Bianca Tschaikner, Meghalaya, 2019

MEGHALAYA is a book inspired by myths, traditions and everyday stories I collected and recorded during a month living amongst the Khasi tribe in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, a remote area in Northeast India. The Khasi of Meghalaya in Northeast India are a matrilineal tribe, which means that women own all property and pass their surnames to their children, while husbands move into the wife’s household after marriage. The Kadduh, the youngest daughter of the family, will inherit all property, take care of her parents and continue the family line. This, together with their vivid cultural heritage of myths and traditions makes the Khasi Hills a dreamy and magical place where time seems to have stopped but which, at the same time, is the home of a society which is surprisingly modern and equal. The Meghalaya sketchbook, documenting one month of living in the Khasi Hills, is full of fascinating stories from Khasi culture – age-old myths of snake goddesses and other mythical creatures, funny jungle stories. It tells about the witnessing of complicated animist sacrificial rituals, wandering through sacred forests, listening to life stories in gloomy teahouses, everyday absurdities of India – and how it is to live in a country where women rule.