2013 here we come
Debates about who to elect in 2013 have started on Facebook. Sadly the debate often degenerates into a politician bashing game by a set of holier than thou lot. Only one MLA is praised for starting a hunger strike on the ongoing border dispute between Assam and Meghalaya. These debates on Facebook lack substance because they do not care to mobilize people on how to overcome muscle and money power in 2013. Each facebooker tries to outdo the other by coming up with stinkers on MLAs/ministers. The feeling one gets is that all MLAs are sinners and the rest of us are saints. This saint –sinner debate is hardly likely to change things in the rural areas where people do not vote on issues and all these Facebook discussions are non-sequitur. There is a sharp divide between what urbanites consider important and how the rural folks vote. Be that as it may, all wannabe MLAs for 2013 have started ploughing their constituencies and sowing seeds, the fruits of which, they believe will be ready to harvest by February 2013. The stunts used by some of the prospective candidates are unbelievably strange. But like they say, “All’s fair in love and war.”
Paying Bills BSF style
Sometime last week an ambulance belonging to the Border Security Force (BSF) entered the road adjacent the Hydari Park with the siren blaring. All cars gave right of way thinking at first that it was the 108 GVK ambulance. After going some distance a BSF jawan got off the ambulance and entered the office of the BSNL to pay the telephone/mobile bills even while the ambulance drove ahead and stopped for a while. The ambulance returned to pick up the jawan who had paid the bill and the driver started the siren going all over again. This reporter was aghast at the audacity of a disciplined security force to misuse the ambulance and to flaunt power. The BSF jawans inside the ambulance were sure that no one noticed their misdemeanour. But they were caught by candid camera. What will people not do to beat the traffic jam! But what they forget is that the rule of law is not optional. Every citizen is bound by those laws and the BSF even more so.
World Environment Day
Environmental degradation has suddenly taken a new meaning for the public for organizations and institutions, as each one of them seems to have observed World Environment Day on June 5. The irony is that those who have ruined the environment in Meghalaya and have now made it big in life are the very people giving lectures on environmental conservation. In fact those who have destroyed the environment to enrich themselves belong to the anti-environment mafia and such include even those in the Forest Department who give clearances for limestone and coal extraction inside forest land. Sadly such bureaucrats are also seen planting a measly sapling on June 5 as if in expiation for their sins. The way things are going, the day is not far when the HNLC Chief who sends emails from neighboring Bangladesh on 26 January and 15 August, asking people to boycott these national days might be invited to inaugurate the High Court of Meghalaya in the near future.
Of killer Sumos and speeding bikes
The Tata Sumos travelling on the Shillong-Guwahati highway are killers. They drive so recklessly that most other drivers have to be wary that they are not pushed off the road. Some of them drive at 80 kmph in those parts of the highway where they have been warned to go at 40 kmph. Interestingly the motorbike borne traffic police of Meghalaya that were much talked and who are expected to control speeding of vehicles are nowhere to be seen. People wonder how many such riders there are per district and how they manage to keep themselves unidentified. Meanwhile the Shillong public is suddenly overwhelmed by speeding motorbikes with their silencers intentionally pulled off. These bikers are a danger to themselves and to others on the road. They create severe noise pollution. Is there any traffic rule under which they can be booked?