Shillong Jottings

Buy this kid’s popcorn! Anyone who often parks her/his vehicle in MUDA parking lot at Police Bazar has seen these children, at least once; they cling on to you for money in exchange for bookmarks. Or let’s say they once did.
Now, if not all of them, a few sell packets of popcorn. This change is very much accepted by most of the people. It surely is enterprising of them to think of this, don’t you think?
But let’s go back in time, when they ‘beleaguered’ almost every person that entered the parking lot. The SJ team has an interesting observation and a personal experience with one of these children, to share.
A little boy approaches an SJ team member after the latter had just finished successfully hunting for a parking space for his two-wheeler. Many motorists will relate when we say finding a parking spot for two-wheelers during peak hours can sometimes be a gruelling task, but that is a discussion for some other time.
The boy comes with a bookmark in his hand, and says, “Please take this”. It was quite obvious he didn’t just want the bookmark to be taken; he expects money in return. Now, finding a flaw in how a bookmark was of no use to this SJ team member, he explained to the kid about his disinterest in buying a bookmark for Rs 10 or 20. Regardless, he took it and handed the boy a 10 rupees note but left him with a thought to process.
Fast forward to the present, and you see some boys selling popcorn packets at the parking lot.
The SJ team couldn’t verify if it was the same boy but surely some of them seem to have understood the assignment!
This is the nascent stage of developing an entrepreneurial mindset, and this kid needs some sort of encouragement so that he inspires others like him, too. So, why don’t we buy at least a packet of his popcorn?

A day in the life of a moody cabbie
It was on a Sunday noon when Shillong was sizzling under the scorching weather and an SJ team member had to travel to Police Bazaar from Laitumkhrah.
Of course, the heat was such that anyone who would be out for some work within the city radius could be rendered galled by it but then again, many are pretty good at the art of keeping their emotions in check.
One cabbie, however, much to his passengers’ dismay, wasn’t.
Immediately after boarding a cab from a taxi stand at Laitumkhrah, the cabbie’s temperamental demeanor is what drew the SJ team member’s attention.
Unlike the wonted cabbies, this one was quite peculiar — he hurled abuses at the people who, despite willing to go to the same destination, chose other cabs over his. The cabbie, who was already seething, then parked his vehicle haphazardly, and when he was asked by the commuters to park his vehicle properly for others to pass, he hurled abuses at them too.
The cabbie, much to the SJ team member’s elation, finally embarked on his journey to Police Bazar after getting sufficient passengers. But hold your horses! The idiosyncrasy, which is of course an understatement, does not stop there. Less than a minute since the start of the journey, the cabbie abruptly halts his vehicle keeping his passengers waiting… Uh, well, to relish an ice-cream.
Now, deriving to a resentful conclusion may be wrong here because the mercury was soaring and who wouldn’t want to savour an ice-cream on such a day? At least this is what the SJ team member, and probably the other passengers who were taken aback, thought initially.
After finishing his ice-cream, the cabbie then resumed his journey only to stop within two minutes by a pani puri seller. Only he knew what triggered an unlooked-for urge for something chatpata, that too immediately after eating an ice-cream. The passengers, who were by now aware of the cabbie’s moody behaviour, waited for him to finish his pani puri. Thankfully, the drive that resumed thereafter ended at Police Bazar.
Props up to the passengers at the end of the day for feigning normalcy and enduring the cabbie’s temperament like a pro.