(ANS – Shillong) – On 20 February the programme for education to human rights was officially inaugurated at a colourful function held at St Anthony`s Higher Secondary School, in Shillong north-east India Among those present was Mr . Manas Choudhuri, Minister of Education in the State of Meghalaya.
The key note address was delivered by Dr V. Vasanthi Devi, the Chairperson of Institute of Human Rights Education, Madurai. She highlighted the difficulties one encounters while making the world aware of human rights saying that one of the key solutions to these difficulties is to begin human rights education in classrooms.
Fr Joseph Almeida, Provincial of the Salesians in Guwahati, spoke about the various steps taken by the Province for initiating human rights education in the different schools of north-east. He thanked everyone present for their assistance in making this project a reality.
Mr Henry Tiphagne, the Executive Director, Peoples Watch, Madurai, the sponsoring body of the Institute of Human Rights Education, gave a >brief history of how human rights education evolved in schools.
The Students of St Anthony`s Higher Secondary entertained the guests with their singing of U-N-I-T-E-D, from an international music video from Youth for Human Rights.
Among people present at the event were officials from Meghalaya Board of School Education, priests and religious from various institutions of Shillong, Principals and Head-teachers from different schools, representatives from Martin Luther University, Shillong, local village elders, members from various NGOs, members of the press and the students from neighbouring schools.
And of course, food at the Delicacy - pork with banana flower (mocha) - fantastic!
That aside, the Umananda area is home to the endangered Golden Langoors, and there's quite a sprinkling of the beautiful creatures; happy to pose for cameras, happy to eat of the palms of human beings, not prone to attacking or creating a fuss.
Kamakhya
And while at it, we went the whole touristy hog - playing king and queen of Meghalaya at this tourist hotspot (forgotten the name of the place).
Cherapunji
(L to R) Rajarshi, Arijit and Ajitha at the natural caves in Cherapunji; once upon a time, these used to be filled with water throughout the year; you get a sense of it from the stalactites and stalagmites with their smooth surfaces.
Manas National Park
During the night patrol - we went out on both the nights that we were at Manas. On the first night, we had a flat tyre deep within the forest and were told the next morning that a tiger had been spotted at the same area a while after we left, which may or may not be true. What is true is that Manas currently houses 64 Royal Bengal Tigers and a fair few of them do exist in the area were patrolling in. The patrol itself was thrilling; with a torch, a spotlight, the magic of being able to spot deer, buffaloes, etc while on the move...the forest completely dense, the trees providing strange, scary shapes.
Water buffaloes getting out of the Beki river on to the char-lands towards the Bhutan side of the Manas National Park.
A sambar - dime a dozen around these parts; not scared of people, quite curious when it comes to curious tourists. But difficult to photograph as they are brilliantly camouflaged at all times.
And peacocks...
The Bhutan border is just 300 metres from where we were staying inside the Manas National Park - you don't need a passport anyway, so we drove into Bhutan from Manas. It's 13 kilometres from the border checkpost to Panbang, a further 3 kilometres to Galabi, both completely unspoilt, un-touristy parts of Bhutan. Villages essentially. With a handful of families and hamlets. A wonderful footbridge that goes over the river. A couple of shops that sell local liquor, cooked maggi, oranges, etc.
Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary
