The morning of the 5th day dawned bright and sunny despite it having rained the previous night. We had gotten used to it getting light by 5 am and therefore kept putting off waking up for two more hours. Finally, when we just could not go back to sleep any more, we clambered out of bed and went about packing up to leave. Breakfast of corn flakes, toast and eggs followed at which we met a couple of travellers who were coming from Cherrapunji. We listened to their narrative and took note of their do’s and don’ts list. They strongly suggested visiting Dawki, which we had dropped from our route for want of time, and this got me trying to figure out a way to incorporate it back into the itinerary.
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| All Saint's Cathedral, Shillong |
Anyway, breakfast done with, we prepared to leave. Settling the bill, we waterproofed and packed our bags on to the bike. Once ready, we set out, once again cursing the polluted, congested part of the city which we had to negotiate to proceed westward. On the way, we stopped at the popular All Saints Cathedral that had been reduced to rubble in the massive earthquake of 1897 that had devastated much of the North East, and had been rebuilt soon after. It was stunning, and more importantly was maintained in an impeccable manner.
Continuing on our way, we soon departed the city on the western highway. Once we were on the open road, the Himalayan really opened up and we began eating up the miles at a clip. Traffic persisted up to the turn off for Elephant Falls, another one of the tourist attractions close to Shillong. We intentionally decided to avoid it, wanting to get away from the maddening crowd. The highway into the West Khasi hills was brand new, and from what we had learnt from the B&B owner that morning, was what had opened up Western Meghalaya to the rest of the state. Much of this area was still unexplored, and the tribes continued to live the way they had for thousands of years. As we proceeded further west, concrete buildings turned to brick, and later to thatch. Another interesting observation was the average height of people that seemed to progressively reduce as we progressed further into the hills.
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| Olympic Rings Emblazoned |
Midway to our destination, we passed a most interesting building - a large gymnasium with the Olympic emblem emblazoned on it's side. It seemed locked up and we could only guess at what it was or had been used for - probably training of the Indian Olympic team in one of the disciplines.
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| A Hot Cuppa as Rain Threatens |
At one point, it threatened to rain, with threatening rain clouds gathering ahead of us. Hoping for the best, we pressed on, and as luck would have it, the road swerved and we just skirted the monster black cloud. A little later however, it did start to drizzle, and we stopped for a cup of tea at a tiny little shop and donned our raincoats before hitting the road once again.
We almost could not believe the place we were in could exist on Earth. Every stone, every blade of grass seemed to have been put there with a purpose. We checked in and left our bags before heading to the main building, hoping to get some lunch. The owner Trancis, who spoke a trace of English had gone to Shillong for a meeting. In sign language we had to indicate hunger to his wife and daughter who did not speak a word of either English or Hindi. They did not seem to understand, and seemed to indicate to us that there was nothing to eat, nor was there any place we could get some. We had to call Trancis and get him to speak to his wife in Khasi before we were promised ‘Makhi’ Rice. Uncertain of whether they intended serving us butter or flies with the rice, we agreed. Twenty minutes later, we were pleasantly surprised when Maggi with rice was served, an interesting but tasty combination.
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| Resting in Heaven - Truly |
We then rode up to the top of the nearest hill. The view from the summit was exquisite, and there was an interesting solitary grave right on the edge. This certainly was the perfect place to spend one's afterlife. Did one really have to go find heaven when he was buried in a place like this? Rain clouds had to roll in to tear us away from this place and head back down. We then quickly climbed the next hill that had a partly constructed church at the peak. However by the time we reached the top, mist had rolled in and nothing could be seen. Disappointed, we returned to the guest house and had a nap until the mist cleared.
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| Paradise on Earth |
A couple of hours later, we climbed back to the top of the hill. As we had expected, the view from the top was difficult to describe in words. Again, awe struck, we walked around the hill top. In the next valley was a football field and a number of kids had come to play. I asked if I could join and we began a game in what was arguably the most stunning soccer field on Earth. Situated on a plateau, the ball went down on all sides, with the little kids plunging themselves down into the bushes to retrieve it each time. They all seemed to be having the time of their lives. This truly was happiness in its purest form.
One hour later, as it was getting dark, I bade them farewell and we returned to the guesthouse as twilight took reign over the sky. Freshening up, we went across to the main building for dinner. The sky was a canvas of a million stars, every one seeming ten times as large as usual, with no pollution to cloud the atmosphere. Mesmerised, we even saw the white night cloud that was the Milky Way, a rare sight, stretch across the breadth of the sky.
Dinner was a simple and tasty affair of rice, dal and chicken that we downed with relish. As usual, I overate, but with no regret whatsoever. Every single experience of the day so far was larger than life - why not dinner? Returning to the room, we ran over what we had experienced during the day, probably one of the most stunning and memorable days of our lives.
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