Lost charm of a city
Shillong town, now a city has undergone a metamorphosis over the years. Those quintessential markers are now recollected at leisure only by those folks above the age of 40 years.
One of those yesteryear elements were the monkey / bear charmers and the snake charmers.
The sound of the small hand held drum had a charm of its own. As the charmer rotates the small drum creating the rhythmic sound, the animals would resort to dancing, jumping, saluting, behaving like an officer, smoking and what have you to bring a spill of laughter among the audience.
After the show is over the little dancers would collect donations from the audience and hand over the same faithfully to their masters.
Another once familiar sight is the pony cart which was used to carry all kinds of materials. These must now be part of Heritage Shillong.
Want water? Take this!
Queen Marie Antoinette made history when she told the half-starved citizens of France to eat cake if they did not have bread.
On Saturday and Sunday the PHED seemed to send a smilar message to the residents of Nongthymmai. They were shocked to see water of the colour of milk tea coming out of their pipes.
At first they thought it must be a short burst of dirty water due to the pressure on their pipes.
But this went on for nearly three hours on Saturday. The same thing happened on Sunday. When the PHED engineers were asked why they were pumping water was not usable they simply answered that it was because they were cleaning their tanks.
But should people not be informed about such activities so that they do not open up their water taps to their storage tanks? PHED does not seem to think so.
The residents await to see how long they will be getting this muddy water as Monday arrives!
New fitness hubs
Graveyards have for long held the bad reputation of being the favourite spot for a lot of activities besides burying the dead. It used to be an ‘open air bar’ hosting mischief mongers during weekends, puffing on sweet cancer and popping corks to enjoy some ‘quality time’ alone or with the few friends besides, of course, the dead. But now things have changed for the better.
The Lawsohtun graveyard used by the people of Lumparing has actually become an exercise spot for the health conscious. From jogging the steep slope to skipping alongside graves, a few ‘fit individuals’ do make the best use of the calm and serene surroundings of this graveyard. Of course, good acts always happen in the presence of light! On deeper thoughts, graveyards are actually turning out to be the little patches of ‘sacred groves’ still existent in a city of dirt, dust and concrete slabs.
A place mostly left untouched by our destructive hands. It remains the quiet, undisturbed place which lends itself to introspection and reflection on what life is about and what is important. Inspiration of being healthy and living long is abundant here and surely puts one in touch with their mortality.
This is literally a case of, “Dancing on your grave!”