William

William
The buses that come from villages all over the Khasi and Jaintia Hills are parked in and around Iewduh – the main bazaar of Shillong. The Department of Urban Affairs and Planning has recently taken up the task of constructing double and triple-storey parking lots for buses, taxis and other commercial vehicles that come to Shillong. Most of the buses from villages beyond Smit (the Mawlang, Syntung, Nohron buses among others) use the parking lot opposite the Anjali cinema hall – one of the oldest cinema theatres in Shillong (hence the reference “Anjali bus stand” or simply “Anjali”). This six month-old bus stand is three-storied - buses from the Khasi Hills use the ground floor, the basement is used for Sumo taxis from Jaintia Hills and the top floor is used by Sumos and commercial vehicles from other areas. The management and maintenance of this new parking lot has been contracted out to private individual parties.

William, a young undergraduate student living in Shillong, and his friend have a one year contract for the management and upkeep of the public toilet at the Anjali bus stand. As a caretaker of the public utility, William takes his job seriously. His services, he believes, are important to keep the new stand clean and hygienic and are instrumental in teaching the passengers a lesson in cleanliness. He recalled how he used to instruct baffled, puzzled first time toilet- users at the stand, to use the pot and the basin, making sure that the two utilities do not get mistakenly interchanged! In loose hip-hanging jeans and T-shirt, with a small black bag swung around his neck to fish out small change from, William pretty much waits around the toilet area all day, keeping a strict eye on who is going in and out, who is paying up and who is trying to give him the slip. He works on alternate weekdays, the duties having been equally divided between him and his friend.

In our first meeting, William had inquired inquisitively if we were from the press. Or the Discovery Channel perhaps? And on learning about our researching the bus, he had encouragingly advised us to use a video camera so as to capture the spirit of the din that the bus stand typified. Subsequent meetings with William revealed the keen observer within him- someone who thought practically, on his feet, and looked for minute details and connections.

Williams’s photographs captured the fleeting yet mundane- movements of buses coming and going, the shop lanes outside the bus stand selling medicines, hardware equipment, the whole-sale godowns- detailed photographs of all that happens inside and outside the parking lot, from early morning till late in the evening. Some photographs focused on the everyday hawkers who come to sell at the parking lot, on porters who constantly load and unload goods from the bus, of the overcrowded vegetable selling point at Iewduh- repeated, everyday activities, inspected closely.

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