Point and shoot

Archery is serious business in Shillong where men compete to shoot arrows at a target for all of four minutes, twice each day.

High in the Khasi hillsof North East Indiastands Shillong, thestate capital ofMeghalaya. It's known as "theScotland of the East" becauseof its resemblance to theScottish highlands. Tall pineconifers line steep hill roadsthat zigzag and up and downthe valleys. It's also home to agreat swathe of Presbyterianchurches, founded byScottish missionaries in themid 19th century. There's anabundance of Scottish namesengraved onto the graves inthe local Presbyterianchurch's graveyard but thesimilarity ends there.

For Shillong is home to alarge number of Khasi tribespeople. Every day (apart fromSunday) men from fourarchery clubs gather to shootarrows at a cylindrical targetfor four minutes. The event,known as "Siat Khnam" isheld twice a day at 4 and 5pm. It's not just a pleasantafternoon out, archery is seriousbusiness.

All around Shillong and itsneighbouring towns and villages,there are small bettingbooths taking stakes on theoutcome of the contest. I hadarrived in town just in time tosee what it was all about.

My Assamese guide hadn't evenheard of the contest. So whilst I, amiddle aged western tourist in thisremote North East hill town,attempted to explain to him theintricacies of a Khasi betting game,he negotiated with the taxi driver totake us to the event. Travellingrarely gets more surreal than this!

By the time we arrived at "Sawfurlong"the first contest was wellunderway. A crowd of Khasi men,were sat in a semi circle firingarrows at a cylindrical, drumshaped target. The place waspacked as people tried to jostle theirway to better viewing positions.No grandstands here. Just turnup and stake your claim to aviewpoint.

Lot of money at stake
The atmosphere, unsurprisingly,was electric. After all, there was bigmoney at stake on the outcome.

The arrows flew continuouslyinto the target. Some secured themselvesfirmly; others ricocheted offand fell to the floor. Some held onfor dear life, neither fully in nor outof the target. Finally, a canvas sheetwas raised in front of the target,stopping anymore arrows fromsecuring a place. The local master ofceremonies, with great flourish,called a halt to proceedings and thusfirst contest came to an end.

The crowd surged forward towitness the count and the tensionwas palpable. The archers themselvesmeanwhile, seemingly unperturbedby the result, discussed howwell or otherwise they thought theyhad done and tactics for the latercontest.

Sorting the winners
Naturally enough, arrows that hadmissed the target were instantly dismissed.Arrows that were consideredneither in nor out were castaside and eliminated from the count.Finally a grand total was agreed onand the gamblers pressed even furtherforward to hear the verdict.These people weren't interested inthe grand total; their bets had beenlaid on correctly predicting the lasttwo digits only.

With a great theatrical flourish,the master of ceremonies threwarrows into the ground in front ofhim. "One, two, three (the crowdhung on every number), four, five,(folk were already on their mobilephones contacting people back intown with the result)...six!" Andthere we had it; the result for 4 pmwas 5 and 6.

The result was immediatelyrelayed back to the betting boothsand the payouts began in earnest.Only my guide seemed deflated.Today he'd suffered the indignityof being educated by a middle-aged,white westerner about his ownindigenous tribes and then he'd hadto pay the taxi driver what he consideredan over inflated price. Whatmade it worse and rubbed salt onhis wounds was that he'd picked2 and 3.

So if you ever find yourself in thiswonderful hill town be sure to checkout the archery contest. Armedwith this article you'll have moreknowledge than my Assamese guideand you never know, with a bit ofluck, you may actually win enoughfor the taxi fare!

Rob is a UK-based writer whohas visited four of India's "sevensister states" and hopes to visit therest soon.

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