Mukroh: Guns, Grief and Gooseberries

It was past four-thirty in the morning. The car headlamp beams were softly caressing the asphalt of the lonely National Highway 40 at 100 km/hr. Slowly, a magnificent sunrise lit up the horizon. It was a hazy canvas painted orange-reddish by an artist par excellence. 

The hues fell softly on the  few trees, spared by the loggers, in  an otherwise barren hill top. The dark-orangish glistening canopies of these  trees zipped past with a whoosh of (probably) thankfulness.

 

The journey took on a whole new meaning after the car took a left detour from the National Highway towards Nartiang. This is the shortest route to Mukroh (Meghalaya, East Jaintia Hills district) that cuts through Nartiang, but is an insane joyride of 50km on non-existent roads. The other road to reach Mukroh, which is only a bit better, is through Laskein block, cutting across the small town of Shangpung.

 

The car was now doing 20/km. All this while the occupants were half asleep, but the non-existent road hit the nerves more than the strongest coffee.  Suddenly, everyone was alert and looked around wiping the frosty car windows with pulled down jacket sleeves - there was nothing artistic about the environment to write home back and this was and is the reality of Mukroh and its surroundings.

 

For those who saved the ordeal of travelling 127 km on a chilly winter morning, half of it on a seemingly bombed road, a Google search gives predictable answers. “Six dead in Mukroh in police firing” and many more such headlines. Assam police say they opened fire in self defense after villagers attacked them following the interception of a timber-laden truck of smugglers. Mukroh villagers claim otherwise. 

 

Be that as it may, what Google won’t tell you is that Mukroh and its people have been left to its own devices, both by Meghalaya and Assam governments. Consider some scenes about Mukroh and its people.

 

Scene 1: An unattended toddler wrapped in an old shawl sleeping on a bamboo mat in the courtyard of a thatched hut, with nobody around.

 

Scene 2: At a distance, few men arguing and struggling with a bicycle pumpto fill in air in their Maruti Suzuki 800 car tyres !  

 

Scene 3: A ramshackle LP school, doubled up as an Angandwadi centre, with a huge crowd of womenfolk gathered with their babies outside it. They were taking home their weekly ration of one kilo Atta-Suji. Mothers, who should have ideally been in high schools and dreaming about their careers are now parenting full-time - breastfeeding infants wrapped in shawl and waiting for their luck.

 

Scene 4: Girls and boys, carrying head loads of water. Some of these kids are as young as six to seven years or even younger. Other kids carried their siblings on their backs tied with shawls. Many of these children don’t go to schools. Other children were seen playing on the road with playthings such as wooden carts and car wheels.

 

 

Scene 5:  The "village doctor" wearing a sandal comes riding on a motorbike from Assam to administer medical care to a patient.

Scene 6: A boy wearing shorts and a gumboot on a parched land, which looked as a marriage between abject poverty and a will to survive.  

 

Scene 7:  Teenage girls and women in charcoal fields. Toxic fumes filled the air as the workers burned timber and dumped them under the earth. Nature turns this charred timber into charcoal. (Caution) It's not safe to take pictures as some of these charcoal fields are illegally run by "powerful people."

 

As we emerge from these scenes, the village signboard "Mukroh" sits neatly beside a smooth road that was recently built by the North Eastern Council.  

"We have nothing except this  road...," a young mother said, as her eyes darted away towards a non-privileged world. A world with no clean drinking water, electricity, roads, health care, poor literacy rate and many other privileges that we sometimes take for granted. 

 

Elsewhere, an auxiliary nurse and midwife whispered that people in the area don't believe in institutional deliveries, despite the health care workers' warning about the risk of home deliveries and emphasis  on family planning. That explained the large number of children loitering around on the village roads.

 

A child in Mukroh is deported into an adult’s world, where uncertainty and hopelessness is the state of affairs. It’s an adult immediately after it can shoulder the strength to take care of its siblings. The child, sibling and childhood are tied to the umbilical cord of destiny in checkered maroon-black shawls.

 

In this world, Amaradeo Chauhan the village doctor may not hold an MBBS degree, but definitely is a life saver. He lives in Mokoilum, about 5 km from Mukroh and makes no qualms in saying:  “I am not a doctor. I come here and administer injection, saline and also minor medical procedures. I charge Rs. 100 for my visit apart from the medicine cost.”

 

Nearby, Sem Rongpi, the forester from Assam and his men were basking under the sun and had spread out boiled gooseberries mixed with turmeric and salt. The forester also helped in getting us a few fresh gooseberries from the trees nearby.

 

The gooseberries left a sour taste in the mouth. Quickly spat it out, but the tartness remained, so washed it down with water and immediately the body and soul was diving deep into a world of sweet elixir only to be interrupted by the wails of sirens.

 

The Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council chief, Thombor Shiwat was leading a delegate in the area. The convoy was endless. “This is our land,” he asserted standing beside a pineapple farm on the roadside. A man quickly stole an unripe pineapple from the farm and smiled sheepishly.

