The Khasi in Shillong - Meghalaya, the field of our interest in this article call it ‘U Nod’ the term borrowed from the English ‘Nought’ which means ‘nothing’. But to the people of the state, Zero has a different meaning not only a single Zero which has a value, but even a Double Zero has a very high status which may lead one to becoming a crorepati. Interesting isn’t it? This was beautifully explained by (L) Prof. Henry S Fancone, a very well - known mathematician of the 70’s of the prestigious institution ‘St. Anthony’s College - Shillong’ and later interpreted by two of his well known students, as a tribute to (L) Prof. Henry S Fancone, in 2011 on ‘The Concept of Zero to a Layman’ which was published in the leading news papers. The article on Zero has changed the perception of the Khasi population, and a number of write - ups followed thereafter, which prompted us to write this article.

This article is to enlighten the readers of the value of Zero to a Khasi, the Hills people of Meghalaya in particular. Now this very word ‘Zero’ ordinarily means nothing, however,  the authors  talk not only of One Zero but of a Double Zero which is truly a new term to the mathematical world and was coined by none other than the Teer Association of Shillong. Double Zero is a number not defined in any mathematical calculation and it has been proved that it is of immense value to the people of the state especially from a monetary point of view. This might sound quite confusing for some, but for Shillongites, the Double Zero has a very important value.

‘…who knows, some day its concepts and applications, may be accepted worldwide, and Double Zero finds a place in the history and the corner of the pages of mathematics’ - (L) Prof. Henry S. Fancone

This is for the very reasons that in Shillong, the Khasi people have a sport since time immemorial called ‘Siat - shoot and Khnam - Arrow’ i.e ‘Siat - khnam’. This game has been played for many decades by our forefathers, individually or as a group, called ‘Siat-Rong - biria’ as a sport with the aim to maintain the traditional values. Since then, people watching this game began to bet or gamble on the number of arrows shot and payments or rewards are then received in cash or in kind. Seeing the interest developed by the people of the region, the state legalised this game by issuing licences for selling tickets even when strong opposition was raised from various religious leaders. This is the emergence of ‘ka Siat Teem - Siat Khnam’ or simply ‘Teer’ or ‘Arrow Shooting’ and a separate ground has been allocated for this game. The Khnam or arrow has a very high significant implication in the Khasi society as a result of which the students union of the state formed a political party called ‘KHNAM’, through its political wing, with its first President as the only legislator in the Meghalaya Assembly from the KHNAM party. People of the region on receiving the legal sanction of the game openly bet on any number between 00 – 99 two times a day i.e First round and Second round (except Sunday), based on their dreams and interpreted by them in their own way of calculating, not basing on any mathematical formulae or computational method known the world over which even the greatest mathematician would appreciate.

Interestingly, the people of the region and the Khasi in particular assign a specific value for a particular dream and bet on it after a series of their own calculations without using any formula. Strange, but true … for every `1.00 a person gets `80.00 for a single number and a huge amount of upto `4000-5000 as payment or reward for forcasting the number between 00-99 for 1st & 2nd round. People who are used to this kind of betting wish before sleep to dream of something; and believe it or not they will be happier to dream of death regardless of how scary it might be. This beautiful interpretation might seem contradictory to the mathematical world where a zero holds no value but in the pristine hill town of Shillong a zero and a double zero holds good. Therefore, the question arises as to whether a Zero has value or not? Will Double Zero find a place in the mathematical world? Kronecker (1823-1891) rightly expressed the significance of numbers in the words: “God made the integers, all the rest is the work of man’.

Zero is undoubtedly a crucial number. It can not be ignored since it paved the way for higher mathematics and today it is one of the two digits, the other being 1, which is widely used in digital electronics, computers and other scientific research. The existence of these two digits 1 and 0 carved a totally different dimension which most of us find difficult to understand and at times it remains a mystery. Now on moving to a new world, where, when we put 1 before 0, we get the number 10 and  the entire way of looking at it changed which has its own significance in the real sense. Again looking at history on the significance of ten raises many unanswered questions such as why 10 is the holiest number for the Pythagoreans (10 Downing Street, Ten Commandments etc.) or why in sports, the best player always favours or wears the number ten jersey (Pele , Maradona, Tendulkar etc.). Thus Zero has a very high status not only in the field of numbers - mathematics but to every human in any society. It also has its own social value and never fails to visit the emptiness  of every household and in everyone’s heart, especially when one looses someone dear or  someone loses a breadwinner of the family, for ’where there is emptiness, there dwells zero’.

In conclusion, let’s not forget about Double Zero, as (L) Prof. Henry S. Fancone writes: ‘…who knows, some day its concepts and applications, may be accepted worldwide, and Double Zero finds a place in the history and the corner of the pages of mathematics’.

Dr. Monkhmer L Kynshi
and Ronald Evans Lyngdoh