Shillong

Shillong (English pronunciation: /ʃɪˈlÉ"ːŋ/; Khasi: Shillong) is the capital and Hill station of Meghalaya, one of the smallest states in India. It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district and is situated at an average altitude of 4,908 feet (1,496 m) above sea level, with the highest point being Shillong Peak at 6,449 feet (1,966 m). Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with population of 143,007 according to the 2011 census. It is said that the rolling hills around the town reminded the European settlers of Scotland. Hence, Shillong is known as "Scotland of the East". The population density of the state of Meghalaya in the 2000s decade is 342 people per sq mile.

It has steadily grown in size and significance since it was made the civil station of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills in 1864 by the British. In 1874, on the formation of Assam as a Chief Commissioner's Province, it was chosen as the headquarters of the new administration because of its convenient location between the Brahmaputra and Surma valleys and more so because the climate of Shillong was much cooler than tropical India. Shillong remained the capital of undivided Assam until the creation of the new state of Meghalaya on 21 January 1972, when Shillong became the capital of Meghalaya and Assam moved its capital to Dispur in Guwahati.

Geography

Shillong is at 25.57°N 91.88°E / 25.57; 91.88. It is on the Shillong Plateau, the only major uplifted structure in the northern Indian shield. The city lies in the centre of the plateau and is surrounded by hills, three of which are revered in Khasi tradition: Lum Sohpetbneng, Lum Diengiei and Lum Shillong.

• Weather conditions: Pleasant, pollution-free; summers: The temperature varies from 23 °C (73 °F); winters: The temperature varies from 4 °C (39 °F).
• Location: Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya is just 55 km (34 mi) from Mawsynram, the world's wettest place. Shillong receives far less precipitation due to the orographic effect. It is very beautiful.

History

As the legend goes, Shillong was named after a boy called 'Shyllong', who was born to a virgin mother in a village near Bisi. This boy later became a handsome youth and was made the local deity; and the place was named after him.

The Shillong Municipal Board has a long history dating back to 1878, when a proclamation was issued constituting Shillong and its suburbs, including the villages of Mawkhar and Laban, into a station under the Bengal Municipal Act of 1876. Inclusion of the villages of Mawkhar (S.E. Mawkhar, Jaiaw and part of Jhalupara and Mawprem) and Laban (Lumparing, Madan laban, Kench’s Trace and Rilbong) within the Municipality of Shillong was agreed to by Hain Manik Syiem of Mylliem under the agreement of 15 November 1878. But, there is no trace of Shillong in the British era maps dating back to 1878, up to 1900.

Shillong was also the subject of the great earthquake that occurred on June 12, 1897. The earthquake had an estimated moment magnitude of 8.1. 27 lives from Shillong town alone were lost.

Climate

Under Köppen's climate classification the city features a subtropical highland climate (Cwb). Its summers are cool and very rainy, while its winters are cool and dry. Shillong is subject to vagaries of the monsoon. The monsoons arrive in June and it rains almost until the end of August. Octoberâ€"November and Marchâ€"April are the best months to visit Shillong.

Connectivity

Although well connected by road, Shillong has no rail connection and a proper air connection. Umroi Airport has only limited flights.

Roadways

Shillong is well connected by roads with all major northeastern states. Two major National Highways pass through:

• National Highway 40 (India) â€" Connected to Guwahati
• National Highway 44 (India) â€" Connected to Tripura & Mizoram(NH 44A)

Private bus operators as well as state transport buses from other states ply to and from Shillong daily. Taxi services are also available to destination like Guwahati, Agartala, Dimapur and other North Eastern towns and cities.

Demographics

As of 2011 India census Shillong City urban/metropolitan population is 354,325 of which 176,591 are males and 177,734 are females. Males constitute 46% of the population and females 54%. Average literacy rate of 86%, higher than the national average of 63.5%: male literacy is 85%, and female literacy is 92.34%.   13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Khasis make up the majority of the population though the percentage of Khasi people in the city continues to fall as a result of the large number of migrants from other Indian states. All the other North East tribes are represented here as well as significant numbers of Assamese, Bengali, and a bit of Nepali, Hindi-speaking people making it a fairly cosmopolitan city. Christianity is the dominant religion in the city. Presbyterianism and other denominations of Protestants and Roman Catholics make up the Christian population. A large proportion of the population follow the original Khasi religion: Niam Khasi and Niamtre. Other religions found in India are represented in significant numbers in the city.

