Khasis put on their dancing shoesFIFTY-three years after passing into oblivion, the lakempong dance of the Ri-Bhoi community of the Khasi tribe in Meghalaya was revived last week, thanks to the untiring efforts of the Ri-Bhoi Area Welfare Association (RAWA). Several indigenous rituals of the Khasis are on the brink of extinction in Meghalaya. Assamese Koran on the NetAN Assamese version of the Koran was put on the internet last week. This latest translation of the scripture was by scholar Zohurul Haque, who also holds the record for having translated it into more than two languages. Haque, a resident of Guwahati, had earlier translated the Koran into simple English. He also completed a Bengali version a few years ago, an effort that has been recognised by the University of Jeddah. Nagaland remembers AZ PhizoNAGALAND last week observed the birth centenary of Angami Zapo Phizo, the founder of the Naga political movement in a solemn manner, but not before the NSCN(IM) played spoilsport by abducting the secretary of the birth centenary organising committee and noted writer Kaka D Iralu two days ahead of the function. A few other Naga groups too opposed the celebrations, saying Phizo’s family was responsible for signing the ‘infamous’ Shillong Accord of 1975 that led to the birth of the NSCN. Tripura’s monsoon feverWITH the onset of monsoon, Tripura faces the difficult task of bringing water-borne diseases under control. Over 100 persons, mostly children, have been reported dead due to an outbreak of gastro-enteritis in Dhalai district alone over the last four weeks. That’s a grave comment on the lack of safe drinking water in the tribal-inhabited areas of the state. Friends of the dolphinsBRITISH Petroleum has come forward to support a programme aimed at saving the highly endangered fresh-water dolphins of the Brahmaputra in Assam. Headed by Abdul Wakid, a research scholar at Dibrugarh University, the project aims to launch a global campaign to save the river dolphins whose numbers have dwindled from over 2,000 twenty years ago to 266 in a recent survey.
