Rising prices that truly make us cry
Onions make us cry when we cut them but now increasingly onions make us cry when we have to shell out money to buy them. The trend of onion prices skyrocketing during the autumn and winter months is not new. But now there’s a new contender — potatoes. In the last few days, the prices of potatoes – one of the most widely consumed vegetables – have scaled new heights. From the normal price of Rs 25-30 per kilo, this tuber is now being sold between Rs 50-65 in the city markets. But while you can buy potatoes at Iewduh for Rs 50 a kilo, shopkeepers in others markets in the city are charging anywhere between Rs 55-65 for the same weight. Now while inflation is a regular phenomenon, the rising prices of potato had never been a topic of discussion among family members. Besides the potato, the rising prices of another essential item – cooking oil – is also burning a hole in the pockets of the ordinary person. A litre of cooking oil, whether mustard or refined, was selling two months at around Rs 100-Rs 125/liter. The price today has gone up to around Rs 140/liter while some brands are even selling at over Rs 150 per liter. Families are definitely facing the heat with rising prices of essential items even while mercury levels are plummeting in the city.
A little warm and cold
During a cold winter night, as you pen down something, or pick up your guitar for a little rendezvous, the heater lying in a corner is now crying out — “Feel my heat. Bring those palms here; they will be so warm once you plug me in! I will not ask for more neither hurt your fingers (tauntingly)”. The guitar counters, “Your bond with me is superior, unlike with that silly heater, who you will eventually dump back in the storeroom when winter is done”. “Whereas I will be here, always. Music music music, be it summer or winter,” said the guitar with a smirk. All aside, the debate goes on and on. You must be wondering, who was eventually picked — the heater or the guitar? Well, both! Unanimity is the solution. Team spirit, something even the Shillong Jottings team believes in. It is a reminder that winter is here. Days are getting colder in Shillong, but there is a beautiful aura and besides, Christmas is just around the corner and New Year too. There’s a celebrative aura in the air which seems to whisper, “Let’s all celebrate the season and festivals with glee setting aside all differences, of course always mindful of Covid-19 restrictions”
The blue-bottle therapy
Wonder what those bottles hanging around the city localities with blue water (comprising a blue laundry pigment called ‘neel’) in them really do? Do they just hang there for show? Or do they serve a purpose? The Jottings team approached a few families that are trying out this new stunt and learnt that the bottles are meant to warn man’s best friend – the dog littering around the area. Yes that’s the purpose of the blue bottles. Talk of innovation! Some have it hung from a string on their walls while others fix it up on gates or doors. While this is a widely held belief – ‘an old wives tale’ as they call it it has not yet been proven as to whether it is as effective as claimed or if it’s all in the mind. The hypothesis is that the dogs may be scared of the blue reflection or despise the smell of ‘neel’. The blue-bottle therapy has a large number of takers here in Shillong, and it will apparently stay like that until another tale is woven.