 

If this area and the people really belong to Meghalaya, why the neglect? Shiwat had no answer, neither did the Assam side. “This is Assam territory,” Faiz Ahmed Bhabhuyan, in-charge of Mokoilum police station said, sitting inside a tent set up outside the station.

 

He looked distressed after being recently transferred from a comfortable town posting. He somehow managed to pull up a smile and offered us the best of Assam chai.

 

After some time, he opened up: “We don’t have electricity here. We have solar panels to power the lights and charge our mobiles. We don’t even have a TV… Deforestation is a huge issue and illegal felling is a big concern in this area.” 

 

We moved on for lunch at the house of a JHADC member. There was a sumptuous lunch spread out. The lunch consisted of pork, boiled silkworms, chicken and an assortment of local delicacies. “There are issues which need to be resolved sitting across the table,” one of the villagers said, munching the local delicacies.

 

As we moved on, the temporary Meghalaya police outpost, made with a plastic roof, looked like a bewildered foreigner who  lost his passport. The haystacks on the ground made a lunch table for a Meghalaya police jawan. “Jai Hind,” a jawan greeted.

 

It was getting late and darkness was seizing the horizon like a nightmare  gripping a child’s sleep. There was nobody around to soothe the child back to sleep. As the car tumbled away from the forested area, the trees behind seemed to  huddle frighteningly in one big dark void. 

 

Life at present in Mukroh is like one huge dark void. People feel lost, unidentified and there are all the evils that lurk in the darkness and frighten these poor people. 

Life in this area is also like that gooseberry, sour and tart, with nobody to act as a catalyst and activate the sweet elixir to provide hope, direction and certainty to life. 

 

Nevertheless, people will continue to wait patiently outside anganwadi centre's, try to fill vehicle tyres with bicycle pumps, carry headloads of water over distant hills and ravines with the hope that the toddler will wake up to a better future. So let’s not stop dreaming.

Channa Barca price Rs. 2 lakh

If the price of Hilsa has hit the rooftop consider Channa Barca or Snakehead Barca the price of which is unbelievably high in the international market just because it’s rare and beautiful.

 

This species of fish is endemic to a few states of the northeast and Bangladesh. The cost of a baby Channa Barca of 2-3 cm length may fetch Rs. 4000 in the international market and an adult which may grow to a meter or a tad longer may fetch over Rs. 2 lakh.

 

Found in a few pockets in Bangladesh, upper Assam, Nagaland and also in Garo Hills, Meghalaya.  This rare freshwater fish is highly territorial carnivorous in nature and can live both in water and land.  During the lean season this fish can burrow into holes near wetlands and rivers and hibernate till the water level rises again.

 

It is a critically endangered species due to loss of habitat and also because the species has a low fecundity or low reproduction rate. “This fish cost over Rs. 40,000,” Balkam Sangma, Fishery Officer from the Meghalaya State Technical Research and Training Institute (MSRTI) said, pointing to a Chana Barca bred in captivity.

 

The fish Sangma pointed to was no longer than 15 cm. He said that in Garo Hills it’s locally called Nachi and people are still unaware of its value in the international market and its rarity and sells these at a price like any other abundantly available fish.

 

In Assam it’s known as Garaka Cheng or Pipli Cheng. Its scientific name is Channa striata. This fish is  found in upper Assam especially near the wetlands of Orang National Park.

 

Poachers habitually smuggle out this fish to destinations such as Indonesia, Thailand and other South East Asian countries where this fish is in high demand as an ornamental fish and also as fish food.

 

“We are trying to raise awareness about this rare and endangered variety of fish and also trying to breed it in captivity with new technology such as the re-circulatory aquaculture system,” Sangma informed. 

 

 

 

 

 

"we are all Sanatanis" : Temjen Imna Along

 

“We are all Sanatanis,” Nagaland Minister for Higher and Technical Education, Temjen Imna Along said here today while adding he’s a practicing Christian.

 

Speaking at the sideline of a programme here organised by the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarti Parishad, Along said, before the tribals converted to Christianity and other faiths everyone was practicing an animistic religion.

 

Along was referring to the Sanskrit word Sanatan which means anything which is “eternal” and integral to a living entity and anyone who believes in Sanatan is a Sanatani.    

 

Refusing to draw into RSS chief’s Mohan Bhagwat’s recent statement that “everyone is a Hindu” who dwells within the geographic confines from the Himalayas to the north to the Bay of Bengal to the south, Along said the "context" needs to be understood first.

 

“Hinduism is too vast a subject to be described here,” the Nagaland Minister, who is also the BJP state President of Nagaland, said adding, whichever faith we follow “we are all Indians.”

 

Earlier, during  the programme, Along asked the gathering if there are any foreigners in the audience, when there was no response he raised the slogan "Bharat Mata ki Jai."

