Memorial lecture on Prof Radhon

SHILLONG, DEC 19:St. Edmund’s College in collaboration with All India Poetess Conference and Ka Thiar Lyngwiar Dpei Society held a memorial lecture in honour of Late Prof. Radhon Sing Lyngdoh Nongbri who passed away 28 years ago on December 19, 1990 while in service as a Professor in the Department of Khasi, North-Eastern Hill University. The lecture was held in ST. Edmund’s College and attended by the relatives and children of Late Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh Nongbri, teachers, members of AIPC and Ka Thiar Lyngwiar Dpei, teachers, students and staff of St. Edmund’s College. Delivering the lecture, Dr. Sylvanus Lamare, Principal, St. Edmund’s College, recalled the early days of Late Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh who hailed from Umphrup, Khyrim Syiemship and who started his education at King George V Memorial School, Smit. He also mentioned that he studied at the Government Boys’High School and passed his B.A. in History Honours from Gauhati University in First Class and Master degree from the same University in 1958 and Doctoral Degree in 1976. As a Lecturer in St. Anthony’s College from 1961, Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh was a renowned teacher who mesmerised the students with his lectures and in-depth knowledge of the subject and the mastery over the English and Khasi languages. Even today, those who were the students of Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh remembered his lectures vividly. Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh was the First Speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly till 1978, and if we go through the debate in those years it is a pleasure to read them and it must have a pleasure to hear them. He along with Frank M. Pugh worked tirelessly to get Khasi as an Honours subject from the GauhatiUniversity. His loved for Khasi made him work to get the Master Programme in Khasi and was the First Head of the Department of Khasi, NEHU, the First Professor in the Khasi Department and also the Dean of the School of Languages. He authored three books, Ka Histori Ka Thoh Ka Tar – I, (1979), Ka Histori Ka Thoh Ka Tar – II, (1983) and Government and politics in Meghalaya, (1996). As a State Representative to the Sahitya Akademi from 1973 to 1978 Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh spoke at length on the Khasi Literature and Language in the General Council of the Akademi and pleaded for the recognition of Khasi in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The lecture was aimed at creating awareness of the stalwarts of the State and to remember men such as Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh who had played a major role in shaping ideas and also who had thought for the future generation by working hard to get Khasi at the honours level, then at the Master degree, M.Phil and Ph.D. He played a role in the establishment of the North-Eastern Hill University and of course in the Hill State movement. Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh was a man who was well verse in History, Philosophy, Literature, Politics, Law and about the Khasi traditions. Great men and thinkers such as Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh must be remembered and the present generation need to know about him. The programme was chaired by Prof. Streamlet Dkhar who had been taught by Late Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh and who recalled his scholarly lectures. She called upon the young generation to respect and remember great personalities such as Late Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh.