A signboard near the watchtower at Jatinga advocates conservation of birds. Picture S.H. Patgiri

Guwahati, Nov. 2: On a wintry day in 1905, a farmer set up a betel plantation on a windswept ridge on the Barail hill range, in what is now the North Cachar Hills district of Assam, and chanced upon the ?bird suicide? mystery that has continued to baffle ornithologists for a century since.

This December, Jatinga is all set to celebrate 100 years of existence.

The villagers hope the centenary bash will give their sleepy little village the same global appeal as other enduring mysteries ? like the Loch Ness monster or the Yeti ? and put the hamlet firmly on the world tourism map.

?Jatinga?, a Zemi Naga word, means a ?pathway of rain and wind?. Indeed, these two elements have contributed much to the aura of mystery that surrounds the village of 2,000-odd farmers.

Every year, between August and October, on moonless and foggy nights, hundreds of migratory birds fly into the narrow ridge and dash to the ground, as if to commit suicide. Groups of villagers wait with lanterns, hanging from bamboo poles, to attract the birds that are then clubbed to death. Experts have put up several theories to explain the ?suicide? but have not been able to unravel the mystery.

W. Aibok Suchiang, general secretary of the Jatinga Centenary Celebration Committee, said over phone from Haflong that the villagers planned to move the Centre to declare Jatinga as a ?unique tourist spot?. This, he said, would ensure proper development of infrastructure such as tourist lodges and other facilities.

Jatinga, now famous for its oranges and pineapples, has become a tourist spot but not on the scale it should have been, Aibok Suchiang said.

Ornithologists S. Sengupta and A. Rauf, who have extensively researched the Jatinga phenomenon, are expected to attend the centennial, scheduled for December 28.

?All the villagers will come together on that day to celebrate their success in living up to the expectations of U. Lakhan Bang Suchiang, who wanted to set up a model village,? Aibok Suchiang said.

Apart from cultural programmes, the committee will release a souvenir highlighting the hamlet?s history, geographical location, natural resources and population. A seminar on the natural richness of Haflong will also be part of the daylong programme.

?We had bigger plans to mark the occasion, but the lack of finance forced us to curtail our budget,? rued Suchiang.

He said the villagers were also keen to remove the ?bird killer? stigma attached to them. ?That was before we knew about the consequences of such indiscriminate killings. Now we are trying to educate the people about the need for conservation.?

Schoolteacher H.C. Khersa echoed him. ?We must raise awareness. There is a real danger of all bird species being wiped out if villagers continue to entice the winged visitors with torches and then kill them,? he said.