When the bell rings, the city stops
If you’ve ever tried walking through Don Bosco Square in Shillong at around 3 pm, you’ve probably experienced the local phenomenon known as the “Human Jam.” Unlike the vehicular jams we all know and hate (with the honking that could wake the dead), human jams come with their own set of challenges with slower movement, more elbows and an unexpected crash course in social psychology.
Picture this: school bells ring and suddenly the streets are flooded with hundreds of students from the neighboring schools pouring out like ants from a cracked biscuit packet. Don Bosco Square becomes less of a road and more of a chaotic and ever moving blob of backpacks and baffled pedestrians.
The footpath which was originally designed for “walking” now serves as a battleground for anyone daring enough to pass through. You don’t walk in Don Bosco at 3pm, you side step and shuffle your way through and occasionally apologize to someone you’ve accidentally backpack-smacked.
If you’re lucky, you’ll get a 2-inch radius of personal space and possibly a gentle shove from a student sprinting to catch a cab or a bus. And don’t even think of taking a short cut as every possible escape route is clogged. So the next time you find yourself stuck in a human jam at Don Bosco Square, remember: It’s not chaos. It’s just Shillong’s version of a rush hour with a lot more teenage energy and the occasional spilled fruit salad.
Same old same old
Blink once, it’s 2010. Blink again, it’s 2025 and what has indeed changed? The traffic’s still jamming, the roads are still fuming, and pedestrians still have to struggle and squeeze their way through vendors. If there is something that has multiplied faster than potholes, they definitely must be pressure groups and VIP convoys.
Yes, we’ve got a few hi-fi five-star hotels now, so one can (only the elite) enjoy gourmet cuisine while staring out at waterlogged streets. During the rains, our roads turn into rivers and definitely not of hope, but of hazard. Electricity still behaves out of its own whims and fancies and civic sense is trying to find the railway lines back to Shillong.
Taxi drivers still run on their moods and have mastered the art of grumbling. And yes, the great Shillong tradition of blaming ‘the system’ lives on
So, what has actually changed? Perhaps, only the prices.