Of Shillong Burning, the Courage to Stand, Why Do the Good Die Young and A Voice that Haunts Me

I. Burning

The Shillong Times reports that a special court will be set up to try cases of arson and other crimes committed as part of the ILP agitation. You can access the article here: http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/10/04/defining-moment-for-meghalaya/

What is worrying is that in a city of 143,000, a bulk of whom are educated, there is hardly any encouraging dialogue or even conversations happening about the issues. The entire debate seems to be hijacked by a particular kind of voice. Whether the voice is right or wrong, the absence of (and perhaps the absence of space?) for multiple voices is conspicuous by its absence.

What justifies violence? What justifies hate? What justifies cruelty? Where is the root of our anguish? What are we doing to address the real causes? Reading reports such as this: http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/10/11/tension-ridden-durga-puja/ saddens me immensely.

Being from Shillong, i spent five years in Bangalore and more than three in Delhi and, yes, there are people just like a lot of us there. They wear similar attitudes and hold similar notions close to their hairy chests.  Are there stereotypes? Yes. Can they be overcome? Yes. Did my origins matter? Not too most but to some. For most, who i was and what i did was more important. What i also learned is that those who bought into and perpetuated the stereotypes did so for two reasons: (i) they were too lazy to think and it was the easiest thing to buy off the shelf of past by expiry date thoughts; or (ii) they were so trapped by their situation that believing and perpetuating such stereotypes was a way for them to feel good about themselves.

The bottom line? We are now behaving like slaves to stereotypes, handed-down, long worn out notions that don't bear closer scrutiny for the most part.

Why love when you can hate seems to be what we have come to embrace.

II. The Courage to Stand

The story of Malala Yousafzai is so empowering and very well known by now. I was impressed by what she had to say when she was interviewed by Jon Stewart of the Daily Show.

Listen for yourself:

Lord, give us the courage to stand, to look inside ourselves and smell the rot.

III. Why do the Good Die Young?

There is a kind of people, those that are epoch defining, generation shifting and when they have marked the land where they stand, they disappear. For good. I have recently discovered Craig Arnold and was blown away by his poetry. More than the art and the skill, his philosophy, the way he saw things. Those stand out. Like that other great loss Jeff Buckley (swimming) he died when he was communing with nature, on a trek.

Lines for painting on grains of rice  got me hooked. Permanently.

Lines like these:

Love is like velocity we feel the speeding up

            and the slowing down otherwise not at all

the more steady the more it feels like going nowhere

            my love I want to go nowhere with you

This is a good place to start, if you are so inclined: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/craig-arnold#poet

IV. A Voice that Haunts

To think that Steve Wold could have gone through his life unheard. How fortunate are we that into his sixties and spurred on by his health, he decided to share his gift in such a grand way. Seasick Steve.


 

THE decision taken by the MUA-2 Government to set up a special court to try cases related to arson and other crimes committed as part of the ILP demand agitation, could not have come a day later. This is a landmark decision that a government mandated to govern has done and perhaps should have done much earlier. The Supreme Court order is a lever for all state governments to use against groups involved in disruptive activities that bring all functions of private and public institutions to a grinding halt. That the state government is also computing the quantum of loss occurred due to disruption in its functioning and also the loss to public property is a welcome breather for many who watch in frustration at the rapid deterioration of law and order in Meghalaya, if not its complete absence
Read more at http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/10/04/defining-moment-for-meghalaya/#jgB8H3ZgRUr5Mcqd.99

THE decision taken by the MUA-2 Government to set up a special court to try cases related to arson and other crimes committed as part of the ILP demand agitation, could not have come a day later. This is a landmark decision that a government mandated to govern has done and perhaps should have done much earlier. The Supreme Court order is a lever for all state governments to use against groups involved in disruptive activities that bring all functions of private and public institutions to a grinding halt. That the state government is also computing the quantum of loss occurred due to disruption in its functioning and also the loss to public property is a welcome breather for many who watch in frustration at the rapid deterioration of law and order in Meghalaya, if not its complete absence
Read more at http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/10/04/defining-moment-for-meghalaya/#jgB8H3ZgRUr5Mcqd.99

