Al Ngullie
The choice sentiment, then, was simply to slap him significantly hard that he wouldn’t even recognize his mother for a good while. Rs. 200 for a trip to the Secretariat from PR Hill, this young Naga behind the yellow wheel explained. My impatience at his blatant deal at robbing my companion and I was compounded by his mien – his nonchalance might as well look like he believed our wallets were his father’s.
And another Rs. 200 to aid the return trip. By then, I was barley only just managing to hold my magnanimity within civilized confines. The turn-the-other-cheek mechanism felt terribly incompetent that minute. This young Naga scallywag was extorting from my companion and me. And to top it, he was making it sound as if he were chatting about the day’s weather. A word more from him would have had me redesigning his face just to introduce him to a practical opinion about what violation of Human Rights actually looks like.
Dimapur is governed by wolfish public transport monopolists who harbor no qualm in believing citizens are ATMs. Kohima is tad further ahead leading the lawless pack. The crime of the latter is more blameworthy considering it is none other than the state’s capital. As if the seemingly age-old rich Naga tradition of illegal “tax” collections and extortion by all and sundry were not enough.
A wobbly third-world society like Nagaland dare not afford unorganized public utility systems. My travel to Kohima weeks ago was after awhile. I was stunned at the level local transport services in Kohima had been reduced to – chaotic, unbridled and orphaned free-for all system for connoisseurs of easy money. Unemployment? Economic tensions? You witless, high-class heretic.
The imbursement citizens make for “public services” in Kohima town – the state capital – for services even so basic as chartering a taxi, shocked me. For all intent, Dimapur citizens had unwaveringly believed the commercial city to be the undisputed haven for the worst and most unorganized public services in the state. Kohima was worst.
If you own anything almost a bourgeoisie car – with due respect – please leave this page and float over to the Garfield strip. My understanding of the dynamics of everyday issues is agonizingly simple – only those who have gone hungry understand famine enough to demand food. Enjoy your Calvin & Hobbes.
Now, for us basic humans who endure daily the intolerable apathies of incompetent governments and money-soaked local bourgeoisies (called local administrators and civic leaders and other such waste of English terminology), please share in this article with your other ignored brethren.
Easy Money for the grabs
Here are the Weapons of Mass Deductions: The taxi fare for a trip from Dimapur to Kohima is Rs. 120. No major sweat. But the real terror began from Kohima town itself. The yellow lot charge Rs.100 for a PR Hill hire. And if they believe you to be a non-Bohemian, sorry, non-Kohimian, the calling rate is all well at Rs. 150 “hi ase.” Thieves. Here is my approximation: I used taxis within the town for I think about 15 trips. The deal was normally between Rs. 120 to Rs. 250. Few of the trips actually reached any place further than the main town centre. Guess the total math.
Then the return to Dimapur: Right there at the Naga Hospital junction almost every Robbing Hood in yellowblack had the same slogan: Rs. 250 to get us to Dimapur. Imagine my shock. I walked up to one of the taxi drivers and demanded to know the reason for the illogical demand. I paid Rs. 120 to travel to Kohima and now I have to pay double, Rs. 250, to return? The driver explained his was a “Kohima taxi” and he would be returning without passengers. Besides, “e-neka hi ase tu.”
My jaws unhinged. Trust me, the compelling need of the hour was to grab the guy and shove his teeth down so deep, his dentist would extract his teeth from his backdoor exit in the southern regions. Was I enraged and how! I queried of him whether or not it was our fault that his taxi would return empty from Dimapur; if he was so concerned about returning from Dimapur without passengers, don’t go down! Return to your parent’s home!
He babbled something about “Raati bhi hoishe tu” and something major stupid. I demanded to know from him if passengers are caretakers of nights and days. There were also justifications about rising fuel prices. Of course, that it is. But when you have thousands of taxis and buses in Kohima each competing for profit, it is a logical conclusion that their profit margins are lowered – but it does not at all justify charging single payouts to make up for their ‘loss’. It doesn’t at all justify odd services coming at exorbitant fares to make up for the reduced profit margins by each taxi! If so, isn’t it natural for us passengers to also claim right to deduct from the fare all collateral expenses that were incurred on the way till reaching the taxi (say the bus ride from PR hill to the taxi stand, the pan you bought along the way, the taxi town-trip to the taxi stand et al?
The same justification commuters of autorickshaws have the right to make. ‘Your reduced profit margins are not the passenger’s or public fault – if you want to profit, cut down the number of your autorickshaws!’ I also made it a point to clearly enquire of him if he had any idea what the price of a train ticket to Delhi or an AC bus to Shillong or Guwahati was. I walked off, just barely managing to refrain from reinventing that guy’s face.
Arresting silent Citizens
In the taxi we returned in, one of my fellow passengers – a non-local – happened to be a Census executive with the Census Operations department. “If Kohima were in India or even Guwahati, not a single taxi would have been spared by rioting public,” he said in exasperation. And he was so blooming right.
Are Naga citizens so docile their years of apathy have reduced public service providers to extortionists? Where are all those protectors, defenders and saviors who designate themselves to be overseers of tribal district communities? Are we aware that whenever disagreements over reviewing public transport fares (read taxi and autorickshaws) come up, only two voices are heard – that of the administration and greedy transport organizations’? But never the voice of citizens? Why isn’t the government organizing these thieving service providers who are out only to fleece the working middle-class public?
See, Democracy was never enough – perhaps the primary reason why we elect donkeys as our leaders. If you say nothing, what sound is it that would be heard? Lady Gaga’s Pokerface? Besides, those vested with the power to heal our system are caught in traffic jams. Raise your voice. Silence has no sound.
And oh yes, have you heard of a latest phenomenon called ‘landslide fares’ yet? Go and enjoy the horror.
Al Ngullie is a Senior Sub-editor of The Morung Express. He has been writing for 10 years and is an established Journalist and a popular Columnist and Music Reviewer. He can be reached at alngullie@yahoo.com
