Courtesy: Shillong, Guwahati

Huh!! Its good to be home :)
Hi :)
Yes, the trip was really good (minus a few calls from work). As many of you already know, it was Shillong and Guwahati this time. [Yes, I too think that this year I am having a really good luck in travelling]. Well, I must warn you before you begin. This is quite a long post with my blabbering and occasional photographs. So, if you are in a middle of something, then please finish that first coz I would really appreciate it if you are able to go through this post with nothing else in your mind.

Oh great! All settled now? Brilliant :) Here I go.
We started from Kolkata at about 10 in the overcast morning of Sept 4th and our ‘vimaan’ reached Guwahati at 11. By “we” I mean I myself, Baba, Maa, Pranav uncle (Baba’s collegue) and Mausumi Aunty (Pranav uncle’s wife). And by the time we could come out of the airport and start for Shillong in a taxi, it was almost 12. Including a lunch at ‘National Highway Dhaba’ it was past 4 in the evening when we finally reached the AMD guest house in Shillong [AMD is where Baba works]. Baba and I took some time out the same evening to meet our relative Pankaj Kaku who lives and has his own business in Shillong. And it was him who arranged for a car and a guide-cum-driver, Rasheed, for the day next. James and Sangma, the guest house caretakers, had prepared a fantastic steaming dinner that night which went great with the chill of the hills.

Cherrapunjee was our destination on 5th. Started off at 9 in the morning and after covering 55 odd kilometers, we reached here.

There are many viewpoints in Cherrapunjee. This one is from the DUWAN SING SYIEM VIEWPOINT. This is not only a valley between two hills but a valley between two ranges of hills. You can see the crest running far away.

Our next point was UMSTEW LAITRYNGEW (Yes, I too cannot pronounce it! Saw it written in a sign post nearby). Rasheed was not sure if we should stop there. But we did.This is a view from a cliff about a hundred feet above this waterfall. When we had just reached, we could see nothing but only clouds in the gorge. But we could hear the sound of the falling water on the rocks. Then, gradually, the clouds cleared off and the source of the sound revealed itself. It was great to see it appear gradually from its invisibility.

The next place charged Rs. 70 for one camera to go past the entry gate. It did hurt my pocket a good deal but once I was inside, I must say that it would not have been fair to allow a camera free of charge. They call it the ECO PARK (short for Ecological Park). All the time we were there, the clouds were covering the mysteries of what’s beyond the cliff or where the water from the falls is landing (I am very doubtful if you can see the waterfalls in this picture. The closer one is in white about an inch above and 1cm right to the “Cherrapunjee” in the picture and the second one is fader, diagonally above to the right of the first one, and is almost in the centre of the picture. Nyahh!! Leave it).

When we turned back to get back to our cab, I saw this (This is just 180 degrees opposite to the railings you can see the previous picture). The horizon was making its own wallpaper with the clouds and their shadows. After some more time, we left the place.

Now, I should be honest. In our next destination, I really was feeling that a someone is missing. I had no idea who but that person should have been there. Take a look at the place.

The place is called KHOH RAMHAH and when we were there, only we were there. There was the sound of a small waterfall and the crickets. It was not cold and also not that wet. It was just magical. Won’t destroy the romance of the experience of being there by uttering a dry info like Bangladesh is visible from this place but would definitely say that you actually have to be there to know if you have come alone, or not.

Ahhmm… moving on… another some sort of park was our next point. Forgive me for forgetting the name.

These VIOLETS were something no one seemed to miss. Everyone who was there, was gathering around to take a picture of these beauties. There was a green house in the park. A place more of interest to Baba and … well, let’s say there was another place inside where it was great to see the child in Maa :)

This was the extreme of the distance we covered. On our way back, we touched a few more places. First of them was the SEVEN SISTERS.

I think you can count the number of waterfalls rubbing down the surface of that hill. When we passed it the time when we were on our way up, it was completely covered with clouds. But we were lucky enough (yet again) that when we actually stopped to see it, it didn’t feel shy. Later, Rasheed made us notice, the most prominent of the falls is actually the one that was falling down the ecological park (the second one I tried to make you see there). You can see the green railings, top left. (I know you cant see that too!)

The climate was being a little funny. We were sweating a little, but when we looked up to see (and complain) the sun, it was nowhere to be seen. Just clouds. I guess they do have some good reasons to call the place Meghalaya.

The last destination for that day was the MAWSMAI CAVE. Here I must say that the management of the cave SHOULD put a sign at the entrance warning people who are claustrophobic, asthmatic or have quite an obese body to ideally refrain from entering. Although there were enough fluorescent lights but the signs inside should also been in Hindi along with just English.

