Public transport is a Tata Sumo is a multi utility vehicle.

Tata Sumo! An accepted mode of public transportation in hilly region, which can carry ten passengers in each trip excluding the driver. Three in front, four in the middle and four more in the rear.

However, travelling in it is both extraordinary and a grueling one, especially when you are going via Hoj to Itanagar or Ziro.

Nearly three hours ride of rough road.

Did you ever notice that the onus is always on the passenger no. 3 who usually does the work of a doorman? If a passenger from rear seat need to shed some loads or for some other purpose, it’s no. 3 who has to get off first.

A scrawny passenger like me can be easily tossed about like a roll of dice in an empty vehicle or when it had too few passengers. So I always have had to grab whatever support I could find and hold onto it to stay put in my seat. But, when the vehicle is jam-packed with passengers and I find myself seated between two plump passengers, which may have never happened with you, can instantly reminds me of the thin slice of salami of SUBWAY’s sandwich.

In such lucky hot humid dusty summer day, when perspiration rise from hibernation and tickles every passengers’ foreheads (I guess plump people sweat more than the skinny one) and its odor amalgamate with strong perfume that your co-passenger is wearing to conceal their body odor, then suddenly someone rolled up the window to prevent the dancing dust to get inside the vehicle. I tell myself it’s not a carbon monoxide. This is not a time for your breathing exercise. Inhale it just this once and won’t feel the difference later on.

Then there’s the fare of Tata Sumo. Brand new fare for the passenger travelling to Ziro from Itanagar and vice versa at Rs. 300/-. I reminded the employees at ticket booking counter that it was Rs. 250/- sometimes ago. “Hike in petrol price, they reasoned.” But their faces seem to be saying, “You Moron”.

Increment of Rs. 3/-in petrol price is directly proportionate to Rs. 50/- from each passenger. I said, “You Moron” with my face. I immediately realized, while taking out the Rs. 50/- note from wallet, that I was actually the real moron – you know, he was the first person to use the word and besides I was paying him.

Imagine you are languishing in a hotel owing to Strike/Close/Bandh for three or four days while hotelier is happily lapping up your rapidly running out cash with their worthless but expensive breakfast, lunch and dinner. You spend a wakeful night in a hotel bed, counting the remaining coins and praying “bandh, bandh ho jaye”.

In another trip; in order to escape from money sucking leeches, nauseating Tata Sumo and to deprive the employee at the booking counter of an added argument, I decided to drive my third-hand motorbike to Itanagar. The ride on my motorbike was pretty perfect until my return trip to Ziro.

This time I choose to dodge the rugged road that test your spirit; that test your endurance.

En route, there were almost half a dozen cattle resting on the warmth of bitumen covered road. My eyes were on the road. I remember seeing an ox approaching the resting group. Suddenly two ox packed with full of testosterone and their horns locked against each other, moved swiftly towards me and bumped my motorbike.

The impact of smack was great. But I am amazed; the first thing that occurs to my mind was will I be able to reach home. What if my bike is broken down completely? So I got up to see the damages done to my motorbike. It looked okay. At that moment, I realized that the bone at the ball of the thumb is dislocated. I could clearly hear a sound which was a little familiar – F@%k! – When I was fixing my bone by myself.

Really I am not that very enthusiastic about motor vehicle as I am in to some other things. Bookcase crammed with novels? Yes please. iPod? Definitely yes. PS3? Why not. I can comprehend people’s fondness for their engines. And why the “have-nots” want to have it? I, at any given day, I would settle on hitchhiking rather than maneuvering it – talking to the person on steering and keeping him awake.

Last time when I was at my friend’s place I asked for a car as a present for my “not-in-the-sight-marriage”. I was, in fact, kidding. Have I succeeded to give you a fright, my friend? Don’t worry I would be more than well-contented with the Dslr you are planning to buy from online shop.

I wonder why Department of Transport won’t upgrade all those vintage “blue and sky blue colored buses” that have been plying on the road of Arunachal since time immemorial.

