During winter, when the Umsiang turns as transparent as glass, the Khasis, Karbis, Tiwas and Bodos, who live along the river, pick a day for traditional fishing. They then forage in the forest for the root of a mystery tree. It’s a well-kept secret, as none of them divulges the tree’s name.
The collected roots are kept in a cool, dry place, and news spreads upstream to downstream by word of mouth. On the appointed day, villagers come to the river and perform a ritual. They beat the roots with sticks for a few minutes to let the juice poison the water. Stunned on ingesting the poison, the fish surface to the waiting nets and spears of the villagers.
The effect of the poison lasts just a couple of hours, the narrow window to fish. The villagers say the fish is safe for consumption despite the poison. The practice, perhaps, originated in the upper ridge of Meghalaya, as the river flows down through the State’s boundary with Assam and meets the Brahmaputra. The Umsiang has a wider variety of fish than in other rivers in the region.