Editor,
The current impasse and agitation of the hawkers of Shillong has left many of the city’s citizens bemused and really perplexed. TUR has spearheaded the rights of hawkers as a fight against poverty; turned it into a fight on atrocities against women; portrayed it as a people’s resistance against state atrocities; claimed it as a movement against private cars cluttering Shillong roads (no matter that most of the TUR members own more than one car each) and now mysteriously it has transformed into “a peoples master plan for Shillong city”! In reality it is an agitation with no finite objective except to give maximum media coverage to its instigators. A ridiculous agitation by 300 odd illegal encroachers of public space (it has now blown up to a 1000 and likely to increase) led by individuals who think they hold all the answers of humanity. Presented as a fight to transform our beloved peaceful city into a Socialist nightmare for a set-piece class struggle. What a farce!
If TUR champions the poor then a question arises – are illegal occupiers of pavement space the only poverty ridden people of this state? What about the homeless, single working mothers, daily wage earners, those without clothes; without food; without land; without dignity; without hope? Why focus only on hawkers whose only contribution to society is to illegally occupy footpaths; force genuine pedestrians into the danger of speeding vehicles and who simply contribute to the general confusion of urban living? Why can’t there be thinking and agitations on behalf of other poor people as well? Poverty cannot be defined only as a lack of money. It is basically the inability to access common amenities that all of us take for granted. Not being allowed to sell your wares on public footpaths is not the only cause of poverty. Neither is this reason enough to raise mayhem that can easily lead to a breakdown of law and order in the city. A struggle against poverty cannot be won by self righteous leftists through emotional agitations against the state or the establishment. That is a Marxist concept that has failed the world over. Why try to repeat it in our Khasi Hills.
The time has come for the general public of Shillong to realise that Shillong is their city; it needs to be maintained for the general interest of all and is not the sole property of hawkers alone. The High Court has ruled in favour of the public. It has directed the district administration to uphold the status quo where hawkers are to stay away from public places until alternate respite is provided. Why is this being deliberately flouted? Why is a blind eye being turned on those who openly encourage scorn and disrespect to the directions and instructions of the honourable high court? The Rangbah Shnongs need to think over what’s happening to their city. Will they allow Shillong to go to the dogs? Social organisations need to stand up for the well-being of the public. Mothers have to express concern over the safety of their children walking their way to school. How can we allow vested interests to snatch away our rights to walk the city footpaths? How can 4 or 5 people alone, however shrill their voices maybe, be allowed to decide on our behalf? How can these self appointed saviours of the poor condemn all of us to the chaos of a lawless and free for all Shillong. Time to make our voices heard. People of Shillong raise your voices!
Yours etc.,
Markynsai Nongrum
Shillong – 14
In gratitude!
Editor,
Now, it is time to say goodbye to 2016. It’s a long list if I start enumerating the names of those who I would like to express my gratitude for showering sunshine on the path of my journey in 2016. Prof. X. P. Mao is certainly one of them. I feel joy and happiness in saying, “Thank you” to him for giving voice in the Shillong Times to the demand to stop giving awards in the name of cruel teacher Dronacharya. But why do I feel joy in my being grateful? We can find the answer in the words of the Mother (Mirra Alfassa), ~ “There is nothing which gives you a joy equal to that of gratitude. One hears a bird sing, sees a lovely flower, looks at a little child, observes an act of generosity, reads a beautiful sentence, looks at the setting sun, no matter what, suddenly this comes upon you, this kind of emotion – indeed so deep, so intense – that the world manifests the Divine, that there is something behind the world which is the Divine.”
Indeed, the very utterance of the words “Thank you” enables us to have yoga with the Divine. Since we are emphasizing on “you” in “Thank you”, we find an opportunity to have a deep breath outside the confined room called “ego” for a short while though. In one of his immortal songs, Tagore said, ~ “Yes, I know, this is nothing but thy love, O beloved of my heart ~ this golden light that dances upon the leaves, these idle clouds sailing across the sky, this passing breeze leaving its coolness upon my forehead.” We see how the gratitude of the poet is broadcasting a vibration of a sublime joy. Indeed, gratitude takes us out of our ego to feel the magic of oneness. As the Mother had said, “Physically, materially, upon earth, it is in gratitude that one finds the source of the purest delight.” Let us take a pledge for a Happy New Year 2017 that we must uphold the dignity of labour and express our gratitude without any prejudice of caste, class, race, religion, gender or generation.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata