Dirt roads leading to Mawsynram
Beyond Mawphlang, the road to Mawsynram is ready for a complete overhaul. It is evident that the road has never been repaired in years. With exposed boulders and the tar having disappeared a long time ago this is another indictment on the State PWD. The MLA/MLAs of this area do not seem to care what happens to distant travellers to Mawsynram, Balat and beyond, who have to traverse through this dirt track. From Mawphlang up to Tyrsad the road is at its worst! And we are talking rural development here! Said a visitor from outside the State, “If roads are any indicator of development in Meghalaya, then I will say it is one of the most under-developed state in the region, after Nagaland. Even roads to villages in Manipur fare slightly better than those leading to the backwoods of Meghalaya.” For most voters of Meghalaya, however, poor development has never been an issue. The elderly have voted for everything else except issues of development! If at all Meghalaya has to change, young voters will have to push their way through and bring about change in voting behaviour.
Election Dept graffiti
Most visitors to the city of Shillong are enamoured by the imaginative graffiti all along the walls enclosing the State Central Library. Initiated by the Deputy Commissioner, East Khasi Hills who is also the District Election Officer, the graffiti painted by school students speak a thousand words. They convey the seriousness with which the young look at voting. One graffiti screams, “Vote out corruption, vote in accountability.” The Election Department has been innovative in its attempt to sensitise voters. And now the elections are knocking at out doors, wannabe MLAs and sitting ones have suddenly realised that winter too offers an opportunity to extend patronage to voters by way of distributing blankets! “Big deal,” says an irate young man who finds this distribution of largesse extremely distasteful, because, he says it borders on the insane that people have lost the ability to buy a blanket to keep themselves warm. This young rebel said, “When people are so poor as to depend on an MLA for a blanket or a plastic bucket then something is seriously wrong with our planning processes. It’s time to study why there is stark poverty in Meghalaya even while MLAs are getting more portly and wealthier by the day and live in mansions.” Well said, perhaps the Social Welfare Department, not known to be too innovative except to distribute MSG laden packaged noodles to children, should commission a study on the causes for poverty in Meghalaya.
Rich flora and fauna of Meghalaya
Shillong Jottings moves out of the city every once in a while to capture the realities of Meghalaya. This State is known to be the home of the Nepenthes Khasiana or the Pitcher Plant. Visitors to Mawlyngbna village (75 kms from Shillong) cannot but be amazed at the verdant growth of the Pitcher Plant in all shapes and sizes; some flowers are nearly 6 inches high. The villagers believe that the water collected inside an unopened Pitcher Plant has medicinal properties and can cure stomach ailments. A geneticist visiting Mawlyngbna had a taste of the precious water captured in the pitcher. She said it is slightly pungent and a wee bit salty and reported that it helped clear her otherwise stubborn bowels. Perhaps more research is called for on this very unique plants species. However, bio-piracy is not unknown here. Once Mawlyngbna becomes a well known tourist destination the Pitcher Plant might struggle to survive. Time for the villagers to understand the real and practical meaning of bio-diversity!