Valentine’s Day
The dinner and rose combo day or in simple terms, Valentine’s Day was something to look out for last week in Shillong. Though many admit that this is western ploy for consumerism (give your loved one this and that) yet people have learnt to welcome this day. Its no longer just lovers wishing each other.
Even grandchildren wish their grandparents a Happy Valentine’s Day and send them flowers. Perhaps this generation is more articulate about expressing love and other emotions.
With nothing great happening anywhere, barring a few events like a night with DJ Jop in Tango and of course a Bollywood action crime thriller, ‘Gunday’ being released on the day, the young love birds of Shillong had the universal option of ‘hand in hand we walk in the sand’ !
From dining out in balloon laden restaurants with no special menu to getting tickets to enter the only lake and garden within city limits permissible for building castles in the air, the young crowd had to make use of every opportunity they had.
Well, those with the smarter business ideas sure made merry. With Kwai sellers keeping Cadbury bars and vegetable vendors dealing in roses, it was quite a rush everywhere.
In fact this reporter heard that quite a number of couples went off to Guwahati city to wine and dine at some of the latest bistros.
Even those who are usually swimming in work took time off to indulge their Valentines.
The day will be remembered for another reason. Shillong received its first spell of rain.
Though at 0.7mm, even a trailer of the season was a welcome sight with the earth cracking open and a city in desperate need for some respite from the load shedding woes.
Also this rain may signal the onset of spring and a renewal of love vows for middle-aged valentines.
Shillongites addicted to fast food
News of the fire at the MUDA complex spread very quickly thanks to social media and smart phones.
In most of the photographs taken and sent around, the KFC logo was most prominent.
People wondered if that outlet had gone up in smoke and whether they would get their favourite chicken burger @ 65 Rs, the cheapest in today’s upmarket territory.
Only later they were told that the fire actually started from some shop in the old MUDA complex.
Those who had planned a Valentine’s Day celebration with a meal at the outlet heaved a sigh of great relief!
Our taste buds have metamorphosed radically. While there are people who are trying to promote slow food along with a host of messages about how ‘slow food’ is not just about slow cooking and the anti-thesis to junk food; about its potential for bio-diversity conservation and about teaching the young to go back to basics as far as eating habits are concerned, it seems like a tough call to beat the MNCs at their game!
Perhaps a food court at the same complex with indigenous cuisine is what’s lacking in Shillong. Why can’t the local eateries serve up a local delicacies that are more nourishing than fast food?
The tribes here have always been diffident about their cuisine?
Tourists enquire about local food all the time but don’t get to see it. Only those who have the courage to wade into the dirt and slush of Iewduh to find a Jadoh stall there get a taste of traditional Khasi-Jaintia food.
At other times such food is only available in special festivals only. Why should it be so?
AAP looking for women candidates for Lok Sabha
Some people in Shillong have been getting mails from patrons of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi to suggest names of women who could contest and win the Lok Sabha polls from the seven states.
Unfortunately those who got the mails are least interested in politics and also uninterested in finding out who has a penchant for elections.
This jotting is therefore meant to convey to interested parties that they should write to the AAP headquarters in Delhi expressing their interest.
While Meghalaya does seem to have its share of AAP followers with caps to boot we are still unaware if they are keen to contest the upcoming MP election.
The AAP seems to genuinely believe in gender equity. The first few names that have come up as contender for the Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra are women. They include long time activist Medha Patkar as well.
Any takers for Kejriwal’s party here? Other than the inveterate ‘angst in the pants’ activist Agnes Kharshiing there is as yet not much noise about the AAP here. But what would happen if Ms Kharshiing were to abandon her post of watchdog here?