By Babatdor Dkhar
Many years ago in a smallish, bordering on biggish three storied house in our Pdengshnong neighbourhood of Lower Mawprem where my family and I lived, I started writing a short story. I had had phases of inspired confidence to put pen to paper before but all of those instances paled in comparison to what I was feeling then. To cut a long story short, I was able to construct half decent pieces. In retrospect most of what I wrote then was below par. I would like to believe that my work has improved since then, as it should, like everything else that we do continually do over a period of time. I can already feel the angst in the reader at what he/she assumes is a backhanded and slightly cheeky attempt on the part of the writer to give himself unnecessary credit; a pat on the back or a highly satisfactory report card.
The spirit of a city is palpable in its students or the youth as they say. It infuriates me, how overused and misunderstood the connotation of that term has turned into. In my dog eared books, it is right up there with culture and those little words that we fool ourselves into believing have some sort of deeper and hidden meaning. You know what I’m talking about, the ones that are thrown up a few months before any and every scheduled election. Enough of my ill advised rant though lest some of the powers that be get wind of it; think they have comprehended what is being conveyed and let loose their wrath. Yes, the heartbeat of a city bears heavily amongst its younger citizens and one only has to visit the schools, colleges and universities, illegitimate or otherwise, and of course the youth wings of any and every religious denomination, illegitimate or otherwise, to feel the many snippets of it.
Whenever I’m in Shillong I cannot but feel proud and joyful at what I sense are the ‘winds of change.’ And no it’s not the legislature and executive with their ignorant understanding or their nepotism or the arrogant agents of faith with their self fulfilling prophecies. If there is one thing I hate more than anything else in this world, it is the lies and utter randomness that define prophecies especially the self fulfilling ones.
Today you can sense this air of confidence that young Shillongites have acquired. It’s been a long time coming but it’s worth every single rupee. As an insider who is also involved and at the same time looking at things from an outsider’s perspective, these are very exciting times for Shillong as a city. I am not citing examples because it is not what I am trying to get at and also because it’s annoying when a writer does that and moves away from the crux of the piece.
Young people in this homely city of ours are doing their bit to change the landscape of the Scotland of the East. (Oh that annoys me too, The Scotland of the East!!! The person who coined that term must have had the last laugh). The Shillong Times is pretty handy as a source of news and information and the online edition with its improved look is helpful for those who spend major parts of their lives online and especially for travelling Jack Sparrows. Patricia Mukhim, who I consider to be very intelligent and an inspiration along the lines of Br. Eric D’souza of St. Edmund’s and Providence who, I would go as far as calling a visionary, do serve as exemplary examples of what people in this town can aspire to be. As the Editor of the daily, she is doing a good job and Paul Lyngdoh’s articles with their small jabs do make for some interesting reading.
Paul Lyngdoh is my representative in the Legislative Assembly and for a while now I have not been impressed with his scheme of doing things. From a voter’s perspective I had singled him out as the one who would bring in the sweeping changes. And when I say changes I am merely talking about having systems in place where merit is the sole criterion. Wouldn’t it be a much nicer thing if all of us had a feeling of fairness and trust in the system? Do not get me wrong, I am not having a go at him. It’s just that he seems to have the brains to do good things even if the good things are very basic and ones which we should be taking for granted.
You know the game “One Question”. All of us have played it at some point in our lives. Well just for a bit of fun, here is my question. ‘If you had one wish that you could make and that wish had to be about your city, what would it be?’ I can only guess what all of you must be wishing for right now. If only there were a whole bunch of us in a single setting! Oh, the answers that we would be able to toy with! I have had a lot of time to think and my answer to that question would be ‘I wish that people in Shillong would read a lot more’. It does sound geekish and condescending, but if we really take time to think about it, reading makes us contemplative and rational and less prone to believe in gossip and rumours. It is definitely the best advice that I have been given. My parents were very strict about it and I am grateful to them every single day.
(The author is a lawyer and co-founding editor, Northeast Monologues at www.northeastmonologues.com, an online literary magazine. Currently he is traveling and working in Cambodia)