Shillong – many decibels quieter
The harsh winter cold has cast a gloom. There are lesser people hovering around in the streets. Shillong turns peaceful at this season, more of a dream city with a drop in car population and noise which is almost nil during the icy afternoons. The city is a few thousand tonnes lighter with half of its residents on vacation and the student population from the neighbouring states returning to their homeland.
Much of the regular petty businesses are on a sharp decline. The most prominent business that solidifies during the cold winters is the famous Alu-muri one. This must-have elixir for most of the young fans of spice, oil, salted water and puffed rice entwined in bits of boiled potato makes one’s mouth water in vain as most of the sellers return to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to meet their families too. These days the lanes and bye-lanes are empty and desolate. One misses the hassle and bouts of unexplained laughter.
The other business that shows a regular trend of freezing during winters is the sale of pirated CDs and other related hawker level articles with most buyers probably digging into cheaper gold outside. But come March and the chaos will re-enter our existence with a renewed fervour.
Examination
Rescheduled examination dates can be frustrating for students. The change of dates of the undergraduate examination by NEHU in view of the assembly poll date has dampened the spirits of hardworking students who calculate when to peak in their studies. Now they have to restart right again since the subjects they were preparing for on the basis of the earlier dates have undergone new permutations and combinations.
But some smart students never lose their composure come what may, owing to the training imparted by their parents to be ever-ready. But these are too few to count. A parent said that the church has written to the Election Commission of Indian (ECI) to change the election date from February 23 to some other date since the next day happens to be a Sunday. Many have questioned this imposition by the church and wonder how such demands can be made in a secular country.
They felt that the church/churches should have been more concerned about the shifting of examination dates and should have asked the ECI to change the date keeping in mind the greater interest of the students.
Unseasonal floods
The road alongside All Saint’s Hall, which hosted a marriage party on Friday, was surprising flooded even without the monsoons. On enquiry it was found that a water pipe was leaking and since no one repaired it the entire stretch of road was flooded thereby causing inconvenience to the guests at the marriage party. People dressed in their best finery were seen lifting their clothes up and jumping across the puddle to enter the hall.
Those with dainty high-heeled shoes cringed at the mess. The leak was later plugged by a kind soul who put a plastic sack on it. A similar mess was also seen on Thursday at Dhankheti where the main road some metres away from Stoneyland was similarly flooded with water.
The water-logging continued until Sunday evening. A passerby said that it could be a leak from some septic tank or a drain. Car wheels were almost submerged in this dirty flood water and merciless drivers splashed the murky waters on passers-by. By the look of things, it’s time for the Shillong Municipality to declare that it has lost the battle for civic management in the city. And we shamelessly call this the Scotland of the East?
A wit quipped “This is what happens when those in the government are hallucinating.”