Would it be a sin if I plead to be carried in a clean public transport? Not in freight truck.

Till then, can I hitch a lift with you? We could save some fuel, money and bloodshed. More importantly, I can give you a treat to a plate of “butter chicken and Nan” at Punjabi dhaba in Banderdewa. All on me.

(Crossposted here)

Lest you feel that I’m against your organization and invite unnecessary attention to myself, let me make myself clear at the very outset that I’m not writing in to protest or to criticize your organizations’ act of repeated call of “Bandhs”. In fact, I’m writing in to show my solidarity and gratitude for your frequent “Bandh-Calls”. You are doing yeomen service to the people of Arunachal Pradesh by calling “Bandhs” and I highly respect and support your cause/s- be it political, apolitical, personal, non-personal, profit,  non-profit or even the “Bandh-Call” against “Bandh-Call”, of which I believe that even the Apatani Protagonist would surely agree with.

Had it not been for your “Bandh” call, we wouldn’t have this “quality time” with our family that we forgot in the midst of our daily chores of running around to make our ends meet. Now that, you’ve called a “Marathon Bandh” giving us whopping 4 days of “quality time” with our family, we are really indebted to your organization.

The general public is of the opinion that the development in the state has taken a backseat due to your organizations’s frequent “Bandh Calls”. I say, to hell with their opinion. You and your organization are doing great job by letting the public servants of the state avail paid absence from their duty and they are indebted to you and your organization. Their only complaint though, is that two of your organizations are calling the “Bandh” on same day, thereby depriving them of one more paid absence from their duty. They would really appreciate if one of your organization defer your “Bandh” call to another day not coinciding with any other organization’s “Bandh” call. Further, they have a request that kindly prepare your annual schedule of “Bandh Calls” and circulate in the greater interest of the salaried personnels so that they can plan their station leave in advance taking into consideration the scheduled “Bandhs”.

The Business Communities of Arunachal Pradesh are complaining that their business are dipping owing to your frequent “Bandh Calls”. I say, are you kidding! What about the profit made by you during the non-”Bandh” period by charging us above MRP’s in the product/goods, huh! You and your organization are doing great service to the consumers’ by making the business establishment shut down their shutters and letting the consumer’s pay back the businessmen by not letting the consumer’s making any purchase during the “Bandh” period. The consumers’ of Arunachal Pradesh thank you for your kind act.

Elected representatives of Arunachal Pradesh are complaining that their business of developing the state is getting hampered owing to your frequent “Bandh-Calls”. I say, excuse me, sir! But for their organizations’ frequent “Bandh Calls”, you are getting this opportunity to remain absent from your duty and head off to foriegn tour or to some farm houses in some exotic location. So, you and your organization are doing great services to our politicos too.

I say, keep-on doing the good work that you are doing and don’t listen to what your detractors have to say about your act. After all, you are doing the act in the interest of the people and the development of Arunachal Pradesh and one day, who knows, you and your organization may bring laurel to the state by making Arunachal Pradesh a numero-uno state in the country in terms of number of “Bandh” calls in a year. Amen.

Long live “Bandh culture”.

Indebtedly yours,

AG

The candidates from Tirap, Dibang Valley, West Siang, Papumpare, Changlang and lower Subansiri districts should report on 10^th Oct, 2011 and Lohit, East Siang, Upper Subansiri, Upper Siang, Kurung Kumey, Lower Dibang Valley and Anjaw districts on 11^th Oct, 2011. The candidates for Technical/ Nursing Assistant/ Clerks categories (10+2) and sons of serving/retired soldiers, NCC Certificate holders, Sportsmen (who have represented at State or National level) and volunteers for reenrollment to DSC will be tested on 12^th Oct, 2011. Written Test will be held on 30^th Oct, 2011 at KV, Jorhat for candidates who are found fit in physical tests, documents check and medical examination.

