In the land of clouds and rain….Chirrapunjee….





The day was reserved to experience the rainy land.  Cherapunjee was once recorded as the place having highest rainfall.
Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, Sohra
After quick breakfast from the guest house we all got ready to move in to the hills. The first sight seeing point was Shillong Hill view. Then enroute the bus stopped at several spots where we can find the beautiful waterfalls . the landscape of the area make you feel that you are travelling to the end of the world. Utmost silence everywhere. Vehicles goes on a convoy basis as there is no frequent transportation available in these areas. We stopped for a brief visit to the Ramakrishna Mission Asram at Sohra (old name of Cherrrapunjee also means land of oranges)
Next stop is Cherrapunjee. There is a board welcomes the visitors to this beautiful place with a message. This place recorded highest rainfall in India. The long strip of table top land, a cloudy sky and a cool breeze was all around when we stepped out of the bus. Students moved like butterflies all around the field. A long lane of souvenir shops displays locally available products, and one can buy if interested. A beautiful waterfall is visible at a distance. It appears like a white string among the green patch of land all around.  The name of the falls is Nohakhalikai Falls. (you may browse to know about the story).  Students really enjoyed the view around, but there was no rain except thick clouds as if the clouds were waiting to see that we get a good view of places before the raindrops fall.
Before reaching Cherapunjee we had a short break for our lunch at Sohra.
The next point was Mazumui caves. This cave system is a natural cave, which spread under a hillock. The cave is fitted with light system and one can go inside and explore the interior parts. But make sure that you have a moderate body size as at some places you have to crawl as the space is too narrow for a fat belly.
These stones are very important part of Khasi Culture
The Seven sisters falls wait for your attention in the next stop. Sever different water falls falling from an arc size landscape astonish the visitors. You have to pray rain god to clear the sky from mist else you will be disappointed. We could get a glimpse of the rainbow created out of the mist of the falls across the horizon. Waving hi to the land of rains, we returned to the city by evening.

We were also lucky enough to have a Khasi Festival celebrated in a village . The pictures are below.






Note: One will never forget the friendly nature of people here and the hot maggy and cup of hot tea/coffee when you need to recharge your energy cells.  
Remembering the tales of Nohakali and the rainless Chirapunjee overwhelmed our thought process of the evening . I had to remind the students that we have to pack up and time has come to return to Guwahati next day.
My health condition was same as previous day. No relief from pain or no relief from fever.

The end





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