By Albert Thyrniang
This writer had taken a halt from the pen. It was intentional. When on vacation mode it is difficult to document one’s observations in black and white. Now having ‘resettled’ here are the reflections.
Publishing work
all the same
For almost a year this writer, along with his collaborators, set their sights on bringing out a book in the Garo Language. Much time was set aside for writing, compiling, translating, editing and other related tasks. The anthology, “Rongtalgipa Joseph-Uni Janggi Tangani aro Gunrang” (Saint Joseph- His Life and Virtues) was finally released on January 18 in Satgaon, West Karbi Anglong. Published by Sagaon Parish Literature Society (SPLS), the work is an accomplishment in a sense that it has been published from a lesser known location. In fact the latest is SPLS’s third publication following a booklet each in 2021 and 2022. Secondly, the society has been able to declare that Saint Joseph earned his livelihood and supported his family through his skill as a carpenter. For youngsters who seek employment and need skills, this crucial aspect has been emphasized in a vernacular language. Of course, there’s a lot that Saint Joseph can teach our world.
Challenges in
Border areas
One of the privileges of this sabbatical were visits to villages in the Meghalaya-Assam border situated in the Bhoi-Jaintia-Karbi Anglong sector. The condition is pathetic. Naming the villages is immaterial. Readers from both states may contend that the villages are not disputed territories. We therefore focus on the backwardness and the sufferings of the people. Roads are ‘motorable’ only in winter. A church official informed that for him to visit a village he has to hire a four-wheel drive vehicle at Rs 4000 per trip. This means that people struggle to transport their agricultural produce to markets. No wonder they sell their crops like ginger and broom sticks at throwaway prices.
Government Lower Primary School teachers are hardly seen in the villages. Parents and students blame the teachers for being irregular. Teachers blame the parents and students for the same fault and for their indifferent attitude to education. The blame game rages on but children are the victims. Even if children ‘pass’ Class V in the village for them to proceed to middle and high school in another distant location is a challenge. So, most kids drop out of school before they are literate. When boys and girls don’t go to school the natural thing is to marry early. Hence in the border areas early marriages and teenage pregnancies are rampant. Using leaves as plates and bamboo as cups and tumblers is not a criterion for backwardness but the other parameters like illiteracy, absence of road connectivity, poverty are the parameters for backwardness in the ‘interstate’ villages. To drive a point home these villages are at least 40 years behind Nongpoh or Jowai or Khliehriat.
Neglect of uranium
villages
This time too, I visited the ‘uranium villages’. The condition is similar to the border zones. They are a neglected lot. The villages include Domiasiat, Mawthabah, Nongbah Jynrin (nearest to the abandoned mining sites), Nongtnger, Nongmalang. The road from Wahkaji to Mawthabah, that passes these villages or are close to them, which was constructed by Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) in the 1990s remains incomplete. Only boulders and gravel were laid along the road. Blacktopping was discontinued as the uranium exploration had to shut shop owing to hostile protests. Now the boulders and gravel have jutted out all along. It is a nightmare to drive on loose boulders especially while coming up from Mawthabah. The less than 30 km stretch takes almost two hours.
The people of these villages have no hope that the Meghalaya Government will improve the road any time soon. Based on the response they received from government sources they say the road was made by UCIL and not the PWD. But why is the Government neglecting the uranium villages? Are they not part of the state? Should UCIL return to make the road for them? Should they get a good road only if UCIL is around? The residents are also quick to point out that the politicians and pressure groups that banished the UCIL are nowhere to be seen when people are suffering. An anti-uranium and outspoken scientist had even cancelled his project of building and running a school in Domiasiat village. Domiasiat today is approachable only by pickup trucks. Our team was almost thrown down the valley at a point when our vehicle just rolled backward on pebbles.
The lesser Nongstoin –Wahkaji Road
The Nongstoin–Wahkaji road is in progress. However, the two-lane road has been converted to an intermediate one. Now people have to be satisfied with a lesser road. But it is unfathomable as to why the two-lane road is denied to the people of Langrin? Just because of the presence of uranium? Is having uranium deposits a crime? Why does the Government punish the people residing in uranium rich vicinities? In the same districts, the Nongstoin-Rambrai-Kyrshai road is a two-laned road. So also the road to Ranikor, Maheshkola and beyond! Then why not the Nongstoin–Wahkaji Road? The excuse is uranium. It is ridiculous and a blatant discrimination.
A couple of other deceptions are that to this day Ranikor and Langrin are still unconnected by road. There is no bridge over the Rilang river. Ranikor and Langrin are in the same MLA constituency. If the people of Phlangdiloin, for example, want to go to Ranikor by road, they have to traverse a 100 plus km distance instead of a 30 km drive if there had been a bridge over the Rilang river. The road from Shillong to the South West Khasi Hills capital, Mawkyrwat is still in bad shape. Some work is going on but it is not top class. A credible person makes a startling revelation. Local MLAs do not want to hand over the project to companies. They and their proxies have in fact got the contracts for the road. For the record, only Mawkyrwat, Baghmara and Resubelpara are the districts headquarters, out of 12, not graced by a two-lane road.
‘U kwai’, cigarettes and liquor’s heavy tolls
At a social gathering a person narrated his remarkable story. Earlier he was a non-stop ‘kwai’ consumer and a chain smoker. During the lock-down he took it as an opportunity to give up the habit. He succeeded quite easily. Taking out a double folded mobile phone from his pocket (I have never seen a phone like that) he said, “In one and half years, from the money I saved from ‘kwai’ and cigarettes I bought this phone for Rs. 1.5 lakhs.” Those present were awestruck but he continued, “The real benefit is health. I don’t have headaches and body ache anymore. I think clearer now.”
This chance encounter was pleasing as this writer also had the privilege to speak in a two-day seminar on the adverse impacts of ‘U kwai’, cigarettes and liquor. On a rough calculation if a person spends Rs. 25 per day on ‘kwai’ after 20 years the total is Rs 1,82,500. If a person also spends the same amount on cigarettes in 20 years the expense on ‘kwai’ and cigarettes is Rs 3,65,000. If a person also spends the same amount per day on drinks the accumulation is Rs. 5,47,500 in 20 years. If we double the time to 40 years the amount spent is Rs. 10,95,000 on kwai, cigarettes and liquor. An estimate can be arrived at if both husband and wife eat kwai and consume tobacco. Calculations can also be made if 3, 4 or 5 members in a family are kwai consumers and tobacco users. Add the amount spent on drinks where applicable. Make further calculations on treatment of tobacco and liquor related ailments. The sum would be astronomical. Yet we say we are poor!
‘NPP is BJP’
Voters in Mawkyrwat were already aware of the Mawkyrwat MDC, Carnes Sohshang’s shift to the NPP. But for his supporters the turncoat would have been a ‘book’ candidate in the last MLA elections. Now that the former Congressman has shifted base, people say he did so because he would not get a Congress ticket again. In 2023 he had the golden chance of winning but emerged a loser from the jaws of victory. Be that as it may, for many a voter of Mawkyrwat constituency and the whole of West and South West Khasi Hills ‘NPP is BJP.’ The MP election utterances so far are childish. From Ampareen Lyngdoh’s ‘Meinah Panah (step parents) don’t vote for me,’ to the KHADC Chief’s, “VPP’s West Bengal connection allegations to the shouts, ‘the NPP is a Garo party,’ ‘we don’t want a Garo book,’ ‘the UDP is a Khasi party’ and ‘the Congress is a foreign party,’ we have it all. No wonder real challenges are never addressed. Meghalaya is the country’s third poorest state while our politicians are ultra-rich.