Of "Xunor Axom", "Matir Axom" and bad roads....

In my last post, I had mentioned about economic underdevelopment as a cause of the ethnic-religious-linguistic conflicts peppering Assam. Here, I bring before you a video, recorded by a digicam, with some photographs thrown in, that has a sorry tale to narrate about how bad the roads in certain areas in Assam can be. The road in the video here is the 33 KMs stretch from Tangla, my hometown to Mangaldai, where one can get on to the highway on the road to Guwahati. the actual length is 43 KMs, but 10 KMs are motorable roads. It takes one exactly two and a half hours to cover that 33 KMs stretch on a small car. And to think of it, there are numerous other roads like these which have fuelled the underdevelopment of the state. And what better reason can we have than underdeveloped infrastructure as a creator of resentment and consequently, armed struggle - terrorism to many, struggles for an equal lot, and a disruption to the proper functioning of daily life for the common people. And yet we speak of Assamese linguistic chauvinism, Jai Ai Axom et al!!! The song that plays as a background score to the video is by Loknath Goswami, from his memorable album Amolmol Xewalir Gundh. Hats off to Loknathda. This video is not to be enjoyed. It is just supposed to make you think. And feel.