My Impressions of Meghalaya

My earliest memory of the word 'Cherrapunji' was in school. We had a question in our General Knowledge test - "Which place in India gets the highest rainfall"? The answer was Cherrapunji. The spelling was difficult. It was a multiple-choice question. We only had to select the right option. I never learned the spelling.

Cherrapunji, for me, was a far away place, so far away that I could not place it on the map, so far away I could never visit. I don't remember memorizing anything else about this unknown place. Its only marker was the incessant rain that had found this village a spot in our NCERT school textbook. 

I don't remember reading about Meghalaya, the name of the state to which Cherrapunji belonged. But I remember the word 'Cherrapunji' - vividly. It was etched in my memory.

So decades later, when I finally visited the state, what were some of my first impressions of this far-flung state in the extreme northeastern part of India, 3000+ kilometers from Bangalore, my city? As a first-time visitor to the state, was the trip fulfilling and worth the money? 

Here are some of my immediate reactions to Meghalaya:

1. Scenic Beauty: 

The meadows are beautiful. 

Here almost throughout the year the mountains are green due to the rains.

Mangalore, where I am from, is green during the monsoons and then it turns a sad brown and stays various shades of brown for almost 6 to 7 months, until next year, in June, the rain Gods come calling again. Brown is a depressing color. And to have to look at it for nearly two-thirds of the year is grief.

ML is not so. It is immediately pleasing to the eye - every inch of it.

You will find many streams and waterfalls all along the drive. Here are a few I captured:

2. The Roads: The roads are fairly good everywhere in ML. You will not feel exhausted by the long hours spent driving.

I remember my trip to Sikkim in mid-November of 2016. The roads were bad. Or rather, there were no roads at all. Just mud and stones. And huge traffic on them. The journey was tiresome. Most of us suffered from nausea and dizziness. By the time, the vehicle would halt for the night in the hotel, we would rush to the bathroom to shower. All that vomiting and sitting in the cab for hours together, sometimes 4 hours just to move from point A to point B, took a toll on us. 

Fortunately, none of that terrible road experience here in ML. We traveled with our 4-year-old baby and it was smooth sailing all the way.  

3. The Mist: There will be times when you will literally walk or drive through the clouds. One moment, there will be zero visibility and at others, you will not be able to see beyond 50 meters ahead of you. In the next moment, the place turns bright and when you look back, you realize you just passed through a moving cloud. 

Mulayyyangiri Hills in Chikmagalore district in my home state of Karnataka gives a similar experience - of being IN the cloud and then watching the clouds literally move past you or over you. 

If you are from Bangalore and you have not visited Chikmagalore yet, your life is a waste. Sorry, that was harsh but it is true! If you still need to be pushed to visit Chikmagalore, then consider it the poor man's Meghalaya. One more reason? Money, time and effort - all three required in far lesser measure compared to Meghalaya but will give you a near similar experience of ML. 

Have I promoted Chikmagalore enough? It is one place in India I can go again and again and again and yet come back wanting to go back!

4. The Women: Everyone, I tell you, EVERY ONE of those women out there in ML wears lipstick. Each and every woman. Poor, not poor, housewife, working, porter, waiter, tea seller, roadside vendor - EVERYONE. And not just some nude shade or light lipstick. No mam! It is unfailingly dark red lipstick. 

They did not have anything else on them - no bangles, no bindi, no eyeshadow, no kajal, no eyeliner, no dangling earrings, no neck chains. I wonder if they even used compact or foundation. But dark red lipstick was a MUST.

I wondered how these women would feel if they came to the South. Southern Indian women hardly use lipstick on a daily basis or on a 24/7 mode. I remember I started using lipstick at the age of 38! And that too when I worked as a Trainer in a company that sold cosmetics. And that too only at work. Not otherwise. Lipstick was part of an elaborate grooming ritual. 

I am sure all women who travel to ML from TN or KL or AP would first notice the lipstick.  

