Editor,
11am of the 25th of Nov 2015 was fixed as the time and day for laying the foundation stone for the ADR Centre of Meghalaya State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) at Mawdiangdiang. Chief guest for the event was the Chief Justice of Meghalaya, Justice Uma Nath Singh accompanied by his colleagues Justice TNK Singh and Justice SR Sen. There was a small gathering of invitees, senior advocates, senior police officials and other citizens who were somehow or the other connected with the judiciary and the High Court of Meghalaya. There were no other surplus unnecessary sidekicks. How the ceremony was conducted needs telling. Firstly what impressed was the punctuality of the Chief Guest who arrived exactly at 11am. That obnoxious VIP habit of trying to impress by arriving late was most welcome by its absence. The Chief Guest then took the Rashtriya salute from the police guard of honour and then promptly proceeded to the dais where he was joined by the other two justices. Bouquets were then presented followed by a brief welcome address from the Member Secretary of the (SLSA). What followed next came as a pleasant surprise. Without any further ado the Chief Guest walked over to lay the foundation stone and also to flag off the Multi Utility Vehicle of the SLSA and that was it! The ceremony was over! Tea and snacks followed and everyone went back home happy and contented! No superfluous, redundant and time wasting speeches; no boring lecture on issues that none had the least interest in; no insincere promises that no one had any intention of keeping. Facta non verba! Wish that some of our useless political VIPs take a page out of this experience and in future, during a public function, spare an innocent public from the agony of their meaningless sermons.
Yours etc., Toki Blah,
Via email