Shillong, Sept 5: There are several things in life that we know, but probably never gave it a thought, like this question: the names of Khasi, Jaintia or Garo appear in the names of eleven of the twelve districts of which state?
Easy right! But here is the catch. How many of us ever realised that all the names of all the eleven districts of Meghalaya have Khasi, Garo and Jaintia in it, except one.
Here: East Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills, Eastern West Khasi Hills, East Jaintia Hills, West Jaintia Hills, West Garo Hills, East Garo Hills, South Garo Hills, North Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills.
Meghalaya has twelve districts. So the only district of the state which does have the word Khasi, Jaintia and Garo in its name is Ri-Bhoi. Moreover, it’s the only district of the state that is named not on its geographical location, but as the land of the Bhoi people (Ri means country or land in Khasi).
This simple, but interesting question was asked in the 18th episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati, season 16, which was aired on September 4, 2024 on Sony Television. “Big B” in his baritone voice thundered this question upon contestant, Banti Vadiva, from faraway Madhya Pradesh.
Vadiva is a tribal from the central Indian state and was initially confused, but after taking his time gave the correct answer as Meghalaya from the four options: Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura.
Later, the host provided additional input to Vadiva saying only Ri-Bhoi doesn’t have Khasi, Jaintia or Garo in the name of its district. For some of us in Meghalaya, it would have been a walk over of a question to win Rs. 6.4 lakh, which Vadiva did.
But that’s not how life works and a contestant from Meghalaya would not have been asked this question and probably asked which state has the highest number of tribal population… take your time…
Yes, you guessed it right. It’s Madhya Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh, also called the “heart of India”, has 705 tribes! This tribal population constitutes 8.6 percent of the country’s total population, according to the 2011 census.
In fact, Madhya Pradesh has more tribal population than the entire northeast considered. The northeast has 200 tribes who constitute 8.55 percent of the tribal population of India’s total population – just a little less than Vadiva’s home state.
Madhya Pradesh has “46 recognized Scheduled Tribes”. Three of these ST are considered “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.” The Bhils are the largest tribal group of that state.
So, let’s leave with something amazing. The phrase “bone dry” means something which has gone completely dry. However, human bones are never dry. Raisins are dried grapes and even if rehydrated, these sweet delicious little things, will never be grapes again.
