The Indians in Disguise

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. Happy to see you here. Before I begin rambling on, here is a quick introduction about myself. My name is Gabriela Jyrwa. I am currently in my third year pursuing a specialist program in Comparative Physiology. I came to Canada 8 years ago from India. If you see me around campus, I am almost 90% certain the first thing you will say to me is that I do not look Indian. I get that a lot. Most people tell me I look Filipino rather than Indian. Some people have even spoken to me in Tagalog. If you were not aware, Tagalog is the language spoken in the Philippines. Anyways, I was born in India and so were my parents and grandparents. They, too, look Filipino, as my friends would tell me. This comes as a shock to most people that we are Indian but look Filipino. So, grab a snack and join me as I take you on this journey to explore more about the minority groups of India including my group of people- The Khasis.

To begin, we, the Khasi people reside in the North-Eastern part of India in a place called Meghalaya. Meghalaya is home to many other tribes, but Khasi is one of the oldest existing indigenous groups. According to the mythology of Khasi, the tribes lived in “Ki Hynniewtrep” which translates to “The Seven Huts”. It was believed that God first separated the human race into sixteen communities. However, only seven of the sixteen communities got down to earth while the other nine remained in heaven. It was said that the seven communities on earth used to be able to connect with the other nine communities through a mountain but as time went on, God realized that the mountain was not used for the right purposes so he disconnected the mountain between earth and heaven. This mountain is known as ‘Lum Sohpet Bneng’ and to this day, it remains a tourist attraction.

Although we are considered Indians, our culture and traditions are very different from that of the usual Indian heritage. When we take a look at our traditional clothing, its unlike the sarees and kurtas. The traditional dress of the Khasis is called a jainsem. A jainsem is composed of two rectangular pieces of cloth which is usually made out of silk. The two pieces of cloth are pinned across each shoulder which gives the body a cylindrical shape. The Khasi men on the other hand, wear a jymphong which is a long sleeveless coat without a collar which is fastened in the front. Along with the jymphong, men usually wear a dhoti with a waistband which consists of many ornaments and beads.