Meghalaya Elections

                                            Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

Photograph taken on our way to Shillong earlier in February. We were in Meghalaya for this report on the Assembly elections in the state. 

Music from the margin

(H Kerious with his grandson)

H Kerious Wahlang is a poet/ Khasi (folk) musician based out of Meghalaya. A self-taught musician, who makes his own musical instruments, Kerious stays in a village near Shillong. He has been on All India Radio since 1979. Kerious is okay with rock'n roll but wants people to listen to his music also.His voice is divine. His poetry beautiful. When we reached his home Kerious cancelled another appointment and stayed back for a recording/filming session. Kerious got emotional after his performace with the marangthin ( seen here in photograph) and broke down.

Resistance

(Manjula Rabha)

Photo@Arijit Sen-All Rights Reserved

(Birobala Rabha)

Photo@Arijit Sen-All Rights Reserved

These are some of the faces from Thakurbilla village. Post office: Borjhora in East Garo Hills. When iPods, LCD screens, Macbooks and Big Bazaars are ruling India, almost unknown to the rest of the country, some women in this village are slowely but surely fighting superstition, age old beliefs and witch-hunting and the brazen murders that take place in the name of witch-hunting. Leading the fight is Birobala Rabha. She is around 75. Birobala was one of the one thousand women nominated in a group for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. We visited her village for filming a report. There was warm food, adda, music and stories. In 2010, when urban educated India are immersed in the "art of living" , Birobala and her village appeared to be refreshingly, utterly, wonderfully resistant to regressive beliefs. Also with Birobala is Manjula Rabha. Manjula lost her mother to witch-hunting and she has given her life to this cause. She is also a poet.

Manipur: Schools reopened after 6 months. Government employees are now on strike in the state.

Tura Friends

My two friends on the road to Tura in Meghalya. Water is precious in Tura. My blue t-shirt friend is carrying water in a beer can. His big brother is carrying the umbrella. Both are helping their mother.

Garo Hills

The contrast between the roads that lead to Tura and the villages are stark. Though Phiding is on the other side of the divide, his love for the Sangmas is evident on his NCP-Agatha-t-shirt. But for many like Nere ( photograph at the top)--a mother of ten living in the remote Chibragre village--entitlement is an alien idea. "We need water, roads. What else do I ask for", she says. Nere stays in Chibrage village in Garo Hills.

Time-Off

Earlier this year. Meghalaya, Assam and Bhutan with Shamya, Ajitha, Rajarshi

Agatha Sangma

Agatha Sangma is a lawyer, an environmentalist, an amateur photographer and at 27, she is also India's youngest Member of Parliament. Agatha has just won the Tura Lok Sabha seat in a by-election after it was vacated by her father, former Lok Sabha speaker, Purno Sangma — also a nine-time winner from the constituency who is returning to state politics — even though the Opposition alleges Agatha is just riding her father's luck.
But Agatha ignores these jibes saying, "At the end of the day, even if I get a ticket from a national party or anywhere, it's the people who will elect me. I will not win with one vote or four votes from my family. I will win with the votes of the people of Garo Hills."
And a lot of voters — despite the criticism from the Opposition — have put their faith in Agatha.
They say she is a courageous girl and will do well. They also believe that she will fight for Garo Hills. This photograph was taken on the day of the byelection in Tura

Tura

First rains in Tura, Meghalaya. We had gone to cover the Tura Lok Sabha byelections. This is on our way back.

Shillong

The best view of the town from the Centre Point Hotel. This is the day after their hero has lost in the final of Indian Idol. The entire town is sad and everyone's forcing oneself to go about their daily routine.