Seminar dwells into journey of Shillong as a city

SHILLONG, Feb 15: Shillong’s journey as a city over the years was intricately discussed at a national seminar on ‘Placemaking and Cityscaping of Shillong through Narrative and Cultural Representations’, organised by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) North Eastern Regional Centre (Shillong) at its conference hall here on Thursday.
The two-day seminar was inaugurated in the presence of chief guest Dhrubha Hazarika, a known fiction writer and novelist, DRL Nonglait, president of Khasi Author’s Society, Chairperson of the conference, Bhagirathi Panda, Director, ICSSR, KC Baral, Former Director, EFLU, amongst other renowned academicians.
Hazarika spoke about “Shillong in the Literary Consciousness of a writer”. He shared his childhood experiences from Shillong and mentioned about the subconscious mind that retains a memory and helps in writing.
Following which, Panda shared his ideas on how Shillong over time has developed, even as he mentioned how the concept of development has shifted in recent times from economic to sustainable terms. He further talked about the creative destruction that has happened in the city.
The key-note speaker, KC Baral, talked about ‘Space and Place: Re-imagining the Colonial City with reference to Shillong’. He stated that a city is different for all its inhabitants. Also, city is a mental concept and more colonial in nature.
The welcome speech was given by Bathsheba Pyngrope followed by Arzuman Ara, who introduced the theme and objectives of the seminar.