I woke up to the crowing of roosters, like in the childhood stories, in a village literally on the edge of India. Although the number of people there was a little shy for getting it qualified as a village but for whatever it is worth, it was a nice and green village. We were a group of few lucky lads who got a room there. The room was in a home-stay owned by a local, a little too cosy with amenities like a door which can be closed. Along with us, there were some more tourists who were residing there. In our room, we had two beds, an extra mattress and few charging ports. I went out of the room, early in the morning, and the view took my breath for a second. It was lush green with mountains roaring and fog too dense to get any visibility down the hill. It was the Nongriat village, at a distance of about 65 KM from Shillong in the Indian state of Meghalaya.
I booked my flights from Kolkata as I wasn't able to grab an affordable rate from Bhubaneswar. I was travelling with my friend, her roommate and her roommate's three friends and we were to meet in Meghalaya. They started their trip a few days before my arrival. So, missing the first four days of the trip, every day I felt a little more excited looking at the amazing photos they shared of hot springs, Dawki, Mawlynnong village and certain other places. Finally, on the day of my journey, I boarded a bus till Kolkata. It was my first time there and I got to experience the worst toilet there can be on a bus station and the yellow and black taxi which took me to the airport. In Kolkata, one can still get the feel of British era. The flight I boarded first took me to Aizawl and there, I got a hint of what I was going to experience.
My friends, of which I knew only one at the time, were in Cherrapunji when I reached Shillong from Guwahati. Cherrapuji is amongst the wettest place in the country and to my dismay, it was raining heavily not only in Cherrapunji but also in Shillong. On entering Shillong, I was able to spot an island in the famous Umiam lake with clouds hovering just above it. I realised why the place was called the home of clouds (Megh-alaya) as explained to me by a Bengali friend of mine before leaving. It took me a little longer than usual to reach Shillong because of the traffic in such weather conditions. Because of the lateness of the hour and bad weather conditions, it became quite difficult to proceed further towards Cherrapunji. My friends also advised, to take a stay at Shillong but only they knew if I will be able to get any.
There were absolutely no rooms available at any hotel in Shillong and my phone battery was also getting drained. I went to a nearby hotel, put my phone on charging near the reception and enquired if they can provide any accommodation or can tell me about some place where I can spend the night. At the same time, I was also thinking if it would be possible for me to travel where my friends were because I didn't want to waste any more time apart from the day already wasted because of weather. The person at reception denied me of any accommodation but saved me the driver's room in case of emergency. I then searched google for home-stays and started calling them bargaining for a room. Yes, bargaining it was. One of them agreed to give me a room till early morning, as early as 5 AM from midnight 12 at a very expensive price. I had no choice but to take it if I were to stay at Shillong or sleep in the driver's room which didn't seem to be a very bad option given the conditions. It was continuously pouring, I called up my friend and explained her the situation. She was quite scared and even thought of coming to Shillong when I was almost halfway there but we then decided otherwise. I was sitting at the reception with no clue what I was going to do when suddenly I decided to have a last try for a cab to Cherrapunji and further to Nongriat where they were able to get a home-stay.
I went out of that hotel and spotted a cab. I went on to ask him if he will take me but he wasn't able to understand what I was saying. Then suddenly another cab driver called me and asked me to come onboard. I wanted to negotiate first but he insisted. He then agreed to take me to Nongriat at a very reasonable rate. This developed my conscience and frankly, I was quite scared at the time. He insisted on me taking the front seat despite what I wanted. A little later he told me that he will also be taking some others which I am still not sure were his friends or just some random people.