Army offers attractive pay and perks to its soldiers; for example a Sepoy with 1-2 years of service draws around Rs 15000/- per month besides free rations, rent free housing, free medical treatment, canteen facilities, children educational allowance, field area allowance etc. Army also offers opportunities for further learning and acquiring educational qualifications.

Candidates for Soldier (GD) should be at least 160 cm tall with pass in class VIII as minimum qualification. The minimum weight acceptable is 48 Kg and chest measurements 77 cm with 5 cms expansion. Age should be between 17 ½ to 21 years as on 10^th Oct, 2011. They should bring along with them their original educational documents, birth certificate, Permanent Residence Certificate, certificate indicating caste status and passport size colour photographs. The educational documents are to be countersigned by the DDSE. No application is required for enrollment to Army.

For more details, contact ARO Jorhat at 0376-2310830 or email at arojorhat@gmail.com.

1. Immediate arrest of Pradeep Thakur
2. Unconditional apology from Pradeep Thakur
3. Revelation of Source of derogatory remark
4. Detailed call records of his two phone numbers.

Source-The Arunachal Times dated Sep 2, 2011

So far, the Times of India Group has pulled down the content that offended the Nyishi Community of the State and had given an apology on the issue on 26^th of May, 2011. Further, the journalist in question, one Pradeep Thakur is suppossedly on anticipatory bail over the issue and has tendered his unconditional apology; the video footage of which is available online on social networking sites like Facebook etc. For wider circulation, the tendered video apology is embedded herewith, if it helps mitigate the issue.

However, all this effort by Times of India group and the State Government who went ahead and brought the video footage of apology of Pradeep Thakur did not help to resolve the issue once and for all. Apparently, may be because so far the source of remark has not been divulged or the details of call records has not been given.

But the question is, would all these “Bandh Calls” be enough to make the ToI Group or one Pradeep Thakur to divulge the source of remark? What if ToI group declines to reveal the source of remark? What if they invoke “Reporter’s Privilege“? In that case, are there any alternatives to bring the issue to the logical end other than to accept the fact that ToI has pulled down the content and has apologised and Pradeep Thakur has issued a video apology? I guess not. Or are there any?

By dragging the issue, the remark, over which the NES and the ANSU started this fight for their community, would be re-quoted again and again while reporting about the issue, thereby defeating the sole purpose of fighting for the issue. Further, the people, who initially emphatized with the Nyishi Community over the derogatory remark by one Pradeep Thakur may start believing that the whole issue is not about the remark on Nyishi Community but entirely political, as is being discussed in some pockets.

While the issue may not come to logical end soon, (not until NES and ANSU accept the solution other than their demands) it would surely make the reporter, who was a non-entity prior to May 4th, 2011, (In) famous; let that “derogatory remark” alive forever and subject the resident’s of Twin Capital City of Naharlagun and Itanagar to further hardships as they are being subjected to for 48 hrs since 0500 hrs of 5th of September, 2011.

The candidates from Tawang, East Kameng and West Kameng districts of Arunachal Pradesh can report at Higher Secondary School Ground at Tawang on 9^th Sep 2011 and at Gyaptong Regional Sports Stadium at Rupa on 13^th Sep & 14^th Sep 2011. The candidates of Technical/ Nursing Assistant/ Clerks categories and sons of serving/retired soldiers, NCC Certificate holders & sportsmen who have represented at State or National level will be tested on 9^th Sep 2011 at Tawang and on 14^th Sep 2011 at Rupa.

Written Test for candidates who are found fit in physical tests, documents check and medical examination will be held on 18^th Sep 2011 at Higher Secondary School, Rupa. The final results may be expected by the candidates within three weeks.

It may be worthwhile mentioning that Army offers attractive pay and perks to its soldiers; for example a Sepoy with 1-2 years of service draws around Rs 15000/- per month besides free rations, house rent, medical & canteen facilities, children educational allowance, field area allowance etc.

If selected in the physical and medical tests, a candidate should be prepared to stay under his own arrangements till 18^th Sep, 2011.

