Editor,
Shillong Times has appropriately given a lead story on the annexation of I-League Football championship by Aizawl Football Club (FC) in its April 30the edition. Congratulatory notes went viral all over the print, electronic and social media. The glorious rise of Aizawl FC was indeed a surprise for Indian football lovers, but Aizawl deserved it because of the hard work, sacrifice and commitment of the team and the men and women behind the Club.
As far as football in Meghalaya and India are concerned, I must heartily congratulate Larsing Ming Sawyan and his key people behind the Shillong Lajong Football Club (SLFC) for taking this Club to the heights of popularity not just in India but abroad too. In fact, Ming and the key persons with him, are not only making the Club popular have promoted and raised the standard of football in Meghalaya, the North East and in India. Definitely, a lot of time, money, mind and energy must have gone into this!
However, much more needs to be done in order to raise SLFC to the standard of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester United etc of mainland Europe, because we, the lovers of the game in Meghalaya, are proud of SLFC and love to see this Club grow in all aspects of the game. That the Club has blended football players from all races is a good initiative to promote communal harmony. It gives a secular character to the Club. I guess, Ming must have received heavy sponsorships from well wishers, friends, football lovers and above all from companies, because hiring of coaches and players from all over and retaining them is a costly affair.
Here I just want to offer a humble suggestion. Perhaps it is time that Ming sets up a full- fledged Football Academy to fully engage in nurturing and training young aspiring footballers from Meghalaya and the North East, from age ten and below. This Academy will have expert trainers (at least one or two). The Academy will produce well-trained footballers and from this pool of players selection will be made to induct full-time players into the Club. Hence at least 75 per cent of the specially selected standing players of the SLFC team can be from Meghalaya and the North East to legitimately resonate the name of Lajong (our own). I understand that starting such an Academy means heavy investments but it is worth it because, Ming, in any case, is investing a lot in hiring coaches and players from all over to keep the Club alive and kicking. So why not in an Academy which will be a rich reserve for SLFC?
Yours etc.,
Philip Marwein,
Shillong -2
Shillong publicly defamed!
Editor,
PM Modi literally left no stone unturned to encourage our State to be one of the most beautiful hill stations. Unlike previous PMs, he sincerely wanted this state to be another “Sikkim” in the Northeast in order to attract a continuous flow of tourists and consequently boost the economy of the state. On several occasions the PM mentioned about “Mawlynnong,” more often perhaps than our local leaders do.
Yes, long before many Shillongites had awakened from their sleep, PM Modi had reached Elephant Falls and the sacred grove of Mawphlang in the early morning of May 28, 2016. There he artfully beat the drum to send out a welcome message across the country. That was perhaps the only time in the history of Meghalaya, that the State got such a large audience from across the world to glean about this remote state of India. How happy the denizens of the Elephant Falls are, is quite evident now as we could see PM Modi’s poster put up right at the gate. It’s well intended to remind the outside visitors about the prime minister’s fondness for this state and its beauty.
But all hell has broken loose as Shillong is now ranked 276th on the cleanliness index. The Prime Minister himself expressed his deep concerns. It seems that Meghalayans are now very enthusiastic about sweeping administrative flaws under the carpet. I think the country will soon know what kind of “garbage” is stopping the state from being beautiful and vibrant.
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali
Shillong-2
Weird banking regulations!
Editor,
This refers to Anjan Roy’s article, “More legal follow-up actions needed” (ST, May 8, 2017). The Union Cabinet’s decision to take the ordinance route to tackle the growing problem of non-performing assets (NPAs) is welcome. However, so many questions are now blowing in the wind. How can macro bank defaulters go abroad and stay there? Why should we pay for them? How can a bank penalise its customers for their inability to keep a sizeable amount of money in their bank accounts? Can a public sector bank slap general customers by introducing such penalties to compensate for the bad loans of some rich defaulters?
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata