Verdant

The ‘North-East’, as the seven sisters are referred to, is vast and I suggest taking it state by state instead of only hoping to the tourist worthy destinations of each. We (my parents and I) chose Meghalaya.

Day 1 - I live in Bangalore and there are no direct flights connecting the city to Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya. The next best alternate is to take a flight to Guwahati, Assam and driving down to Shillong (it takes about 3 hours to cover the 120 km).

From the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Airport we head to the Kamakhya temple. The temple is dedicated and named after Goddess Kamakhya and consists of a Garbagriha of a rock in the shape of a yoni. For lunch, we stopped at Gams Delicacy on our way to Shillong. Don’t go here if you’re starving – the service is extremely slow. The food though had an interesting taste palate.

On the way to Shillong from Guwahati, one passes through a long stretch with the state of Meghalaya on one side and Assam on the other – keep your eyes open on these roads, they are lush with greenery and it’s a warm welcome into the cleanest state of India.

Next stop – Umiam Lake. The lake stores water to generate hydroelectric power in both Meghalaya and Assam. In a nook of the water body, you will find people boating – as is the most popular adventure activity in most lakes. As we reached Shillong, we made our way into the small, yet locally popular, Mary Help of Christians Cathedral built in 1936 by the Salvatorians from Germany. My greed of visiting places of worship is solely for the calm energy they exude.

Our stay and car arrangements were made by the lovely owners of Cleveland Homestay. Days before we were to make it to Shillong, there was unrest in the capital. Mr. Shanborlang Thangkhiew, owner of the homestay, was kind enough to keep us updated about the situation in the city. The home in itself is so beautiful and cosy; if it were for me, I’d never let strangers visit. After Meghalaya, I’m inclined toward home spaces for my next destinations since hotels are so commercialised. With homestays you get to live with the locals, eat their food and hear their stories which makes the entire experience just so wholesome. The bungalow even had a library of its own where I spent many hours reading about the culture of the state. There was also a scenic garden which overlooked the entire city, the hills and you could just sit on the grass, look into the distance and not even realize how much time has gone by.

Day 2 – Although Meghalaya is a gorgeous place all year round, absolutely avoid going in the month of June. Not just because of the rains, the place fogs up easy. Every location you go to after travelling for hours, you end up waiting a few more hours for the mist to clear. To add to the monsoon misery, one of the most pristine rivers, Dawki, which is widely known for its transparent waters gets completely muddy in June.

But the clouds do clear, giving way to sunshine and letting you explore. By about 10 am we reached the Shillong Viewpoint which is atop the Laitkor peak. For visiting any peak or even a beach for that matter, make sure you go in the mornings/evenings to avoid the harsh overhead sun between 12-4 pm. Now to reach the viewpoint, you have to enter through the Eastern Air Command HQ and the security is pretty tight. Travelers are prohibited to click any pictures of the HQ campus.

Next we head to the Balancing rock of Mawlynnong which is only a huge suspended rock a few feet above the ground – you could give this a skip, it wasn’t all that impressive! Now Mawlynnong is very close to Bangladesh’s border and the locals have set up wooden ladder structures which leads up to mini tree houses to view the neighboring country. I do like me some good adventure but most of these structures had snapped; hence I chose safety over gazing at Bangladesh from a tree.

Mawlynnong is widely known for being the cleanest village in Asia, and rightly so! There are cone shaped bamboo dustbins every 100 m to dispose junk, every household has a washroom and if you still aren’t impressed – all street lights are powered by solar panels. We ate lunch at an old auntie’s home where the menu wasn’t pre-decided but literally cooked up on the spot with the ingredients she had at her place.

For everyone who has heard about the Living root bridge in Meghalaya, you should know that there are in fact two of those at different locations in Meghalaya. One being the Single Decker Living Root Bridge in Mawlynnong which is a short trek and the other is the Double Decker Living Root Bridge in Cherrapunjee which requires about an 8 km trek downhill. We chose the former since we were already in Mawlynnong and also because the weather was pretty unpredictable in Cherrapunjee. Now the trek down to the root bridge can get pretty confusing. It is after all nestled within a jungle and although there are stairs leading down to the bridge, no signboards exist and asking tourists for directions can be a bad idea. My advice – follow the sound of the waters. The bridge is over the river Surok Mawlynnong and just a few meters ahead of the bridge, the river forms a picturesque waterfall which exudes the calm sound of a stream. The Living Root Bridge is such an exquisite natural marvel, but so unspoken of - like all good things are. It is also very fragile which is why the guards don’t let you stand over it for too long; you’re only allowed to walk from one end to the other.

We were back to Shillong by evening and head out to the streets to shop. I was so pleased to see women wearing authentic Khasi attire – saris draped in a very unusual manner, like two dupattas overlapped on the body and pinned on either shoulder. Back at the homestay, I asked the lady who served us breakfast to teach me how to drape the Khasi sari. She told me that very few women in Shillong regularly draped the ‘Dhara’ but only on occasions like Sunday church or a wedding. Kongrit was so gracious that instead of only showing me how the sari is draped, she took out one of her bright yellow saris and a maroon blouse and said – “I’ll drape it on you. You will look very good”. She even offered her jewellery to match which I persistently refused. After I was done dolling up, we went out into the garden and clicked several pictures in the midst of the windy weather while I posed à la Marilyn Monroe.

For dinner we walked down to the nearby Dylan’s café. On the way we walked past a school the walls of which had each of UN’s 17 sustainable development goals painted on them. It was to instill in the children their role towards global peace and prosperity and I was highly impressed.

Day 3 – There’s a whole lot of mystery surrounding the Sacred Forest of Mawphlang and hearing out the guide while you walk across the lush greens makes for a worthwhile day. As you enter into the forest alongside your guide, at a distance you can see boys playing the state’s favourite sport – football, in drizzle or sunshine. The first statement the guide made was – “Do not pluck or take out anything from the inside. Bad things will happen if you do”. For the pious, apparently a curse befalls on you if you take anything that is the Khasi’s. For the logical, a wise man probably made this rule to avoid deforestation; which is actually quite smart by instilling fear in people’s minds. The guide also said that the forest had healing properties. Back in the day, people with various illnesses just had to come into the forest to breath the fresh air and they went back home much better, if not completely cured. The forest had varieties of mushrooms, tamarind and other vegetation. Our guide also told us about the culture of the Khasi people. Unlike in most parts of India where patriarchy is followed, the communities of Meghalaya follow matriarchy (as is done by the Bunt community of Karnataka and a few communities of Kerala).

I take up an adventure activity in each of my vacations and spelunking is a must do in Meghalaya. We went to 2 caves – Mawsmai caves and Arwah caves. If I were to pick one, I would ask you to go spelunking in the Arwah caves. The walk to the caves is extremely serene and a treat for the eye at the same time. After going to multiple waterfall locations and turning around disappointed by the fog, we finally witness gorgeous waterfalls each spaced metres away from each other on our walk back from the Arwah caves. I still don’t know which falls they were, but does it really matter?

Spending time in Meghalaya is like doing an open-eye meditation. The experience calms you and allows you to view your everyday from a different perspective.