We started our journey towards Nongriat. I was happy to see a lot of traffic going that way. But, it was only a little later when I realised why no one travels here at this time. All the traffic vanished into the thin air and suddenly we were all alone amidst a thick, dense fog that surrounded us. So, wrapping this all up, I was in a cab with a person who was risking his life for me along with a bunch of strangers and fog too dense to make it feel like we were cruising through the clouds. I was scared to death and only hoped to reach my destination as early as possible. My driver was giving me life lessons like how tourists came to enjoy leaving the festival prayers which they no longer think is important. He even offered me a beetle leaf with ginger in it and told me about the culture of drinks and Hublots there and how he remained away from all that. This only added to my fear. I was doubting everything that was happening then and felt like I was being abducted. I even opened my windows for a while when I felt that there can be an ejection of some poisonous gas from the people behind. I was constantly focussing on the road, trying to penetrate my vision through the fog. I thought to myself that either this person is a fraud kidnapper or a really nice person. I hoped for the latter and was constantly in chat with my friend.
And the latter it was. After a long three to four-hour journey, we were finally at Nongriat. I hugged my friends and told them about my journey. I thanked my driver and his friends. Then we went downstairs saying goodbye to the kind fellow who just earned a lot of respect and good wishes.
Downstairs was our homestay, owned by a local. There was dinner prepared for me by the family. It was nothing too fancy. I sat with my friend and had a good chat while having the supper. Then we went into our room where all six of us were residing, calling it a night.
The next day we had to go for a trek to the double Decker bridge and further towards the rainbow falls. It was supposed to be an eight-hour trek. We woke up early in the morning, got fresh with whatever facilities they had and started the trek. The owner of our homestay was also a guide and took our responsibility. It was raining, so we took umbrellas, a stick each for grip and water bottles. We started descending using the stairs just near our stay. The first half an hour was stairs, so it didn't take much. There were small shops from where we grabbed some drinks on our way. The real spree began when we saw the iron bridge. There were quite a few of them as we had heard but weren't quite sure what they were. We got shivers up our spine as we saw the first one. The iron bridge, as the name suggests was made of eight iron rods and only that on top of rapid waters. When you stand in the middle of one of these things, you can literally feel the thrust of water below. We all crossed the bridge, one at a time. Our journey was made more interesting by continuous pouring in that rainforest. Proceeding, we had to climb through a waterfall and below were some stairs over which water was flowing, decorated with colourful leaves. The scene was like a romantic movie. We carefully traversed through the falls. Finally, in two hours we reached the infamous double-decker bridge. Created by the people of the Khasi tribe, it was a living root bridge. The roots are made to grow in such a manner that it acts as a bridge on top of a river. The water was quite still below and was given the name of natural swimming pool. There were two bridges, one above the other. Hence, double-decker. It was an amazing place. We went over the bridges, took photos, then sat to the amazing view and enjoyed Maggi along with a cup of tea in a nearby shop.
After a while, we left the place, on towards the rainbow falls. It is said that a single day trek can be done till the living root bridges but as we started a little early, we were able to proceed towards the rainbow falls. Again, there were stairs, only this time, they were earthy, broken and natural. It was quite dangerous, given the rain. We climbed our way through the stony mountains, passed through a river where I even got my feet twisted but it wasn't much of an injury, so we proceeded further. There were not many who could manoeuvre their way to the falls. The way was slippery and rocky, through the bamboo and iron bridges, one mistake and you could be dead. Astonishingly, on our way, we passed through a muddy football field and wondered from where it came in that secluded place. We reached the waterfall in about five hours and, any form of superlatives cannot define its magnanimity. The mammoth turquoise blue waterfalls were worth every piece of effort we did to reach there. The water below was so clear that we can very well see the bottom of it. Large torrents of water collided with a giant rock below which splashed water to a large distance. Standing there we can actually feel the water from it. We crossed a narrow canal of water to feel it more closely and as it was the rainy season, the water level was high. In summers, people can take a dip in the natural water pool there. We gazed at the brutal falls as it was wetting us, admiring the miracles of nature.
