It is unfortunate that every religious observance today is marked by rowdiness, sexually explicit dances and lewd remarks which amount to debauchery and are a slur on the sanctity of the occasion. The fact that Christmas itself is reduced to a display of wealth marked by blinking lights that deck nearly every home even while many families are barely able to have two square meals reveals the crassness of society today – a society marked by inequality and inequity both. It’s ironic that the birth of a saviour whose parents could not even find a place to rest in, even while the mother was in labour pain should be observed with such pomp and show. The Bible says the child Jesus was finally born in a manger and was wrapped with swaddling clothes. The levels to which this simple birth is being interpreted today by a society bred on conspicuous consumerism and exhibitionism is vulgar to say the least. While some church leaders have aired their views on the capitalisation of a solemn occasion where shops do brisk business while clothes, ornaments, night life, drunken brawls have begun to define this important Christian function. others maintain a studied silence.
That downtown Shillong (Police Bazar) has become the scene of ugly brawls and even lewd bodily display with no one to stop the rowdies suggests that the rule of law in the State and the city are on a downslide. Every person does what he/she wants to without a care as to the impact their actions would have on the entire society and on the younger generation that is able to view those obnoxious videos of people who evidently are out of their minds either because they are high on drugs or too sozzled with booze, are acting out. Perhaps the idea is to create an uproar on social media because those youth want to send out some kind of message that they no longer care about decency or the much propounded “jingdon burom” (the ultimate in Khasi etiquette) because they want to cock a snook at a hypocritical system where the haves are self- indulgent to the point of forgetting that a large section of their community are homeless and struggle to find work. Perhaps the youth are trying to send out a message that the elders need to pay attention to provided they find the time to decipher that message.
Our rehabilitation centres and there are too few of them, are bursting at the seams with young and elderly having to check in for treatment and detoxification. No one really cares about the plight of this population. Perhaps what’s on display at Police Bazar are the actions of troubled minds. If what happened on Christmas eve is a foretaste of things to come, what will New Year’s eve be like?
