Editor,
I applaud the back to back articles in the Shillong Times: Albert Thyrniang’s “Church’s response to CAA and NRC” (Feb 4, 2020) and Avner Pariat’s “How the rich rob this state blind” (Feb 5, 2020). We are fortunate to have stray voices in civil society to remind us of our sorry predicament. These voices may not have formal power or influence, but are crucial to the survival of democracy and hope for a better society.
The formal leaders of our State are the government. But the front-page stories of our media remind us daily of the failures of our elected leaders, and their inability or unwillingness to better the lot of their constituency. Meghalaya lurches from scandal to scandal and even the Lokayukta, NGT and other statutory bodies struggle to stem the ineptness and venality of our so-called democracy.
But there are other leaders. Apart from government the most influential body is the Church. While the Church is vividly visible in their ostentatious sanctuaries and through loudspeakers at open air gatherings, the welfare of their poorest members is not in their scriptures. The abjectly poor in this state, malnourished single mothers and children are Christian, but their empty bowls receive no alms. The deafening silence of our Church leaders to social problems and political threats is a bitter chalice of hypocrisy. It reminds us of the parable of the Good Samaritan, told by Jesus, and recorded in the Gospel of Luke, in which the priest and the Levite ignored the injured traveler leaving him to his fate on a deserted road.
Albert Thyrniang has reminded us of the visible and outspoken protests of Christian leaders in other parts of India against NRC and CAA. But in the Northeast, there is not a murmur from our frocked leaders. Our Christian institutions of learning are also silent, compared to Christian colleges and universities elsewhere. On Jan 8, 2020, students of St Stephen’s College, perhaps India’s most prestigious college boycotted classes in protest against CAA, the first such boycott in 30 years.
Other informal leaders in the country are corporate leaders of a certain category. The philanthropic Tata Trusts hold 66% of the equity capital of Tata companies. So two-thirds of their profits is used for social transformation. Other leading companies such as BOSCH and Wipro channel hundreds of crores into social ventures. Top industrialists Anand Mahindra and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw have spoken against CAA. But in Meghalaya we rarely hear business leaders raising their voices or using their influence or money for social good, except for handouts to ensure electoral success.
Somehow, some social work agencies and good-hearted individuals are able to achieve a modicum of good. The Shillong Times platinum jubilee clean-up project is trying to save at least one contaminated river, albeit with the active collaboration of civic authorities.
Where there is life, there is hope, even though we are leaderless. To paraphrase Walt Kelly, the creator of the Pogo cartoon character, “We have found the enemy and he is among us.”
Yours etc.,
Glenn C Kharkongor
Via email
Struggling mother with a child
Editor,
I wish to share the sad story of a struggling mother with a girl-child in her lap. This bold but naive village lady has been deserted by her husband a year ago. He now lives with another woman. What is painful about this lady is that she has four children to raise single-handedly. The social justice or alimony which we harp about is not for the poor! The youngest in her lap is just 9-months old. To earn a livelihood this lady is compelled to leave her village and come to Shillong with her youngest child. Three other kids are living with their grandmother.
The lady now lives in a certain locality of the city and has to pay a rent of Rs 1500 for a room. Always with her child on her back or on her lap, she struggles to make her living by selling a bag of oranges at a certain spot in the city. She purchases them from a local wholesaler. Usually, the lady cooks and has her meal very early in the morning before leaving the house. She cannot afford a rich or balanced diet. Often she has only steamed rice and tea and sometimes with plain potato curry. She seldom eats anything during the day. This she told me with tears in her eyes. In fact, she cannot afford to eat lunch; nor can she buy any snacks. Her only concern is her children and aged mother in the village.
The lady and her baby sit on a bare pavement, expecting passers-by to buy her “oranges”. The whole day she hardly earn Rs 120 to Rs 150. Sometimes she suffers a “huge loss” when the oranges don’t get sold and she has to take them back home. Chilly winter days only add grief to her life. Very humble and soft-spoken, she does not know any tricks to promote her trade. These days she has become wiser and has stopped buying too many oranges from the wholesaler because she does not want to take the unsold fruits back home.
She rues that people bargain even for oranges and at the end of the day she is ‘compelled to sell off’ at lesser than the cost price. The buyers always take advantage of her vulnerability. This story deeply touched me and inspired me to share this sad reality with others. Are we all not partly responsible? In fact, as opportunist buyers we thoughtlessly take away what little such poor people save for the family. This is robbing the poor and downtrodden blind! No exaggeration; they are so oppressed and crushed that they cannot see the light of hope in their entire lives. Perhaps thinkers like Karl Marx and Engels must have been inspired by seeing the plight of such have-nots.
Yes, the smiling face of this lady and the baby on her lap overwhelmed me. I even saw her crying uncontrollably. This made me ask about her family. I guess we can exercise our benevolence right from our doorsteps. There are many such poor, abandoned women around our neighbourhood. Our GENEROSITY can make their lives a little happier and hope-filled.
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali,
Shillong- 2