From the scorching heat of Chennai and then to Mumbai, our bodies were warmed a little less by Guwahati when we landed there. The weather became more and more pleasant, as though God was turning a weather regulator, when we proceeded towards Meghalaya. With lush green view on either sides of the road and small hillock here and there, the journey was a treat as we entered Meghalaya. One interesting aspect was that there was no ‘state borders’ between Assam and Meghalaya. Our driver told us that the road itself was a divider between two states for a long patch. In our car, some of us were gazing out and seeing Meghalaya and the others were seeing Assam at the same time.
We halted at Jiva restaurant which is a famous known veg restaurant. The food was delicious and the bathrooms were cleaner than the airports. With a full belly and no sleep at night, nidra-devi was successful in dissuading us from the picturesque view outside at multiple times.
On the way, we could see many women wearing their traditional dress (a dress inside covered by a full body dupatta kind of wear) and almost everyone could be seeing some form of tobacco. The women’s lips were red with the stuff that they were chewing. It was as powerful as a lipstick.
We diverted our roads to Shillong (the place that were were heading to) and we could see roads going to Mizoram and Tripura on the way. Our driver told us that in Meghalaya, men get married and go to the women’s home for staying (probably the only state where things are the other way around than what we usually see in the rest of India), and men take care of household chores while women go and work. Our driver told us that in Mizoram, women are allowed to choose any other man outside of their wedlock and go with them. My friend (who’s family and mine are travelling together) looked at each other and told each other that we may want to come without our families while visiting Mizoram so that we don’t lose our wives.
We soon reached our homestay – a beautiful enchanting plot of land with three self contained rooms. It’s pretty much in the town (not central town place though) and not an isolated place which made me wonder if I have chosen a wrong place to stay and whether it will be a hustling place. However, evenings proved me wrong. The place becomes silent very early in the evening and all we could hear were different sounds of crickets and other insects.
Every house here has a wide variety of plants and flowers. Just like a young village girl would like to wear ornaments and flowers, the people here also love to decorate their houses with flowers and plants. We had some good play time with the three doggies in the property before we went out for a stroll. The temperature started dropping calling the need of a mild sweater, but we decided to enjoy the cool weather and chilled. Had simple home made dinner before we retired to the rooms by 9:15 pm. Didn’t realise when I fell asleep until I woke up at 5 am with bright sunlight outside the windows. A beautiful day calling ahead! Eagerly waiting to explore a bit of wilderness and an adventure.
Vinay R.Nair's Blog 