THE decision taken by the MUA-2 Government to set up a special court to try cases related to arson and other crimes committed as part of the ILP demand agitation, could not have come a day later. This is a landmark decision that a government mandated to govern has done and perhaps should have done much earlier. The Supreme Court order is a lever for all state governments to use against groups involved in disruptive activities that bring all functions of private and public institutions to a grinding halt. That the state government is also computing the quantum of loss occurred due to disruption in its functioning and also the loss to public property is a welcome breather for many who watch in frustration at the rapid deterioration of law and order in Meghalaya, if not its complete absence
Read more at http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/10/04/defining-moment-for-meghalaya/#jgB8H3ZgRUr5Mcqd.99

THE decision taken by the MUA-2 Government to set up a special court to try cases related to arson and other crimes committed as part of the ILP demand agitation, could not have come a day later. This is a landmark decision that a government mandated to govern has done and perhaps should have done much earlier. The Supreme Court order is a lever for all state governments to use against groups involved in disruptive activities that bring all functions of private and public institutions to a grinding halt. That the state government is also computing the quantum of loss occurred due to disruption in its functioning and also the loss to public property is a welcome breather for many who watch in frustration at the rapid deterioration of law and order in Meghalaya, if not its complete absence
Read more at http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/10/04/defining-moment-for-meghalaya/#jgB8H3ZgRUr5Mcqd.99

THE decision taken by the MUA-2 Government to set up a special court to try cases related to arson and other crimes committed as part of the ILP demand agitation, could not have come a day later. This is a landmark decision that a government mandated to govern has done and perhaps should have done much earlier. The Supreme Court order is a lever for all state governments to use against groups involved in disruptive activities that bring all functions of private and public institutions to a grinding halt. That the state government is also computing the quantum of loss occurred due to disruption in its functioning and also the loss to public property is a welcome breather for many who watch in frustration at the rapid deterioration of law and order in Meghalaya, if not its complete absence
Read more at http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/10/04/defining-moment-for-meghalaya/#jgB8H3ZgRUr5Mcqd.99

THE decision taken by the MUA-2 Government to set up a special court to try cases related to arson and other crimes committed as part of the ILP demand agitation, could not have come a day later. This is a landmark decision that a government mandated to govern has done and perhaps should have done much earlier. The Supreme Court order is a lever for all state governments to use against groups involved in disruptive activities that bring all functions of private and public institutions to a grinding halt. That the state government is also computing the quantum of loss occurred due to disruption in its functioning and also the loss to public property is a welcome breather for many who watch in frustration at the rapid deterioration of law and order in Meghalaya, if not its complete absence
Read more at http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/10/04/defining-moment-for-meghalaya/#jgB8H3ZgRUr5Mcqd.99

THE decision taken by the MUA-2 Government to set up a special court to try cases related to arson and other crimes committed as part of the ILP demand agitation, could not have come a day later. This is a landmark decision that a government mandated to govern has done and perhaps should have done much earlier. The Supreme Court order is a lever for all state governments to use against groups involved in disruptive activities that bring all functions of private and public institutions to a grinding halt. That the state government is also computing the quantum of loss occurred due to disruption in its functioning and also the loss to public property is a welcome breather for many who watch in frustration at the rapid deterioration of law and order in Meghalaya, if not its complete absence
Read more at http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/10/04/defining-moment-for-meghalaya/#jgB8H3ZgRUr5Mcqd.99

THE decision taken by the MUA-2 Government to set up a special court to try cases related to arson and other crimes committed as part of the ILP demand agitation, could not have come a day later. This is a landmark decision that a government mandated to govern has done and perhaps should have done much earlier. The Supreme Court order is a lever for all state governments to use against groups involved in disruptive activities that bring all functions of private and public institutions to a grinding halt. That the state government is also computing the quantum of loss occurred due to disruption in its functioning and also the loss to public property is a welcome breather for many who watch in frustration at the rapid deterioration of law and order in Meghalaya, if not its complete absence
Read more at http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/10/04/defining-moment-for-meghalaya/#jgB8H3ZgRUr5Mcqd.99