatory aquaculture system,” Sangma informed. 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, November 4, 2022

"we are all Sanatanis" : Temjen Imna Along

 


“We are all Sanatanis,” Nagaland Minister for Higher and Technical Education, Temjen Imna Along said here today while adding he’s a practicing Christian.

 

Speaking at the sideline of a programme here organised by the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarti Parishad, Along said, before the tribals converted to Christianity and other faiths everyone was practicing an animistic religion.

 

Along was referring to the Sanskrit word Sanatan which means anything which is “eternal” and integral to a living entity and anyone who believes in Sanatan is a Sanatani.    

 

Refusing to draw into RSS chief’s Mohan Bhagwat’s recent statement that “everyone is a Hindu” who dwells within the geographic confines from the Himalayas to the north to the Bay of Bengal to the south, Along said the "context" needs to be understood first.

 

“Hinduism is too vast a subject to be described here,” the Nagaland Minister, who is also the BJP state President of Nagaland, said adding, whichever faith we follow “we are all Indians.”

 

Earlier, during  the programme, Along asked the gathering if there are any foreigners in the audience, when there was no response he raised the slogan "Bharat Mata ki Jai."

 

He later said that many hesitate to say they are Bharatiya because it’s a Hindi word, but have no problem saying they are Indian. Urging the students to be “inclusive in diversity,” Along said many are trying to be exclusive.

 

“Each of our identities is unique, but that cannot be taken into exclusiveness... diversity should lead us to inclusiveness…only then a nation would survive,” he said to the students.   

 

Urging the students to be “proud of their roots,” Along said India’s strength has always been its education sector from ancient times, but with the advent of invaders like the British and others this ancient civilization with its rich culture and heritage was attempted to be destroyed.

 

“The British tried to bring in newer narratives,” he said while urging the students to be proud of their rich history, tradition and heritage. (eom)