The trace of good culture

Prabhakar Venkata

Mr. Prabhakar Venkata who works in Meghalaya in a small town near Shillong extended a telephone interview last night from 9.00 pm to 9.52pm. I thank him for sharing the information and narrating his experiences. The interview began like this: 
Poolabala: Sir, thank you very much for sparing your time and calling me. Where are you from?  How and when did you go to Meghalaya? 
Prabhakar :I hail from Mopidevi, a small village in Krishna district. I went to Meghalaya in 2004. I work in a construction company as a manager. To facilitate easy reading the gist of the long telephonic interview is given for you.
It is a place where Woman can move freely at midnight without a man’s assistance. Woman can walk through the darkness of midnight all alone. She can even work at a wine shop at night and can reach home safe.Woman is safe. Society is secured.  NO movies, No exposing. No crime, No thefts, No cheating, No corruption, No politics at least. There is not a single statue of  any leader. There is no greatness attached to anyone. All are equal.  It  is a place where woman is respected and free from male domination and acid attacks-  no blade attacks no love sick students. No dirty cinemas. No feticide, No dowry.  A woman can marry with just 50 paise. She offers 50 paise in betel leaves and that completes a marriage. Certainly Meghalaya is beyond compare. In many aspects it is far better than the other parts of India especially south India. It is a different place.  Don't say "Are you dreaming?  Is it a story? Come on don’t be silly be practical. It is impossible."  Maybe it is impossible in Andhra because the day has long since past where we had three murders and six rapes a day.  Now we are going steady with six murders and a dozen rapes each day. Meghalaya is entirely different from India.  Yes may be they are tribals. But they have a good culture, a culture that allows them to live with certain values and communion.  A commoner can sit beside the Chief Minister. No long Convoys. Just one or two cars in CM’s convoy. They live as one community. The headman in villages takes decisions for the welfare of their community. Individuals don't take decisions. They still abide by them. Marriages are strictly with in the community. Meghalaya thrives with a true culture of their own.