After a while there, we started our return journey. On our way back, we stopped for a while and played soccer with the local boys. We made our way to the double-decker bridge where we sat for a cup of coffee. We decided to take a dip till the coffee was getting prepared. We went into the pool below the bridge to feel the cold water from the waterfall there. We also chatted with the people in the pool and then sipped our coffee to the life-altering experience we had.
It was already evening, two of us stayed in the village near the bridge while we decided to travel back to our room where all the dry clothes were. The last stretch was the most exhausting with the vertical stairs at an angle of about eighty degrees. We took breaks every now and then and shared our sorrows with the fellow travellers as we climbed back. As we reached our room, every muscle was in fatigue.
After getting refreshed, we went upstairs and enjoyed a bowl of hot Maggi, omelette, tea and a local fruit. We sat there and relaxed feeling ecstatic and delighted. We chatted and made jokes while we eat. It was an amazing feeling, a feeling of deep satisfaction and contentedness, pleasure and gratification, a feeling of triumph. We played cards in our room, had some dinner after and then collapsed to happy exhaustion. Just a little advisory if you go on such trek, unlike me, "wear shoes!".
The next day, our two friends returned early in the morning and then we left that village, saying goodbye to our awesome host there. We took a cab from Tyrna to Cherrapunji where we found a supermarket and bought some things. We hired a sumo then and the plan was to visit some places of interest en-route Shillong. We stopped for breakfast in between and from the terrace there, we appreciated the great architecture of nature, with narrow valleys of blue water and roads exploring through green mountains. I bought Shillong's finest coffee before leaving. A little later, we saw the seven sister falls embellishing the mountains of Cherrapuji. We were to try zip lining nearby but it was closed because of the dense fog. Our next stop was Nohkalikai Falls and we weren't quite sure about going down as we were already exhausted from the previous day. Somehow, we made our mind as it was not much of a hike and we got to stand in the middle of where the waterfall started. The water started falling just from a step away from us protected by a fence. We then visited Elephant falls which revealed the more commercialised side of Meghalaya and after that, the Umiam lake. Late in the evening, we did some shopping in Shillong and then went to KFC before leaving to Guwahati. We reached Guwahati somewhere around 10:30 at night and the hotel we stayed in was a classic old-age Indian hotel with the receptionist looking like he had travelled in time.
The next day, we booked a cab to the pobitora wildlife sanctuary in search of some Rhinos. After having breakfast, we boarded the cab. It was sunny and warm in Guwahati in contrast to Meghalaya. As we reached, we enquired for the elephant ride and to our bad luck, the ride was closed. For the first time, google was wrong about something. We got to know that the ride timings were early in the morning. We then went on the steel suspension bridge over some river to get the feel of the place. We chatted with the elephant tamers for a while and then while returning met with an old family who looked like tourists. We had a good discussion with them and they also told us about the Rhino trail which can be seen from the car. After saying farewell to the family and taking some pictures, we went on to see if we can find some Rhinos. Our driver took us along the trail where we spotted some drinking water. The skin of the animal was such that it appeared like an armour. We were able to have a closer look at the beast from the long-range lens that we had. We left the place in some time and searched for some restaurant where we could grab some lunch. We tasted the authentic momos of east and pan pizzas that day. After lunch, we visited the Kamakhya temple. The temple is one of the oldest and most visited places in India. We walked barefooted towards the temple. There were little shops along the way and the temple was decorated with real flowers. The whole blend of culture and tradition in that place was spectacular. Inside the temple, were some praying rooms and a slaughterhouse. We had mixed emotions as we were leaving because these were the last few moments of our trip. We ended the day with a movie and roadside pani puri.
The next day, I got ready in the morning and went to the railway station to send-off my friends. We shared some warm hugs and parted our ways. I came back to the hotel, checked out and left for the airport. I went to Kolkata through Agartala and further to Bhubaneswar via train. I remember the time when I was sitting in Agartala airport, with bug bites and allergies of the rainforest, cherishing my time as I went into the clouds.
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