Consonant Aspirations - Archive

Accidents involving autos / auto rickshaws occur quite frequently in Dimapur, from what I've seen in the papers. Most seem to involve alcohol consumption, so I'm not surprised. Of course, I'm always amazed that not more accidents occur (in Dimapur and in India in general), despite the apparent chaos on the road. On Republic Day this year, after the end of the 36 hour bandh, I was sitting in my bed watching TV when I heard a crash from the street around 8,30pm. Looking out, I saw an auto had been T-boned by a Gypsy (at least I think that's what it was). A crowd gathered around quite quickly. Some guys pushed the auto a little bit in order to let the few cars plying the road circumvent the accident site. In the absence of trained paramedics, I saw two guys haul the driver out of the auto and carry him away, his arms around their shoulders (a big no-no if you're in Australia, but necessary in places where you can't expect paramedics to arrive in time). I cou...

I have to admit, it's been almost two weeks since my last post and I'm currently in Singapore. The thing is, I lost internet connectivity my last few days in Nagaland because the top-up I paid for at the Reliance office the week before never went through *grrrr* (I paid for it, but my credit was never topped up). I then had an extremely full-on week in Guwahati at the NEILS 7 conference, which I will blog about soon. What I was wanted to talk about in my last post before leaving Nagaland was how one gets around Dimapur. Here's the exit from the Dimapur Railway station, as seen from the opposite side of the car park. Anyone entering the state by train will come out from this exit. If you're looking to go to Kohima, walk straight out the exit. Close to the other side of the car park, you should see a stand for shared taxis to your left. There's a counter with a sign that reads 'All Nagaland Taxi Association' (or something like that) that sells tickets u...