Places of interest

These are locations in and around Shillong which are tourist spots. These include:

• Elephant Falls: 12 km on the outskirts of the city, the mountain stream descends through two successive falls set in dells of fern covered rocks.
• Lady Hydari Park: The park stretches over a kilometre and has an adjacent mini zoo.
• Wards Lake: Known locally as Nan-Polok. It is an artificial lake with garden and boating facilities.
• Shillong Golf Course: Shillong has one of the largest golf courses (the world's wettest) in Asia: Gleneagles of the East. It enjoys the rare distinction of being one of the few natural golf courses in Asia. Not only is the Shillong Golf Course scenic and enjoyable, it is also challenging. A group of British civil service officers introduced golf to Shillong in 1898 by constructing a nine-hole course. The present 18-hole course was inaugurated in 1924. The course is set in a valley covered with pine and rhododendron trees. The tight fairways, carpeted with a local grass which hardens the soil, are difficult to negotiate. The number of out-of-bounds streams that criss-cross every fairway makes it all the more trying. Obstructions come in the form of bunkers, trees and rain. The longest hole is the 6th, which is a gruelling 594 yards. Shillong Golf Course is considered to be the "Glen Eagle of the East" at the United States Golf Association Museum. It was set in a valley at an altitude of 5200 ft in 1898 as a nine-hole course and later converted into an 18-hole course in 1924 by Captain Jackson and C. K. Rhodes.
• Motphran: The “Stone of France” which is locally known as "Motphran" was erected in memory of the 26th Khasi Labour Corps who served under the British in France during World War I. It bears the words of the famous Latin poet Horace "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" which can be roughly translated as "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country."
• Shillong Peak: A picnic spot, 10 km from the city, 1965 m above sea level, offers a panoramic view of the scenic countryside and is the highest point in the state. Obeisance is paid to U Shulong at the sanctum sanctorum at the peak's summit every springtime, by the religious priest of Mylliem State.
• Capt. Williamson Sangma State Museum: For those interested in ethnic tribal culture and tradition this government museum offers insights to the lifestyle of the people. This museum is in the State Central Library complex where monuments for the great patriots of the state were erected besides the statue of Smt. Indira Gandhi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
• Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures: The Don Bosco Museum is part of DBCIC (Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures). DBCIC comprises research on cultures, publications, training, animation programmes and the museum, which is a place of knowledge-sharing on the cultures of the northeast in particular, and of culture in general. DBCIC with its Don Bosco Museum is situated at Mawlai, Shillong.
• Entomological Museum (Butterfly Museum): A privately owned museum of M/s Wankhar, Riatsamthiah, Shillong about 2 km from Police Bazar is the only known museum in India devoted to moths and butterflies.
• Air Force Museum at Upper Shillong
• Forest Museum in Lady Hydari Park
• Rhino Heritage Museum at Shillong
• Zoological Museum in Risa Colony
• Anthropological museum at Mawblei
• Botanical Museum at 4th Furlong
• Arunachal Museum at the Cantonment Area
• Chrysalis the Gallery: This art gallery is on the second floor of Salonsar Mansion at Police Bazaar, the commercial hub of Shillong. Chrysalis has flexible spacing to display paintings (canvases), sculpture, photography and handicrafts. Run by a local artist, Jaya Kalra, the gallery caters to exhibitions of artists and artisans especially from the northeast and also from the rest of India.
• State Museum: Located at the State Central Library complex.
• Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians is in Don Bosco Square.
• Bishop and Beadon Falls: Both cascade down the same escarpment into a deep valley.
• Spread Eagle Falls: 3 km from Polo Grounds.
• Sweet Falls: Sweet Falls (also called “Weitden,” in the native dialect) is the most beautiful of all the waterfalls in Shillong. It lies about 5 km from the Happy Valley and is about 96 m in height.
• Crinoline Falls: Near Lady Hydari Park.