I must confess that I messed up seven out of nine photographs of the interior of the cave, but I think these two pictures can hint you that a journey through these smooth stones and narrow passages and dripping cracks can give an experience to the little adventurer inside you. After coming out of the cave (feeling like a Nat Geo explorer), we realized that Rasheed was right when he told us that going inside will be a bit problematic after lunch. After we came out (at about 2:30 pm), we had our food at a hotel near the cave and took our way back to Shillong. On the way we went to the Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Cherrapunjee. They have two really nice anthropology museums and off course a peaceful pujaghar. Upon entering the atmosphere there, the feeling of being sacred enters through your nostrils and fills up every vein in your body.

That night, Pankaj kaku had invited all five of us for a dinner at a restaurant called City Hut. The food was good and was plenty. I got to meet little Sayan (Pankaj Kaku’s 9 yr old son, full of energy and stories from his school). Close to the end I realized that almost half of the bowls with the rice and chicken and paneer were waiting near my plate to be emptied.

Next day, Rasheed had some other priorities. But he gave Babu as his replacement. Well spoken and well behaved, like Rasheed, he was to take us for the places around the city. Our first point was the SHILLONG PEAK.From a tower at the edge of certain hill in an Air Force residential area, this is the view that one gets of the Shillong city. It is although only a quarter of what is visible from there. It was here where I saw a really nice thing written. “We believe in God. But we spell it NATURE”. So simple and so true, isn’t it :)

Next was the ELEPHANT FALLS.This one up here is the third and the highest of the three falls (about 25-30 feet high, nothing much). The name 'Elephant Falls' came when the British came to the city and saw the first of the three falls. They noticed a big stone in front of it that resembled the head of an elephant. But we could not see that stone as it was destroyed in an earthquake long back.

From there, we went to another nature park in the centre of the city. There was a small zoo inside. Below are a few of the zoo guests whom I had never seen before.A YELLOW THOATED MARTEN (I still haven’t Googled what exactly a ‘marten’ is but it looked kind of beautiful) andA HORNBILL (Have seen pictures of this beauty but haven’t seen it in real life before). I know, these pictures are not of the quality that I try to post here (also the cage has made a mandatory appearance), but I thought why not just share something that made me feel good. Below are those shots which I found worth a click (and worth the post).

Can’t say I haven’t seen any EAGLE before but must say that I have seen this stare only in the Discovery and channels like that. Gives you the sense that it is in a state of complete awareness of its surrounding (Unagi, as I have heard the Japanese call this state) and can even see through you.Honestly speaking, I think a PELICAN is not among the most beautiful of the birds. But this shot, after washing away the colours, brought out such a stark contrast of the black and the white that I was bound to post it here. This is one of my favorites photographs of the trip (one of the). No blur, the perfect content and only the desirable colours [and off course the caption! :)]

We had to reach our guest house by 1pm so we were in a kind of hurry. And that is the reason why we only stopped the car but didn’t get down when we reached here.

THE CATHEDRAL OF MARY, Shillong, no doubt, is quite a majestic structure. To add to the grandeur you can see the five thin trees comparing themselves with the blue building. And in some way I think the sky has added an extra effect to this shot. Actually, if you notice, in all the shots (those you have already seen and those you will be seeing) where there is a good portion of the sky visible, a little sense of splendor has somehow come, adding to the beauty of the place.

When we drove on to our last spot in the city of Shillong, it had started to rain in the pace of 2-3 drops a minute (in an area only big as my palm). Even though it was a bit risky to take a camera out in rain, but I could not resist when we reached here.

THE SHILLONG GOLF COURSE. We all got down. The breeze was not very high and the openness was something we all wanted to experience. Unfortunately we were in a sort of hurry, so we couldn’t explore the field much. Standing at a comparatively lower ground I got this one [the tree staring at the clouds. This is also one of the :)]

Then we got back, double checked our packed bags, had lunch and started off in a Sumo for Guwahati. By the time we were barely near the Police Bazaar Area of Shillong, it had started to rain in a real Shillong Rain fashion.

Truly speaking, our group was quite a lucky one to have been able to see the waterfalls (in the midst of all the clouds) with no rain at Cherrapunjee to hamper the fun and also to be able to see the beauty when IT ACTUALLY RAINS sitting securely and dry inside a closed vehicle.

My good friend Sumana had told me (more than once) to visit a place called BADAPANI in the outskirts of Shillong (she has spent her early childhood in this city). While going to Shillong we saw that place but I was in the wrong side of the vehicle then to get any postable pic. While leaving the place, although our driver (forgot his name, sorry!) didn’t stop, but the vehicle speed was slow enough to avoid any blur in the picture below.

There is a novel by Rabindranath Tagore that is called ‘Shesher Kobita’ in Bengali (translated to English under names like ‘The Last Poem’ and ‘Farewell Song’). That novel is backdropped in Shillong. While travelling down to Guwahati, with quite a heavy rain on my window, I took Baba’s mobile. The mp3 version of the novel was there in its memory card. That one hour was something that actually made me experience something first hand of which I have never been a part of. Bengali Literature. (No sir/madam, I am not just saying it. it was like travelling in the atmosphere that made the poet write those words!)

