Meghalaya

Meghalaya. Carved out of erstwhile Assam in 1972. In fact all the 7 sisters were initially parts of Assam only. May be due to locals' aspirations or may be for political reasons one by one all were separated and now they are independent states in their own right.

The road to Shillong being national highway was excellent barring few spots. We visited tea gardens at Hathikuli owned by Tata's on the way.

Normally the tea plantations are on the slopes. Because though the tea plant requires lots of water , if it stays it kills the tea bush. But here they were on the planes and no one could explain why. The tall trees planted in lines had crawlers up their trunks. They were of pepper corns and even their leaves tasted pungent. We did see typical Bollywood type tea gardens on the slopes elsewhere, rather every where but for want of time could not visit.

Shillong was the capital of old Assam , now it is of Meghalaya. Though Shillong welcomes you at its gate with beautiful lake, Umiah , the first impression of Shillong leaves you wanting for more. It was the capital of old Assam for a very very long time so should have had the charm of old world, at least that's what I felt, but whatever you see today can not  be called even the skeletons of its old beauty. I was hoping it, to be like demure bride hiding behind lush green canopies of tall trees, red roofed old world charm bungalows built in British style, small cobbled lanes coveting big streets lovingly.... oh so many things. Today's Shillong is, no[ bad ] words. It's big conglomerate of chaos, extremely narrow roads laced with  slums almost every where, though not absolutely  filthy, does not suit to be the capital of a state. We were supposed to go to the hotel directly but decided to detour and went to Umiah lake for a small boat ride

    Popularized by Airtel 4 G [ irritating ] girl , Umiah lake is lot better than seen in the advertisement. This one is from the viewing gallery on the top

Taking this picture in blue monochrome added an eerie mysterious quality to the scene that made it more glamorously beautiful, of course with adjustment on the camera

.From above it was enchanting from near it was breathtaking. Sunsets normally leave sad notes but this sunset was so mesmerizing, almost liberated you, taking you to a new high.

Boat ride was smallish, lasting only for ten minutes but invigorating after a long travel of almost six and half hours.

Though the first impression of Meghalaya was depressing it presented its real nazara in days to follow. As usual early in the morning we left for the bridge formed by live roots near cleanest village Mawlynnong. Pronunciation at  everybody's own risk !

The climate was always clouded but as soon as we reached , it started drizzling though not a heavy one, but bothersome. All the umbrellas and the  wind cheaters came out. Walk to the root bridge was in itself an adventure. Steep slope with slippery stones and mud to add to the woos.

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Root bridges may not be natural wonders as it is made out to be. Khasi people have learnt the art of building such bridges and the expertise shows. The roots of the rubber tree or banyan fig tree are entwined to build the bridge. Surprisingly such bridges last even for more than 100 years.

Important to note is , these bridges are 'Living.' These are known as aerial roots. As the rubber tree/ banyan fig tree roots are very elastic, local Khasi people guide them with the help of betel tree trunk to go in the right direction. To build usable root bridge, it may take15 years or even more. Whatever ! It was out of this world and even though the rain gods were not helping, we made our own day ! .

Not only the bridge but the surroundings too, were exhilarating

Typical Khasi woman and child. Most of the Khasis practice Christianity and the first conversion occurred probably in last to last century around, 1890s and today more than 70% population is Christian. Buddhism that is the religion in Arunachal has only 0.33% disciples in Meghalaya while the original tribals have been marginalized to meager 8%.  Surprisingly  1.67 % of the population speaks Marathi , more than the few local languages. Oh how Wikipedia enlightens!

The cleanest village in India ,Mawlynnong, awarded prize  by UNESCO[?] in 2003. It is just nearby, at a walk-able distance and clean even today. Bamboo has been used liberally every where from fences to making grass roofed small houses. .Inhabited mostly by Khasi tribe, which has matriarchal system, means the women are the heads of family, and the youngest daughter inherits the property. As such also, men folk in North East hardly work. They booze [ not drink ] eat betel leaves with betel nuts day in and day out and laze mostly doing nothing.Women do everything and if asked about the system, don't show any grudge, on the contrary say ' He gave me children, what more do I want ?' !

 The village headman has put a warning for tourists, " Not to bring plastics, PET bottles into the village or the group leader would be fined ,Rs. 5000/-". But Indian tourists being Indians threw the litter on the road anywhere they pleased ! I myself picked up few plastic wraps and bottles and put them in this beautiful cane dustbin !

 My impression about the international border between India and Bangla Desh totally went haywire. I was under impression that  it is on the western side of Meghalaya. It turned out, after reading the map  that Meghalaya is sitting on  the top of Bangla Desh and shares it southern border with Bangla Deshe's northern border. Dawki river divides the two nations at Tamabil. Visit to the border was altogether a different experience, though not glamorized like Wagha border, all the same it has its own simple rustic charm. [ Of course that  Border is between INDIA and PAKISTAN and not between India and country cousin Bangla Desh !] Met one Maratha Gadi from Shirdi at the check post but he refused to pose  with us for a photograph, citing security reasons. [Was happy in his post and was not longing to go back home. Felt proud for him.] On the contrary Border security force soldiers of Bangla Desh posed for the camera gladly. The shop seen behind the barricade, stores linen from Bangla Desh. On sensing the tourists the shopkeeper came running to sell his goods to us. The sentry prohibited us from buying, but the goods too were of inferior quality and expensive for the quality, so there settled the matter.

On the way back, as the rain god had showered his bounties, there were many seasonal water falls. Bipholl was one of them. Cascading from the hills at different levels creating rapids, at places going cool, it just washed away the tiredness of travel.

Meghalaya. Abode of [ or is it ,to ] clouds. A Sanskrit name. Bit, out of place in Meghalaya., because all the languages spoken in Meghalaya do not have any semblance  with Sanskrit. They belong to Austroasiatic or Tibeto-Burman group of languages. Local people, the main tribes are, Khasi [ in the central Meghalaya],  Garo, [ Western Meghalaya] or Jaintia [ Eastern Meghalaya],  too resemble Burmese in their features. Mongolian no doubt, but not fair skinned like Monpas from Arunachal. They are darker,  with crooked teeth due to constant chewing of betel nuts [ Surprising, though we, as Indians differ in culture, language, religion even race, in this case, this habit of chewing betel leaves with betel nuts seems to be universal for India, Interesting ! ]. The official language of Meghalaya is English. So though the name Meghalaya is far from the local culture it stands to its meaning in more than one way. 

Clouds playing a game of hide and seek with the mountains was treat for the eyes. Never felt satiated.


  

 
 In real sense of wold it turned out to be Meghalaya. Enchanting, beautiful, top of the world !