Sports

Although relatively unknown in the field of sports, Shillong got into the limelight because of Shillong Lajong FC, a football club based here which has taken the Indian football scene by storm in the recent I-League. Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is the homeground of Shillong Lajong FC in I-League.

Shillong Golf Course is one of the oldest golf course of the country and is surrounded by scenic pine and rhododendron trees.

Locals are adept in archery. Shillong is also famous for its daily dose of archery gambling where people predict scores of an archery game played near Polo Ground, Shillong.

Binningstar Lyngkhoi from Shillong is a national marathon runner and represented India in the last 2010 Commonwealth Games. He is the fastest marathoner in India with a timing of 2:18 hours.

Education

Shillong is fast emerging as an education hub for the entire northeastern region. Important educational institutes like the Indian Institute of Management, National Institute of Technology Meghalaya, University of Technology and Management, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Martin Luther Christian University, Institute of Hotel Management (IHM), National Institute of Fashion Technology, Shillong and North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, English and Foreign Languages University, Shillong Campus, St. Edmund's College, St. Anthony's College, Shillong and several others college and engineering institution have been established here.

Media

Local media in Shillong is strong. There are a number of theatres, newspapers, magazines, local radio and television stations.

Cinema

Cinema in Shillong includes Bijou Cinema Hall, Payal Cinema, The Gold Cinema and Anjalee Cinema Hall.

Print media

Quite a number of dailies are published for Shillong both in Khasi and English. Prominent English dailies published here include Shillong Times, Meghalaya Guardian, Highland Post, Meghalaya Times and The Sentinel. Khasi dailies like Mawphor, Nongsain Hima among others are published here. Weekly newspaper are "Salonsar" and "Dongmusa". There are Magazines like "Iing Khristan" (celebrated 100 years of publication), "Pateng Mynta" in Khasi and "Youth Today" and "Eastern Panorama" in English.

Electronic media

The radio industry has expanded with a number of private and government-owned FM channels being introduced. State-owned Doordarshan transmits terrestrial television channels. Apart from these few weekly news channels like PCN, Ri Khasi Channel, Batesi and T7 are broadcast weekly on the local cable networks.

Communication services

Shillong has a well-connected communication network. Fixed telephones lines are available. Internet services are available both wired and wireless broadband. It is also well covered in mobile networks with all major cellular providers like Airtel, Aircel, Vodafone, IDEA, BSNL, Reliance available here.

Localities

Shillong is divided geographically into localities. These include

Eminent personalities associated with Shillong

People who have been associated with Shillong include:

