Editor,
One must take strong exception to the Shillong Times labeling Thomas Jones as the “Father of Khasi Language (ST June 24, 2019). The Khasi language is not an illegitimate child in search of a father. As language researchers tell us, languages evolved as a series of calls or gestures which over time developed into combinations, giving us the complex communication necessary for social interaction and survival. The simultaneous evolution of the human brain and its neural connections enabled the processing of these early sounds. Some contrived languages like Esperanto or Ebonics may have had an originator but they never caught on. There is no such thing as father of a language though mother tongue is accepted, but that of course is something else.
The tombstone epitaph pictured in the article itself describes Jones as the “Founding Father of the Khasi Alphabets and Literature”. Alphabets, yes, but literature? Definitely “No”. The oral Khasi language was rich in literature, grammar, syntax, etymology, nuances and dialects long before Jones arrived. “The Languages of Meghalaya” edited by G. N. Devy and Esther Syiem and published by the People’s Linguistic Survey of India in 2014, provides a comprehensive description of the formations and linguistic complexities of the Khasi language.
The tendency to map ourselves as a people and culture against Western norms shows our weak sense of identity and social insecurity. Why else are we obsessed with calling the Khasi Hills as the “Scotland of the East”, name our landmarks as “Jacob’s Ladder” and give our children Western (not even Biblical) names (mine is taken from Scottish). Even our Christianity is largely Western in its church architecture, ritual and clerical vestments.
The multi-talented Thomas Jones gave us much more than is generally known. The book “Welsh Missionaries and British Imperialism” published in 2012 and released in Shillong by the historian Andrew May is in a sense a biography of Thomas Jones. Being the great great-grandson of Thomas Jones gives the author a unique vantage point. Jones taught carpentry and other vocations and improved the distillation techniques of the local rice beer. While we may have moral stances about liquor, in his own country distillers carry no stigma. So maybe we should call Jones the “Father of Vocational Education”.
We are all familiar with Thomas Jones’s life of missionary service and literary contributions. He eventually fell out with the church by marrying an underage girl, got himself enmeshed in a business misadventure and fled for his life from the Khasi Hills. He was human, flaws and all, like all of us. We need not canonize him or exalt him on a pedestal that is higher than what he was. So by all means let’s celebrate Thomas Jones birthday but in constructive ways. Perhaps the same church that gave him a new gravestone may like to set up a vocational school in his name for orphans and dropouts. Or an enterprising businessman may come out with a rice beer named after him. I could drink to that!
Yours etc.,
Glenn C. Kharkongor
Via email,
Harijan Colony issue
Editor,
The issue of the Harijan Colony at Them Iew Mawlong keeps coming up again and again because successive Governments in the past, especially during the Congress led regime, did nothing to solve this issue once and for all. In fact the issue of relocating or removing the Harijans from Them Metor or Them Iew Mawlong (Harijan colony) was demanded earlier by the Khasi Students’ Union but the then Congress Government did nothing to explore ways and means to solve the issue. The fact of the matter is that it is good in all respects for the people staying there to move away from the place as it is a place of filth, dirt and garbage (slum) area. In fact the Government has already made ready a housing colony for them which is far better than the place they are staying in today. The intention of the Government is very loud and clear that relocation for the residents of Harijan Colony is for their good only. What they should do now is to co-operate with the Government and not to antagonise it by putting a lot of hindrances which include litigation, and politicising it by calling their brethren from Punjab, complaining to the Minority Commission etc. All these exercises will make matters worse. It is sufficient for them to just cooperate with the present plans of the present Government. We know that the Government will treat them with respect and fairness. In fact majority of the residents of Harijan Colony are agreeable to the Government’s settlement plans. Those opposing are the few vested interests who also have business stakes in Them Iew Mawlong. Moreover, they should not worry about the threat issued to them by HNLC as nothing is going to happen to them because Meghalaya Government is giving them full protection
Yours etc.,
Philip Marwein,
Via-email.