Down memory lane – (A journey to North East)

I

 was driving a left hand drive Second World War army surplus and disposed Willy’s Jeep on 2^nd gear, continuously climbing uphill on the single lane winding and gruelling road towards Cherrapunji. Incessant rain was splashing on us, the canvas cover hardly given us any respite or shelter. It seemed night would never end, an insane idea hell bent on reaching a godforsaken place, at the construction site of a cement mill instead of staying in any warm Shillong Hotel! Whole of the road looks like over flown river bed and hillocks at road side looked like thousands of waterfalls water gushing with heart stopping sound!

Mother once said, ‘son, ‘wherever you go, visit nearby places of interest, otherwise, you may not get a second chance; again.’ So, along with a couple of friends and a drunken Driver John we visited Shillong, the summer capital of erstwhile undivided Assam, to see the hill station and a movie. Coming back to Cherrapunji was a damned stupid idea of mine; never knowing the journey could be such dangerous!

Driving under such conditions of rain, cold climate and black Nimbus cloud flowing through the valleys as if cloud had all the time in the world to pass through the road. With twin fog lights ‘on’ along with two large Marshalls, illumination was restricted just a couple of feet. Then it happened, I held the steering wheel with enough taut to keep the jeep steady as it had a flat front tire! We came out in that rain and changed the tire. There was no point in waking up that Drunken John and I started driving again. Then, to add salt to the injury, a perceptibly large boulder rolled on our jeep and hit the punctured Stepney at the right side shoving the jeep at the verge of the precipice; what a perilous journey it was!

But, it seemed that we were not the only creature in this part of the world venturing into this weirdest weather of all; a lone leopard jumped just before our jeep and vanished. That followed with lots of discussion among us if that wild animal is hungry, if yes, then who it will feed on. Someone suggested John’s name. But our laughter vanished as jeep again developed another puncture. We frantically called John and kicked him to wake up. That genuine SOB said why you guys do not use the spare wheel? When we said that wheel was already fitted in and there was no spare, what a great man that John was. That ‘Bheem Pahelwan’ practically ripped open the punctured tire and shoved elephant grass and made it strong enough to run! All within three to four minutes! What a sweet memory it was! But that John extracted cost of a bottle of wine from each of us as compensation. Had it been a normal weather I would have enjoyed the beauty of driving the mountain road with lots of pleasure.

That happened many years ago, but memory seems to be vivid with every moment of those days and particularly the driving that night to Cherrapunji. The beauty and natural panorama of North East is unchallengeable, be it Arunachal, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram or Tripura.

Almost thirty eight years gone, we are now at the same road on 4^th December I and Tapati happen to visit North East again. The germ of an idea built up in the month of June when I came across Spicejet fare  from Kolkata to Guwahati and return cheaper than 2^nd AC! The tickets were booked, planning was made as fast as hurricane tour, visit N.E. in six days that included flying in and out, and back to Kolkata. I was eager to see the same road to Cherrapunji but seating in passenger seat rather than driving myself! At the gamut of the whole plan this time it is also meaningless as we had all the time of the world being a retired couple. But wise man said ‘you can change everything in your life but character & attitude never changes!

This time climate was ideal, not very cold, little warm in the day time, journey was splendid. It’s a long haul on the road north east to Shillong but the motorway is modern and we got a driver with Maruti D’Zire, the car usually driven by the tour operators here. It ate up the miles through Jorbat, which we reached in one hour. The drive gave us a chance to see the great limitless horizons of Meghalaya seen from the mountain top that impress the South Indian visitors who are accustomed to smaller dimensions.

The winding road from Guwahati to Shillong is of four lanes smooth enough for jolly ride.  At certain place on the way we stopped car and went out to see the valley down bellow that we just crossed. The scenery resembles Furka valley near Interlaken or Bernina Pass, may be St. Bernard Pass.  Interestingly the drivers are law abiding citizen following strictly traffic rules. There was no double parking or in traffic jam, there was no formation breaking & jumping on others on wrong side of the road creating further problem. The three hour journey to Shillong is memorable. Also, memorable the breath taking scenery of cloud covered with dashes of sunlight at Omium Lake. The Lake is a large one situated in pristine forest laced with wild bamboo growth. Though the lake is manmade still it does not show any trace of artificial creation. The enterprising Khasi girls are found to be  selling hot tea and snacks from their make shift kitchens; the boot of WagonR!

At Jorbat cross road we turned south and ran for fifty kilometers over middle field, with more endless horizons under a robin’s-egg blue vault of sky, until we reached the bluff called Tamulikuchi, where the middle field drops to the deep Valley. As we started down the twisting gradient we drew in our breath in amazement. Far below lay the valley, rich and lush, its open floor strewn with many beehive shaped huts, the cottages, surrounded by cattle shed, cattle pens, and vegetable gardens. Some of the cottages were perched on the side of the GS Road but most were scattered across the floor of the valley. Timber smoke eddied from their central smoke holes, and even from that height and distance we could make out the tribal boys tending small groups of humped cattle, and women bent over their garden patches. This, I thought, was North East, at last. It must have looked much the same when the Mon-Khmer, founder of the Khasi nation, later on merged with British India Empire. The road bucked and twisted down the bluff and into the Surma Valley. Across the valley was another range of hills, and in their center a deep cleft, through which the road ran. This is the entrance of Shillong!

The heartthrob of Shillong for every tourist, local guys, and tour operators is Police Bazaar. It is a business place for common guys, with a Mall or two thrown in! Police Bazaar road is off limit to any vehicle. The road has a flow of people whole day as if public are coming out of Cinema hall at the end of show; continuously! You will fall in love with the place instantly. Several wares were on display on footpath for you to pick up, anything or something. I picked up a ‘golf cap’.

I managed to get a good deal for tomorrow’s Cherrapunji tour. So, on 4^th December morning at 0830 we started our journey for sightseeing at Shillong and Cherrapunji though I did not tell anyone what else was there in my mind!

The tour operator’s name is RONG, he corrected me to say that is not colour as we say, I smiled at him and said ok, ok baba you are no Wrong (‘mistake’) either. That smiling Khasi young man could smell some odd in my way of talking and suggested to avail a ‘Bolero’ at the same price instead of Maruti 800 that I contracted. How suggestive he was, that I felt while returning in the night.

The first port of call was Shillong Peak. Marvellous place, but we did not waste much time, took some snaps and appreciated the scenery. Immediately, we left for Elephant falls at Shillong. The steps down the falls ground too precarious for us to climb down that too under the canopy of cloud! So, we had a cup of tea and snapped the small flea market there. The ever smiling girls were too smart to count money but one does not feel cheated. Off late, tourism is the money spinner for the Christian missionary trained and educated tribal. Thereafter, we did not bother to waste our time in visiting many places of not so interesting to save time. Straight way we left for Cherrapunji.