Cruising through life at 70
Let’s begin this week with a story of hope. A story of
grit, determination and the never say die attitude.
Meet septuagenarian Bibha Rani Ghosh. She lives alone but with dignity. Every day she sits outside Krishna Emporium from 8 am to 4 pm selling kwai and packaged water bottles to make ends meet. Earlier, she had a thriving business selling tea and eatables but the pandemic has hit her business hard. She is happy and contented with the bare minimum she earns to keep the home fires burning and has no complaints with life. What an inspiration! For some, it takes just a little to keep them happy!
Does morning show the day?
Perhaps, never in Shillong.
After a long spell of invariable cloudy sky, frequent
rains and occasional deluge, Autumn has finally begun to glow. The mornings have been seeing clear azure sky and radiant sunshine bringing in a sense of positivity all around. As we begin to read the morning edition of The Shillong Times, our eyes cannot escape the weather forecast for the day which has become somewhat predictable. The met report would read: “Cloudy sky with a few showers of rain and thunder,” and that would leave the Shillongites pitying the weathermen for being so hopelessly off the mark. Come noon, the sky gradually becomes murky as dark clouds gather from nowhere and the sun goes into hiding. Then we realise how correct the weather forecast has been. Indeed, morning seldom shows the day in Shillong!
Tipplers’ day out
Passers-by, cabbies, residents, non-residents, haves and have nots crowd up at Mawbah(Barapathar)
taxi stand twice daily — once when the popular Winger vehicle carrying Aahaar food comes around noon to serve a long queue of ravenous mouths and again after dusk for their daily quota of liquid courage (commonly, liquor). Over the years this particular stretch of road has been frequented by tipplers – some regular, others casual. To make matters worse, brazenly parked cars (occupying them are liquor buyers, mostly) congest the already-packed roads. Although habituated, most residents are unhappy at the state of affairs. Speaking to the Shillong Jottings team, an onlooker expressed concern that people weren’t behaving responsibly. The SJ team, however, couldn’t ascertain if the gentleman was just a passer-by or was there for his daily quota.
Traffic jams, but why?
More than half a year has passed since schools were asked to close down over fears that the
school-goers would be infected with the coronavirus. Buses ferrying students; parents on two-wheelers with their little ones as pillion have almost become distant memories. Vehicular movement which had slowed down at the onset of the pandemic followed by the lockdown (barring vehicles rushing out for emergencies) has begun kicking pace gradually. It is mid-October now and here we are, back to the good(?) old days when vehicles were lined up along lengthy stretches of city roads; horns being honked; cars overtaking even in traffic jam; no respite for traffic personnel from the hustle and bustle. But there is still no sign of school students with their flashy uniforms on the roads like before. So, the situation, once attributed to the number of vehicles picking up and dropping students to and from schools, has returned. But the question that arises here is: If schools are still not up and running, why do we see traffic snarls in the city? Also, keeping in mind the odd-even rule in Shillong aren’t the number of vehicles in this city over the top? Imagine what would happen if the odd-even rule is lifted!
Witty cops
Of late, the Meghalaya Police seems to have discovered a hitherto unknown humour gene. At
least some tweets by the state police is certainly an indicator.
Sample this: Your Password is like your Toothbrush. Share it with None. Change Often!
This tweet generated quite a number of responses with a tweet even complimenting the copy-editing skills of the state cops.
Another tweet reads thus: If it’s too good to be true, it’s probably a Cyber Golmaal!
The tweet: Don’t ask, just Mask! was straight to the point.
And this one definitely takes the cake: Weed like to inform the general public that, of all the Essential items permitted in the times of #Corona, Marijuana ain’t one of them.
The SJ team lauds the state police for tickling our funny bones. Hope lawbreakers don’t have the last laugh…
To whom it may concern
Last Monday, the Jottings column had highlighted the problems faced by pedestrians on the stretch of the road from Oxford to Garrison Ground on account of the overgrown stinging nettles bushes. On Tuesday the SJ team was surprised to see the bushes all cleaned up. Some people are definitely doing their job well. Kudos.