The interested candidates for Soldier (GD) should be at least 160 cm tall with class VIII as minimum qualification and should bring along with them their original educational documents, birth certificate, PRC and character certificate. The educational documents should be countersigned by the DDSE.

For more details, contact ARO Jorhat at 0376-2310830.

-Dr. Hano  Hailang

A book on Apatani Language titled “The Quintessence of Apatani Language (Prelude)” was launched by Hon’ble Minister for Power, Forest, Environment and Parliamentary Affairs, Setong Sena on Dree, July 5 last at Ziro.

The Book is authored by Nending Ommo, a young Linguist serving as Assistant Professor at Rang–Frah Government College, Changlang. He has two Masters of Arts in English and Linguistics and an MPhil in English. He is registered for PhD at Deccan College Post Graduate & Research Institute, Pune.

Hon’ble Minister for Power, Forestry, Environment and Parliamentary Affairs, Setong Sena releasing the book on the occasion of Dree

The book underscores on the importance of preserving Apatani language, talks on the linguistic affiliation of Tani Languages, spotlights on the dialectal variations in Apatani, highlights on the provisional phonetics of Apatani language, accentuates on the exigency to standardize orthography, discusses the limitations of Tani Lipi with regards to Apatani etc.
The writing of the book is sociolinguistic in nature and it challenges the readers to contemplate on saving of one’s mother tongue. The copies of books are now available in all leading book stands in Arunachal.

The air crash that led to death of five people including CM of Arunachal Pradesh awaits inquiry. Whatever comes out of inquiry, Dorjee Khandu is no more so are the other four onboard in the ill-fated helicopter.

Government machinery together with India’s premier organization ISRO, Indian Air Force and Indian Army were clueless for five days to locate the crash site. One doesn’t expect people at helms of affair to be embarrassed. There were plenty of excuses to save their faces: inclement weather, difficult terrain… Fact remains that ISRO’s tall claims of the state of art technology and having all weather surveillance capability are all shallow; the IAF aircraft cannot operate in Arunachal skies as it is cloudy and covered with fog most part of year; and the eastern border of India is only as safe as it was in 1962.

This author overheard some people, sitting in a tea stall, discussing about the possibility of conspiracy behind Khandu’s death. It seems quite an unlikely thing in Arunachal Pradesh. But when one goes through the turn of events since the news of missing helicopter carrying CM of Arunachal was aired on news channels the April 30 last, one can’t help but actually thinks there might have been.

Now looking back:

April 30, 2011, Pawan Hans helicopter carrying CM Dorjee Khandu and two passengers took off from Tawang at 9:56 am and lost radio communication after 20 minutes. By around 12:30 pm news of the missing chopper was broke out in news channels. Search operations were pressed on. Meanwhile, Principal Secretary to CM received a call informing him about the safe emergency landing of the chopper somewhere in eastern Bhutan in a place called Tapurejho. Similar information is reported to have received by IG SSB and IG Law and Order Assam. Then around 3 pm interviews were given by top brass of the state, including Governor Gen (retd.) JJ Singh, to various news channels about safe landing of the choppers. Later Sources from Bhutan denied having any report of emergency landing of the chopper in Bhutan. Thereafter, in following days based on the images taken by ISRO satellite and IAF Sukhoi 30, search operations were finally zeroed in to Nagajiji area in Indo Bhutan border west of Sela Pass. On the fifth day, some villagers spotted the debris of the chopper some kilometers east of Sela Pass.

Appears like a plot of mystery movie.

Who is this anonymous caller? Did he have prior information that the chopper is going to crash on its route? Did he call all these important persons to misguide and delay the search and rescue operations so that the survival possibilities from the crash are minimized? Whoever be this anonymous caller, he doesn’t appear to be an ordinary mischief monger who made crank call for fun. He knew the contact numbers of persons who matter. The Principal Secretary to CM even thought he was Khandu himself.