• Swami Vivekananda (12 January 1863 â€" 4 July 1902), born as Narendranat Dutta, was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and is the founder of Ramakrishna Mission headquartered at Belur. He was primarily responsible for introducing Hindu philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga in the West and best known for his inspiring speech beginning with "Sisters and Brothers of America”, in his opening remark at the Parliament of the World's Religions at Chicago in 1893. The Swami delivered his last public lecture of his life in Shillong. The place of his last public lecture have been immortalised by erecting his statue at the very spot (also known as Quinton Memorial/Vivekananda Cultural Centre).
• Swami Bhaskarananda, head of the Vedanta Society of Western Washington, USA, hails from this city. Swami Bhaskarananda was born as Jyoti Batabyal on November 30,1930,in Shillong and studied in the Shillong Govt High School and St. Anthony's College. He joined the Ramakrishna Order as a monk on January 1, 1958. He has authored 8 books on religion in English ("The Essentials of Hinduism" is the most widely sold one and is used as a text book in colleges and universities in USA, as is the book "Journey From Many to Oneâ€"Essentials of Advaita Vedanta". Some of the books have been translated into Kannada, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish.) He is the Editor in Chief of "Global Vedanta", a journal of the worldwide Ramakrishna/Vedanta movement. In the journal he has written numerous articles on religion and spirituality. On invitation, he has traveled all over the world many times giving talks on Hinduism and its philosophy. He also helped form the Interfaith Council of Washington and is one of its past Presidents. Other than that, he is the spiritual adviser of the Vedanta Society of Hawaii in USA and the Vedanta Societies of Vancouver and Calgary in Canada.
• Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel laureate, poet, author, thinker, artist, playwright, considered a patriarch of Bengali society, often sojourned in the cool climes of Shillong; besides living in a summer residence called Mitali, (today in use as a temporary State Legislative Assembly on loan from the State Art and Culture Department). A writing desk and chair used by the Poet Laureate can still be seen (and used) in the Maharaja Suite of the Tripura Castle Heritage Hotel;
• John Shepherd-Barron, inventor of the automated teller machine (ATM) was born in Shillong.
• Queenie Rynjah, Padmashree and educationist
• Captain Keishing Clifford Nongrum, Kargil War Hero and a martyr hails from this city.
• Victor Bannerjee, an actor, was a student of St. Edmund's School.
• Amita Malik, famous film critic.
• Nirad C. Chaudhuri has written extensively about Shillong in his book The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian.
• Arthur Llewellyn Basham, noted historian of Indian culture. He died in Kolkata in 1986 and is buried in Shillong.
• Arundhati Roy, noted writer and Booker Prize winner was born in the KJP Synnod Hospital in Shillong.
• James Michael Lyngdoh I.A.S., a student of St Edmunds, retired as the Chief Election Commissioner of India. He is the author of Chronicle Of An Impossible Election.
• L. Rynjah (born 1950) I.A.S, born & brought up in Shillong. He was a prominent bureaucrat in Assam. he is now one of the advisers to Planning Commission of India.
• Edward Pritchard Gee, India's famous naturalist and author of the best seller The Wild Life of India spent his retired life in 'Evergreen cottage' in Upper Shillong. He left for England in 1968 and died soon after.
• Anwaruddin Choudhury, a prominent naturalist who is known as the 'Birdman of Assam' was born and brought up in Shillong. He is the author of 19 books including The Birds of Assam.
• Zohurul Hoque, translator of the Holy Quran into Bengali, Assamese and English was a student at St. Edmund's College.
• Rono Dutta, president of United Airlines did his schooling from St. Edmunds School .
• Anjum Hasan is a Bangalore-based writer from Shillong and her debut novel Lunatic in my Head which is set in Shillong was launched on 7 Dec 2007. She has also written a book of verse titled Street on the Hill.
• Utpal Dutt, the prominent actor of Bengali and Hindi cinema, was born on 29 March 1929 in Shillong.
• Leela Majumdar, the writer, spent her childhood days at Shillong, where she studied at Loreto Convent.
• Rose Millian Bathew(Kharbuli) (b 1931) was the first woman chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission. She is from Shillong and lives there now.
• Indira Goswami (Mamoni Goswami) spent her early days in Shillong and studied at Pine Mount School.
• Arin Paul, filmmaker, spent his early days at Laitumkhrah, Shillong and was a product of St. Edmund's School, Shillong.
• Nirendra Dev, author and journalist. Studied in St Anthony's 1982â€"1985. Penned books The Talking Guns: North East India, Godhra-A Journey to Mayhem and Ayodhya-A Battle for Peace.
• Mansur Ahmad, President of American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology (2013), was born in Shillong and studied at St. Edmund's College. Now based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
• Prof. David R. Syiemlieh (born 1953) lives in Shillong. He taught History at the North Eastern Hill University and rose to become Pro-Vice-Chancellor. He was for some time Vice-Chancellor Rajiv Gandhi University,Itanagar. He is a member of the Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi
• Karen David, a Canadian-British actress, singer and songwriter born in Shillong. She is best known for portraying "Princess Isabella Maria Lucia Elizabetta of Valencia" in ABC's fairytale-themed musical-comedy television series, Galavant, as well as Francesca "Cesca" Montoya in the BBC television series Waterloo Road, and Layla in the American action film The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior.
• Internationally acclaimed choir group Shillong Chamber Choir is also from Shillong. They have performed in the World Choir Olympics and elsewhere in the world. They won the talent show India's Got Talent in 2010.

References

External links

• Shillong travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Eastern Panorama â€" Oldest Magazine of North East India
• Meghalaya State Government Portal
• Shillong.com
• Shillong Online
• TeerCounter.com - Everything about the TEER
• Resubelpara
• The Shillong Times â€" North East India Second Oldest English Daily
• Online news in Khasi
• Don Bosco Museum - Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures