Mawlynnong, Asia’s cleanest village, wrestles with its own fame
Mawlynnong’s reputation as Asia’s cleanest village — earned through a generation of community-led tidiness, bamboo dustbins…
Archive
Tag: Khasi
The Meghalaya monsoon music scene: how rain became a genre
Shillong receives more than 11,000 millimetres of rain a year, and its musicians have long treated…
Shillong’s gospel choirs: the Sunday sound that defined a city
On Sunday mornings, Shillong’s churches fill with a sound that has defined the city for a…
The Pnar weavers of Jaintia Hills: matriliny and the economics of a craft
In the Jaintia Hills, where the youngest daughter inherits the family home and the khadduh (youngest)…
The Khasi archers of Raliang: a women’s tradition meets Olympic ambition
In the Jaintia Hills, the traditional archers are women — the sport descends through the matrilineal…
Meghalaya’s matriliny under the microscope: what the numbers really say
Meghalaya’s matrilineal system — in which property passes through the mother’s line and the youngest daughter…
The Khasi ‘seng khasi’ movement: rethinking Khasi identity in a changing India
The seng khasi movement, founded in 1899 as a defence of Khasi customs against colonial and…
The Khasi pine forests of Shillong: a century-old monoculture under scrutiny
The Khasi pine forests that ring Shillong were largely planted over the past century, replacing broadleaf…
The village of Kongthong: where babies are named after their own whistles
In the Khasi village of Kongthong, mothers give each child a spoken name and a whistled…
The Shillong street food map: where the city’s night kitchens live
Shillong’s night kitchens — the family-run stalls that feed the city after dark with smoked pork,…