NK's Post

Resentment against hike in bus fare mounting in Bhopal

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NK SINGH Though a Govt. directive has frustrated the earlier efforts of the MPSRTC to increase the city bus fares by as much as 300 per cent, the public resent even the 25 per cent hike. It is "totally unjust, uncalled for and arbitrary", this is the consensus that has emerged from an opinion conducted by "Commoner" among a cross-section of politicians, public men, trade union leaders, and last but not least, the common bus travelling public. However, a section of the people held, that an average passenger would not grudge a slight pinche in his pocket provided the MPSRTC toned up its services. But far from being satisfactory, the MPSRTC-run city bus service in the capital is an endless tale of woe. Hours of long waiting, over-crowding people clinging to window panes frequent breakdowns, age-old fleet of buses, unimaginative routes and the attitude of passengers one can be patient only when he is sure to get into the next bus are some of the ills plaguing the city b...
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A tribal folk song and ‘Haria’, the rice beer

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Haria, rice beer
Haria. Pic source Wikipedia

NK SINGH


O my beloved you have gone far away
You have gone far away indeed
Where shall we meet
Where shall we see each other
When the Hasa Jatra (fair) will be held
We will meet each other
We will see each other again.
If I meet you in Bamani fair, I will give you a garland
I will give you a ring and then we will talk.
I will put the garland on your neck

 (Translated by anynmous)

Rice beer or ‘Haria’ is of great importance to the tribes of Chotanagpur, specially for the Mundas. ‘Haria’ is a kind of beer or wine prepared from rice. It is both beverage and food, but generally it is a drink.

The Oraons, the Mundas, the Hos and the Santhals drink it as frequently as drinking water. Important on all occasions, it plays a dominant role in the tribal culture of Chotanagpur.

For more details, please see my earlier article.

Excerpts from Frontier 16 August 1969



Frontier 16 August 1969 P1

Frontier 16 August 1969 P2



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