Tucked away in Meghalaya’s lushly forested East Khasi Hills, Kongthong is a tiny hamlet, dotted with picturesque homes and fields bordered with betel nut trees. It is home to roughly 700 residents who cultivates the land, rely directly on forests for food, medicine, etc., and lead a tranquil pastoral existence.

However, it is about the sounds, not the sights that make Kongthong quite different and unique from other locations. The villagers here have been attached to one another using a unique whistling id instead of names – and it is a practice that has been in use for many, many years!

Every time a baby is born in Kongthong, the mother composes a lullaby that becomes the child's special identity for life. Furthermore, the lullaby contains no words and is only a tune, a kind of hum that only the villagers can recognize and remember. "When a pregnant lady thinks of a specific tune, occasionally a bird call, it would become the name of the newborn." After the child is born, caregivers frequently hum that melody to help the child interact with the sound. This is an age-old custom whose origins are as ancient as the region itself.

These whistling tunes also proved useful during their hunting voyages – they used them to communicate with each other during a hunt without alerting third-party hunting groups who may be chasing the same prey.

Commonly encouraged by nature's essence and natural sounds, each lullaby – or jingrwai lawbei in the tribe’s lingo – is anything from half a minute to a minute long. The mothers call out their kids with these melodic tunes, and children learn to respond to them quickly. After confirming that the unique name is distinct from all others it becomes a permanent identity marker for the child.

Surprisingly, the villagers just use the title of the lullaby (approximately 5-6 seconds long) to communicate with one another. They never use their official names among themselves!

It is interesting to note that they never repeat the same tune twice. Even when a person dies, the tune that was used to call him is not passed on to somebody else. Even if they appear similar, they can always tell one tune from another.

What’s more, this musical culture is vital to the village's courtship customs. Every summer, on a full moon night, the villagers light a bonfire and celebrate, where unmarried young men sing their individual music. The one with the best music is usually chosen as the groom by the most beautiful single woman!

The origin of this unique practice is unknown, but the villagers believe that it may have originated to protect them from unseen spirits from the neighboring woodlands, who can cause someone to fall ill upon hearing their names being called out. Thus, it led to the use of lullabies to safeguard their children from any unforeseen harm. As per local beliefs, several stories also depict people being saved from attacks due to this unique practice, and the villagers are grateful for the mode of communication – as individuals under attack would issue a distress call using their specific lullaby, outplaying the goons and being rescued on time!

Another interesting feature of the whistling tradition is that it can be used quite effectively by villagers to call out someone from far away by screaming the melody of their unique names over peaks and valleys – causing the voice to echo and travel wider at an impressively faster pace; reaching the person in no time.

Kongthong is one of those rare locations where one can still find ancient practices such as the whistling of names being carried out till now. And the best part is that the local authorities have taken the right measures to promote responsible tourism in the region while preserving its native traditions. In attempts to encourage tourism in the region, a homestay named Traveler’s Nest has been established in Kongthong, and steps are taken to conserve local culture.

So, if you're in Meghalaya, don't forget to take a stopover to Kongthong for a memorable experience and immerse yourself in the melodious tradition of the village.