 

He later said that many hesitate to say they are Bharatiya because it’s a Hindi word, but have no problem saying they are Indian. Urging the students to be “inclusive in diversity,” Along said many are trying to be exclusive.

 

“Each of our identities is unique, but that cannot be taken into exclusiveness... diversity should lead us to inclusiveness…only then a nation would survive,” he said to the students.   

 

Urging the students to be “proud of their roots,” Along said India’s strength has always been its education sector from ancient times, but with the advent of invaders like the British and others this ancient civilization with its rich culture and heritage was attempted to be destroyed.

 

“The British tried to bring in newer narratives,” he said while urging the students to be proud of their rich history, tradition and heritage. (eom) 

Meghalaya goes the Sri Lanka way

 

Sri Lanka’s economic downfall is a case study for countries around the world and policy makers in Meghalaya in India's northeast realized belatedly how one of its policies was an exact replica of Sri Lanka’s.

 

 

According to economists, one of the policies that contributed to Sri Lanka’s economic downfall was the decision to shift from traditional farming methods to organic. This policy was implemented strictly from 2019 by Sri Lanka strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa with an import ban on agro chemicals.

 

 

After the diktat, there was a steep decline in production with farmers unable to get organic fertilizers or had little knowledge to deal with the new farming practice. The yield decreased drastically and tea and rice production were badly hit.

 

 

Similarly, Meghalaya banned subsidies on chemical fertilizers in 2014 under the then Congress-led government with Mukul Sangma as the Chief Minister on the advice of some over-enthusiastic bureaucrats.

 

 

The decision to ban subsidies on fertilizers was taken to "protect the environment" but in reality Meghalaya was in a hurry to capture the niche organic market.

 

 

Like Sri Lanka, there was an acute shortage of organic fertilizers in the state. Seven years later in 2021 the state government opened a bio-fertilizers production unit at the suburbs of the state capital. But by then damage was done and it was too little too late.

 

 

Faced with an acute shortage of organic fertilizers coupled with little knowledge on organic farming the farmers turned to chemical fertilizers albeit without the subsidy.

 

 

Black marketers thrived and farmers got the fertilizers at double and triple the regulated market rate. In turn, the cost of production increased and the policy to shift to organic farming went for a toss.

 

Recently, the state government reversed its policy and declared that it would lift the ban on fertilizers subsidy and would allow 50 percent subsidy to buy chemical fertilizers.

 

 

Now the state government is in talks with the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers to release the state’s quota of chemical fertilizers since the ministry stopped the supply after the ban on subsidy.

 

 

Once this quota is released Meghalaya State Cooperative Marketing and Consumers' Federation Limited would handle the distribution of the subsidized fertilizers to the farmers.

 

 

Although agriculture is not self-sufficient in agricultural produce, this decision to lift the ban would provide solace to the farmers and in return  consumers would benefit from price reduction due to optimum production.  

Spartan Warrior fights on

He is no Spartan king Leonidos, but his fight isn’t any less noble than the Greek warrior king because Bristerlet Ramsiej has vowed to fight and make Nongstoin a safer place for his townsfolk.

 

Ramsiej, a chef at a resort in Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills district, was pained to see young bikers not wearing helmets and also riding rough. So he thought of taking direct action and then dug up some old bronze utensils from the attic.

 

“I took out the entire old bronze utensils from home and took it up to my friend who is a blacksmith and crafted out a helmet that resembles one that was used by the Spartan warriors, including king Leonidos,” he chuckled.

 

The helmet was popularized in the Hollywood blockbuster 300 which depicts the Spartan king Leonidos leading 300 of the best Spartan warriors to defend for freedom against tens of thousands of Persian army.

 

Ramsiej watched the movie several times and thought of taking up the role of king Leonidos in real life. So after he made the helmet he wore it and rode the entire town for the next couple of days, which literally turned heads. 

His message is simple: “wear helmets for safety and comply with the law of the land.”

 

Wherever he went he spoke to riders urging them to wear helmets. “My message is to spread awareness to my fellow riders all over to always wear helmets with ISI mark and obey traffic rules,” Ramsiej said.

 

He further said that he has been creating awareness not just on wearing helmets, but also to ride safely. “Riders should not use the road as a racing track,” he suggested.

 

Statistics available for the year 2018 reveals that 196 persons died in road accidents  and another 232 were injured across the state. Out of this total there were 33 two wheeler riders who died and another 35 were injured. 

In 2017, there were 232 persons who died in road accidents and 379 were injured. Out of these, 37 persons who died were two wheeler riders and another 42 persons were injured.

Ramseij, who also owns an eatery in Nongstoin town, says he is currently busy with his business and his profession as a chef at the resort, but he would squeeze out some time and take out his bike to create awareness in Shillong.

 

“I will definitely come to Shillong wearing the helmet and raise awareness not just on wearing a helmet but also safe riding.  The reason being that many blame “the will of God” when accidents occur. “God protects those who know how to protect themselves, ” the warrior in Ramsiej said.