The ML society is matrilineal. The youngest daughter gets the ancestral property and the son-in-law goes and lives in his wife's house. Most of the restaurants and shops we went to were run by women. From waiters to owners to cooks, all women. 

And they all had a sling bag over their shoulders to keep their money. Every one of them had that bag. 

And every one of them would chew pan/tobacco/gutka or whatever that is. 

5. Men: Not handsome at all. I did not find ONE good-looking man. No height, no physique, no looks. They are all small built. Sathya was a misfit in his 6 feet 3 inches height and 100+ kilos weight. 

They are soft-spoken and gentle, though. That I liked about them.

6. Need More time: We spent 4 days in Meghalaya. 1 day in Shillong and 3 days in Cherrapunji. We explored the various tourist attractions in East Khasi Hills. 

ML has 3 distinct hills - Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo. Each of these hills has a predominant tribe with its own language and cultural practices. 

Khasi Hills is further divided into East and West Khasi. All tour packages majorly cover locations that come under East Khasi such as Wei Sawdong, Mawrynkhang, Nohkalikai, Seven Sisters, Laitlum Canyon, Mawsmai cave, and Mawlynlnong.

Dawki, the place famous for the crystal clear lake, is in West Jaintia Hills. 

As with most hill stations, the distance between two points may look small in kilometers but in terms of time, it takes many hours. For example, Shillong to Cherrapunji is just 50 kms. But takes upwards of 2 hours even with good roads, no hairpin bends, and no nasty curves. 

In 4 days, you can cover only the capital city Shillong and places in East Khasi Hills. You need another week to cover Jaintia, Garo, and West Khasi Hills. And trust me, there is a whole world to explore out there in these hills. 

7. The water makes your hair soft, and easier to untangle. You can remove the knots easily. All the local women had silky, straight hair. It looked like they had straightened it in a parlor. Impeccable. Even a girl I saw in a hut had parlor-type straight hair. 

8. Every nook and corner and crevice is a thing of beauty in Meghalaya.

9. You will hardly find any clinics, hospitals, or medical stores around. And this I had noticed even in Sikkim. The people living close to nature are the healthiest, I guess. In cities, every street will have a pharmacy. Hospitals and clinics in every area. 

So what was the bad part of the trip? The people. Yes, you heard that right. The Khasi women are unbelievably brusque. It unsettles you. 

I don't understand why people in the hotel industry or taxi service business or running restaurants or small eateries or businesses that are entirely dependent on tourists for their survival, treat tourists so poorly. They give off this very negative vibe. Like we are their enemies. Like they don't want us there. Like they are doing us a favor by being in front of us. 

You go to a restaurant to eat and no one bothers to ask you your order. You have to struggle to get their attention. And then, YOU have to ask them,  "what else do you have?". They will just place the first item you ordered and not turn around to look. But they will definitely count the money properly. 

And they all want ONLY cash. Digital payments in other parts of India have created world records in terms of value and volume of transactions but here the concept is unheard of. 

I hate places or people who do not value the very reason for their existence. You would think they might have learned their lesson from the pandemic that lasted two years and completely destroyed their livelihood. They barely lived a hand-to-mouth existence. They depended on various government or NGO assistance to pull themselves through the hard times. And yet, they don't value the return of tourists to their towns. Their homestays (there are so many new ones being built to cater to the demand!!), their restaurants, their petrol pumps, their tiny shops, their vehicles - everything is for and because of the tourists who spend so much time and money to visit these far away places. The kind of reception we get is startling, to say the least. 

The trip to ML cost us around Rs 25,000 for 3 adults and 1 child for 4 days (taxi for 2 days = Rs 8000, self drive car from Zoomcar = Rs 4000 rent + Rs 4000 petrol, homestay two nights = Rs 2800 + Rs 2200, parking/entry fees = Rs 1000 and food). This excludes the flight charges, of course. This is the amount from Guwahati to Shillong. 

Overall, a great trip and many memories to last a lifetime. The landscape of Meghalaya is so mesmerizing that your heart yearns to go back and stay there for some more days. It was a memorable trip and well worth the money.