Bryan Adams So Happy it hurts

 

Fanes from all across the northeast danced, swayed and sang in chorus romantic ballads,  on a chilly winter night during Bryan Adams' “So Happy it Hurts” India tour concert at the Polo grounds on Tuesday evening.

 

Bryan sang from a set-list of  18 popular songs for about two-hours with fans singing these numbers like anthems from the lanes of nostalgia. 

The Canadian singer, songwriter is the most popular western musician in India almost like some “Bryan Bhaiya” singing, Summer of 69, which  Rolling Stone magazine once dubbed it as "almost a Hindi song now!"

 

The unmarried Canadian singer brought his 96-year-old mother to Shillong. During the concert Bryan mentioned his mother and said she sends her love to the fans across India. He dedicated a song for her and also for his father, who passed away recently, during the concert.

 

“My father passed away recently and I have written this song Shine a Light in his memory,” Bryan said after which fans switched on their mobile torches and swayed these in the air turning the whole concert arena into a some sort of garden filled with fireflies swaying to the music.

 

Bryan also sang some of the most popular numbers such as Everything I do I do it for you, Heaven, Cuts like a Knife, Here I am, Please Forgive me, and many others and ended the memorable concert with Straight from the Heart.

 

Bryan Adams has been tremendously successful in India for a very long time and all his concerts were a hit, like the one here in Shillong. His first concert in India was in 1990 and during the present India tour he would perform at Gurugram, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. 

"Give Bryan an Aadhar card," one fan yelled during the concert. 

COMING-OF-AGE STORY OF INDIA'S CHILDREN BOOK

Almost everyone knows about the Cinderellas, Snow-whites and other western fairy tale characters, but few about Indian fairy tale characters to be read as bedtime stories to children, despite India’s rich folklore history.

 

Now things are slowly changing and one of the organisations Sauramandala   Foundation, under the Forgotten Folklore project, has come out with 45 children’s books and these are getting rave reviews.

 

Two of its books: The Tunes of Kongthong (the whistling village in Khasi hills) and When a Huro (Hoolock Gibbons are found in Garo Hills) Sings based on folklore of Khasi and Garo Hills were selected by the National Book Trust and featured at the International Children’s Book Festival at Bologna, Italy this year.

 

The colourfully illustrated books not just catches the attention of the children but also adults, and more importantly the entertaining stories speak not just about the characters, but have underlying messages on  environment preservation, culture and customs.

 

“The digital edition of the books were a bigger success and these have been translated into different languages like Japanese and Tamil and would be translated into other languages soon,” Project Leader, Lanu Tsudir said during the recently concluded Shillong Literary festival here.

 

Tsudir said there is huge demand for children’s books and people usually fall for western characters as India, despite its rich folklore history, has few books with Indian characters that could really captivate the little readers’ mind.

 

The Operation Associate of the foundation, Phiniairibha Warjri said the organisation also has several jingles for the kids and these are again not just about entertainment, but also with messages about environment, culture, and customs mostly based on the folklore of Meghalaya.

 

Meanwhile, Subroto Chakraborty from a publishing house in Kolkata rued about children not getting into a reading habit. “It’s very important that parents read bedtime stories till the age of at least 11 years, which researchers have found to be the most receptive for their mental and cognitive growth and this would lead to a lifelong desire towards learning.” (eom) 

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)

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)