Editor,
With the Christmas spirit of goodwill still hanging in the air this is probably not the right time to send off a letter of complaint to a newspaper but the nightmare that I went through recently while driving to Jakrem village in West Khasi Hills to attend a funeral compels me to do so. After Mawphlang, most parts of the roads are comparable to a river bed and one had to regularly downshift to negotiate the various potholes. Progress was at a snail’s pace and a journey of less than two hours was extended to three hours. The nightmare was of course, repeated on the return journey. On asking the several villagers at the village about the reasons for the terrible condition of the road all answered in one word and in unison ,’ Koroption’ – all of them blamed the higher ups who had demanded kickbacks from the contractors thus leaving the contractor with a sum that made making a good road impossible. On my suggestion that they take to the streets their reply was ‘Bah, who will listen to us poor and simple people?’ They however did say that their only weapon was, strangely, prayer. They said that they constantly pray that what we Khasis call the ‘Raibi’ or Karma, will hit back at those corrupt officials and representatives so that punishment will descend on them sooner or later. I was slightly taken aback but, having worked with poor and simple people all my life, I knew that, sometimes, prayers and curses of the poor do work. The villagers were more bitter as a few days before that, a woman in her eighth month of pregnancy, had had to travel to Shillong for some special medical attention. How the unborn baby survived the journey to Shillong and back God only knows. On the present repairing work being carried out, the villagers just laughed it off saying that with the first rains, the potholes will be back. Can I therefore, on behalf of the villagers, fervently request those involved in asking for kickbacks to please refrain from doing so and can they, for a change, make a Christmas gift of a good road that will last, to the people of these areas. Surely pockets have been lined enough by now and the time has come for the corrupt ones to, for a change, do something useful for the suffering rural folk.
Yours etc.,
D.M.Pariat
Shillong -3
The Language debate
Editor,
Apropos the editorial on the subject cited above (ST November 19,2014), without arguing on the details, I would like to point out that the Editor in a polished manner urged students to opt for Alternative English in place of Khasi, using High marks as a bait. This reminds me of U Soso Tham’s warning when he wrote : The Parrot that can speak “Tuta ai khaw Tuta ai khaw” is the parrot that has been lured, captured and chained all day, all night long by a cruel man. It has been made to lose its own society, its food habits and above all, it has lost the most valuable thing ‘LIBERTY and FREEDOM’
Yours etc.
B. Khongsngi
Shillong
Leave the STP to do their job!
Editor,
A number of letters have appeared criticizing the police and the SP over their attitude to parking in Laitumkhrah. It appears that we are very strange race of people and are more apt to criticize those who do their duties rather than those who don’t. The fact is that Laitumkhrah has a parking lot, the ground floor of which is never used because it is dirty. Rather than lambasting the authority whose duty it is to keep it clean and not just collect parking fees, people are criticizing police who are working hard to keep the traffic in the city moving.
Laitumkhrah has enough parking space along Jacobs’s ladder and along the road to Stephen’s Hall. What is disgusting however, is the way most people park. Before people used to park randomly at Veronica Lane Road and people still do so during school times at Upland Road. Most parents appear to be unemployed because they come almost two hours early to pick up their children from school. In Upland Road, even though a No Entry sign is put up at 1.30 PM people are already parked by 1.00 PM. Their parking is haphazard and makes it difficult for the residents to get out of their homes. I am a regular commuter through Laitumkhrah especially during the evenings when parking is allowed. The whole place is chaotic. I shudder to think what would happen if parking is allowed during the day time along the main road. In all this, I can only say that you are damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. Does the writer not know that Shillong Traffic Police is not the authority to create parking lots.
May I request the SP and the Shillong Traffic Police to continue with their good work and our people to wake up and criticize people who don’t perform their jobs rather than berating people who do.
Yours etc.,
Albert Marbaniang
Shillong-3