Editor,
As a regular (online) reader of The Shillong Times I would like to begin by thanking the editor and the team that brings out this high quality newspaper. For me, this is a most valuable source of information and analysis. I wish all of you the best for 2015.
It was great to stumble on Patricia Mukhim’s article “Travelling back into a hoary past” (Dec 12, 2014), where she discusses the ongoing attempt to revive traditional governing institutions and where she very generously refers to my book The Unruly Hills: Nation and Nature in India’s Northeast (2011). As a social scientist, you always hope that your research will have relevance and engage also outside of academic circles. Here I am very thankful that Mukhim brings attention to my work and the way this is done is perfectly fine with me. In other words, a rejoinder was not something I had considered or felt the need for. Still, Bhogtoram Mawroh (Shillong Times, 23rd Dec.) makes some important qualifications that I welcome. As an outside scholar I have tried to abstain from policy advice and from definite statements and opinions regarding sensitive political issues. This is the case with the timber ban, mineral policy, land control and ethnic membership as well as traditional institutions. At best, as a scholar within the field of political ecology I seek to provide a richer context for people to reflect upon, hoping that this might lead to more informed decisions and eventually actions towards increased social equity and environmental sustainability. Indigenous traditions might be a source for creating such a future and I have, as Mawroh points out, found particular relevance in the traditional notion of (environmental) stewardship.
Yours etc.,
Bengt G. Karlsson
Professor of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University,
Sweden
Rude taxi drivers
Editor,
This is to request the Shillong Taxi Driver’s Association to please impart classes on good manners to their members i.e the taxi drivers while dealing with passengers and members of the public. Many of my friends from abroad make it a point to mention that, having travelled the world widely, the only place where they have come across rude, impolite and scruffy taxi drivers is in our dear city of Shillong . In this city, it seems, the crude taxi driver is king. I received three complaints about taxi drivers from couples from abroad in the space of a week. Firstly, the couple from England were shocked to be made to sit with another two people in the back of a small cab and when they complained they were curtly told to get out. On the second occasion, another couple from Italy complained to the driver about his smoking. They were also told to get out if they could not withstand the smoke. On the third occasion a tourist from England was nearly hit by a door carelessly opened by a taxi driver and on requesting the driver to be careful, the tourist was met with a torrent of abuse. Sad to say, all three drivers belonged to the local Khasi tribe. When asked for advice, the only thing we could tell our foreign friends was to be on the lookout only for non tribal drivers as they are known for their politeness. A great job some of our tribal driver friends are doing for the tourism business by giving all taxi operators a bad name! Could the Tourist Department not get together with the Taxi Driver’s Association and hold seminars where the drivers can be given lessons on the correct way to treat passengers? Or is this asking for too much? And will the lessons be just like water off a duck’s back?
Yours etc.,
DM Pariat,
Shillong -3