How could the likes of the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, the Principal Secretary to CM and others be so easily duped by the anonymous call? Have any effort being made to trace the caller? Indeed the inclement weather and the terrains of Tawang and West Kameng districts made ISRO’s satellite and IAF aircraft so difficult to trace a helicopter which crashed only few kilometers away from where it lost the radio communication?

Indeed, was there conspiracy behind the chopper crash which killed the CM of Arunachal Pradesh? Or is it just a wild speculation?

According to UN’s cultural agency UNESCO’s Atlas of the World Languages in Danger 2009, all the languages of Arunachal Pradesh are endangered of which Apatani language is obviously one of them. Apatani is listed as ‘vulnerable’ in degree of transmission as per the factor of Intergenerational Language Transmission.

Nending Ommo

Understanding the gravity of this situation, Nending Ommo is publishing a book on the sound systems of Apatani language titled “Quintessential of Apatani Phonetics” this Dree 2011. According to him, cultural change or dynamism and language assimilations and endangerment at this age of modernisation are inevitable. But the least as a sentient Linguist and a responsible Apatani, he feels he can contribute to the society is to document this endangered language. He opines that language is the epicentre of any culture and he hopes to bestow something meaningful to the logic of the axiom ‘Loss of Culture, Loss of identity’ in Apatani community context.

Ommo indubitably feels the need to preserve and save Apatani language and Apatani culture as the culture is as vulnerable as the language. The pressing need of the hour he feels is to document Apatani language, as preserving or saving language and culture are steps beyond initial documentation. If one’s language is lost it would be irreparable loss of cultural heritage as language is the source of the speakers’ identity and reflects a unique worldview and culture complex, mirroring the manner in which a speech community has resolved its problems in dealing with the world and has formulated its thinking, its system of philosophy and understanding of the world around it.

The proposed book “Quintessential of Apatani Phonetics” is an extended work of Ommo’s MA dissertation thesis titled “Phonology of Apatani” which was submitted under the guidance of Dr. Sonal Kulkarni- Joshi to Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Pune; the third oldest educational Institute of India. More meticulous field trips, solemn research works, exhaustive acoustic phonetic analysis and minute cross checking has been supplemented to his thesis. This book would be the first of the series; he plans to publish more books on Apatani language. Books on morphology and then syntax of Apatani language are in offing next in near future.

Mr. Nending Ommo, basically a Linguist, is working as Assistant Professor in English Department at Rang-Frah Government College, Changlang. Apart from his MA (English) and MPhil (English), he has his second MA in Linguistics. Previously, for two years he worked as Field Investigator on the project “Sociolinguistics study of Apatani as an endangered language” under North Eastern Language Development (NELD) at Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore, Ministry of Human Resource, Government of India.

The Queen’s Baton 2010 Delhi would pass through all the major locations of this twin Capital Township of Itanagar and Naharlagun before being handed over to the officials for onward journey to Dimapur, Nagaland tomorrow.

At Itanagar, people and students thronged at Legi Complex to welcome the Queen’s Baton Relay. Here is the first peek of Queen’s Baton 2010 Delhi at Itanagar.

Queen’s Baton Relay near Legi Complex, Itanagar

IBN Live reports that this Suniel Shetty starrer Red Alert: The War Within, has been shot in the extensive jungles of Arunachal Pradesh for gruelling 70 days under worst climatic conditions. Apparently, while shooting for the movie in the interior jungles of Arunachal Pradesh, Suniel Shetty had thorns all over his body which bugged him even after his return to Mumbai after the shoot and he was still removing the thorns from his body.

“The shooting was a long schedule in the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh and there were thorns all around. We were shooting in the interiors of the jungle and at one point I realized that my back was itching. That’s when I found out that there were these small thorns inside my body.”

“Even after I came back to Mumbai after completing the shooting, I was still removing those thorns from my back and arms one by one.”

Well, what had the actor expected in the interior jungles of Arunachal, ‘Bed of roses’?

Jokes apart, Red Alert: The War within, which releases this friday is an award winning film and is based on a true story ‘culled straight from today’s torrid headlines‘ as claimed in their official movie site.