Well, enough of the typical poetic show off… :)
The traffic jam that welcomed us on entering Guwahati was good enough to make me forget the romance of the rain, the poems and that glass of tea (that we had on our way in the rain). Roughly at about 7:30 in the evening, we were in the Daffodil Lodge (just in the opposite of the Paltan Bazaar taxi stand). We had quite an early dinner in a nearby hotel and retired in our beds before it was 10:30 at night.

The next day was for some Pujas and some sightseeing. I think everyone of you has heard of the KAMAKKHYA TEMPLE.

Only about five kilometers away from Paltan Bazar, there was no problem in reaching the temple by 7 in the morning. Maa and Mausumi aunty wanted to offer a puja. We met a purohit by name Praneshwar Sharma Panda who made the arrangements. The process starts by cleansing of hands and feet at this Kund (above) and touching the feet of the stone Ganesha by it. Next was waiting in a queue till the turn comes. Our main priest was the 15 year old Jeetu, quite a radiant lad and the nephew of Praneshwar. Photography was not allowed inside the cave (Temple) so I can’t show you how the interiors actually were. But I felt like entering a Theme Puja Pandal during the Durga Puja at Kolkata. Also, there is no idol of the Kamakkhya inside. It’s only a natural water spring to which everyone offers the Puja.
The whole affair took about an hour . Once we were outside with red tilaks on our foreheads, that I took out my camera.

What I saw there was that the harassment and the extent of mismanagement were very less in comparison to a few other temples I have been in my locality.

Anyway, after having a dal-poori breakfast in a shop just outside the temple premises, Vipin (our driver and guide) took us to a few more places. First of them was the BALAJI TEMPLE.

[The sky again :)] It was a little different to see the kind of architecture and worshipping methods in the Eastern state of Assam that one usually witnesses in the Southern India. The stotras and the prasad also had the pure smell of south India. Photography was prohibited inside so I could help myself only from the outside of the structure.

From there, we went to a Science Museum. Must say there is a lot to see and find reason for there. Quite a big arrangement and interesting too. Camera was allowed inside the museum but I don’t think I could take anything worth posting except a video of the aquarium. Will upload the video and give you the link as soon as the broadband connection at my home gets fixed.

The VASHISHTHASRAM was our next point. Frankly, I failed to find anything of much interest there (interest as in ‘blogging interest’). There was a little waterfall inside the Ashram, not more than 30 feet high that was coming down via a natural staircase made of stones. For about 10 minutes I sat on one of the stones with my feet immersed ankle deep in the running water. Felt kind of relaxing. Baba and Pranav uncle explored the interiors of the temple there a little. But before we left I got him.

It was about a three feet high stone slab with this sculpture in its highest first feet. I liked the colour of the wall on which the slab was resting and also the ancient feel it was giving out. It probably is a Vishnu. If it is something else, I need to change the caption. Oh! By the way, I don’t know if you have noticed or not, this picture is a little shaken.

The next place was the SRIMANTA SANKARADEVA KALAKSHETRA. But, before we entered the premises, we had our lunch.

Those who know the Nandan at Kolkata, they will be able to draw a comparison. Those who don’t, for them I can say that it a kind of cultural centre of the city (and has a bigger area than the Nandan I was talking about). It has a big garden, statues like this, water bodies and benches by it, an auditorium and probably a theatre too. I found nothing more interesting than these men and bulls to post.

The final place was the zoo. Everybody was very tired by the humidity and the dust and the constant roaming since seven in the morning. It was about four, I think, when I and Baba entered the zoo. ‘Reel camera’ was charged Rs. 10 and ‘digital camera’ was Rs. 50. I could not get why such a weird classification was put in place by the management. I left my camera with the others in our car. We used our mobile cameras inside. Saw some snakes, some cheetahs, a couple of playful bears, a typical flat face owl. Actually we two were also tired of the day and the kind of elevation and depression the land has inside the zoo (with only rocks and soil to walk on), our untrained-in-mountaineering feet soon started to ache more than before. Our vehicle had to stay parked for not more than 40 minutes. [Mobile pics were not clear enough to post, sorry! If we meet I can definitely show them to you!]

The rest of the day had nothing else (other than me connecting to my office email and work for a couple of hours with my little colleague Priya). The day next was for Maa and Mausumi aunty to shop for some Assam Silk in the morning and me to shop for some wood and bamboo carvings in the evening. Next day (Sept 9th) we left Guwahati at about 11:45 (with me in the window) and reached a rainy Kolkata at about 1pm.

Huhh!!! Quite a big post, eh? :) Told ya… :) Well, that was my trip (in a little detail). Do let me know if the trip could be a good one for you too. We will wait for your comments [We as in I and Mr.P. Yes, found him just around the corner. I think he will be there with me from the next post! :)]

Lastly, as they say in Shillong, KHUBLEI for your humungous patience. Till next time, Cheers! :)