Meghalaya's Kongthong village nominated for the WTO’s “Best Tourism Villages" award

Context

The Ministry of Tourism has nominated Meghalaya's Kongthong village, also known as the 'Whistling village', for the World Tourism Organization’s “Best Tourism Villages" award.

The other two villages

•  Kongthong village is nominated with two other villages in the country. The two other villages are—
• Pochampally in Telangana: Bhoodan Pochampally is a census town in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana. 
  • The place is known for its traditional weave, featuring geometric patterns in ikat style of dyeing, named after the destination.
  • There are thousands of looms in this village that produce this textile in bulk. 
  • Pochampally sati also received Intellectual Property Rights Protection or Geographical Indication (GI) status in 2005.
• Ladhpura Khas in Madhya Pradesh:  Located in Orchha Tehsil of Tikamgarh district in Madhya Pradesh, it is about seven kilometres away from Orchha, another popular tourist destination.

Interesting facts about the village

• In Meghalaya's Kongthong village, a mother calls her child by a tune instead of a name. 
• The villagers have two names in Kongthong-a regular name and a song name.
• In fact, the song names have two versions, a short song and a long song.
  • The short song is normally used at home. 
  • The longer names are used in the forest to keep away evil spirits.
• The musical names are called ‘jingrwai Iawbei’ in the village.
• There are 10 major clans in the village and four of them, namely Khongsit, Majaw, Lynrah and Pohnong, claim to be the founders.
• In 2019, Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar Rakesh Sinha adopted the village and had suggested a UNESCO tag for the hamlet.