Crater sized potholes- who cares?
Looking at the big potholes in parts of the city’s road we are reminded of a story from Nagaland. The Naga Blog (TNB), is a blogo-spere that young Nagas are actively engaged with to post their views on a range of issues. Before the elections the TNB was rife with posts about the condition of the roads in Kohima. There was a call for all young people to come out and get into action. And guess what the action was! The youth were asked to come with rice saplings which they were going to plant in the middle of the road wherever there were potholes. This was method that young Nagas chose to embarrass the powers that be. Apparently the strategy worked and the State PWD repaired the road immediately. Perhaps our youth too must get into action in pretty much the same way but using our own innovative strategies. In fact it is high time for the Shillong by-pass to open up now that the road is ready. We cannot wait for a Congress VVIP to inaugurate a public road. In Delhi recently, the public took it upon themselves to inaugurate a road that had been kept pending for too long because some VIP was too busy to spare time for the inauguration.
Shillong’s air-conditioned weather: A selling point!
If the local people are baffled by the quick change in the weather conditions in the last few days, tourists are even more bewildered. The locals who had stacked away their winter wear and sent their heavy blankets to the cleaners found that they had to keep themselves warm with hot water bottles. Tourists were freezing but it gave them a taste of the real feel of winter which they normally have not experienced in their backyards. This freakish weather is perhaps a result of the cyclonic storms that lashed West Bengal and its vicinity in the past week. Alternatively it could be a result of the much touted climate change because winter had clearly left us and spring was gracing us with its warmth even while spring flowers were in full bloom, when suddenly the weather clock turned 360 degrees. We have had spells of rain and sunshine and cold in equal measure. Sohra was even more ethereal as clouds played hide and seek and spring showers fell on the parched grounds. Tourists who got drenched in the sudden showers enjoyed the rainfall only to realize that it can turn quite could here and getting wet in the rains Bollywood style could end up with pneumonia.
Need for solidarity
The cyclonic storm that lashed West Khasi Hills and affected over a thousand people has got a media house here to give a clarion call for people to donate to the cause of rehabilitating the victims who have lost their all to nature’s fury. The publishers of the local vernacular daily Mawphor have asked people to donate towards the cyclone victims through their good services. This is as good a time as any for all to honour this noble gesture and stand in solidarity with the tragedy that has befallen our brethren in West Khasi Hills. One cannot recall a storm of such intensity in recent times. Many have attributed these freak weather conditions to the reckless destruction of forests and foliage which help weather most of the storms in the past. Only the experts can tell us how much our own actions have led to nature’s fury of whether all natural calamities are “natural” and not induced by man’s actions. Be that as it may, for now it is important to help rehabilitate the cyclone victims.