Wednesday, July 9, 2025
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SHILLONG JOTTINGS

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Madina mosque and litter

Plastic glasses, food wrappers and food particles have already made their way to different floors of the much spoken about Madina Mosque near the Umshyrpi River. In the true Indian style people have not even spared the mosque of the ubiquitous red spit stains.

It’s been only three days since the inauguration but people have shown that whether it’s the streets or a religious place there is no discrimination as far as littering is concerned.

But how will the mosque management point fingers at others when they themselves allow clothes to be hanged on the railings of the garden adjacent to the mosque? Currently the attraction of India’s first glass mosque is such that even on a Sunday, when not much crowd is expected, over 25 people paid a visit in a space of one hour.

But unless the management of this religious shrine is stringent about cleanliness and imposes fines on those who litter it won’t be long before the glass mosque starts attracting attention for all the wrong reasons.

What protocol is this?

On October 18 the Central Puja Committee organised a get together for harmony at the venue of the Gorkha Puja Committee, Lukier Road. The Governor was the chief guest and Union Minister of State for Water Resources, Vincent Pala was guest of honour. Other dignitaries present included Deputy Chief Minister BM Lanong and Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh. In terms of protocol laid out by the President of India the Governor of a state is fourth on the list. Union Ministers of State and Deputy Chief Ministers of states are tenth on the list. Going by this protocol therefore, neither Vincent Pala nor BM Lanong should have left the meeting before the Governor did.

But they did so and it did not seem to bother them. Is it because both are not aware of protocol or because they don’t respect it? People at the venue just watched in dismay at the lack of etiquette of our dignitaries. Many felt that if the duo were preoccupied they should not have attended the CPC meet!

Iewduh and surrounding areas a huge mess

If anyone visits the Iewduh area after 8 pm the sight is painful to say the least. On Sunday evening some foreigners who had come visiting wanted to see the lighting in the puja pandals around town.

Their driver took them from Pinewood Hotel to Khyndailad (Police Bazar) and thence towards Motphran after which he turned towards Lukier Road. As they entered the Motphran area the two foreigners asked if they had entered a public dumping ground. The driver muttered underneath his breath that actually the area was a market place. The foreigners were appalled. “How can you have a marketplace in such a filthy, untidy area?” one of them asked. The poor driver had no answer. It always takes an outsider to tell us just how dirty and filthy we have become as a society.

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