Meghalaya, Abode of the Clouds
Shillong is the capital of the state of Meghalaya in North-Eastern India. Meghalaya is also known as ‘the Abode of the Clouds’ and true to its nature, it’s friggin overcast most of the time with drizzling rain, heavy rain, monsoon rain, intermittent rain, you name the rain, you get it. Not surprisingly then, Meghalaya is also the home of Cherrapunji, the wettest place on earth.
Cherrapunji, the wettest place on earth (formerly, now I've heard some other place's taken over, don't ask me where ok, I have no friggin idea)
What made the British make Shillong the capital (former) of all North-East India in the yesteryears, beats me! (Back then it was all known as the state of Assam, now it’s broken up into seven different states.) Maybe it’s the incessant rain, makes you feel like you’re back in Britain, doesn’t it?
Nong... err something waterfall at Cherrapunji, mates illuminate me if you can remember the name willya?
Anyway, it’s a wonderful place, …Cherrapunji, lovely scenery. Dunno much about Shillong city itself, don’t even have pictures of Shillong, actually, didn’t even go out much in Shillong except for a short jaunt in the bazaar. No pub-hopping (although Shillong’s cheap on beer as opposed to bloody Mizoram where beer’s BANNED!), no visits to the local discos, no trying my luck at the casinos, no mingling around with the local gals (and believe me, Shillong’s full of pretty babes, after all it’s like a melting pot of North-Eastern India – and I can tell you, North East India’s full of diversity, Orientals, Aryans, Dravidians, hybrids of the most exotic, there’re Hindus, Moslems, Christians and Buddhists, not to mention the odd Sikh or so. The Mizos, Khasis and Nagas are of oriental stock and are mainly Christians. Arunachalis are a mixed lot, consisting of many different tribes of different religions. There’re hordes of Nepalese, Tibetans and Bhutanese who’re either Hindus or Buddhists. The Assamese and Bengalis are mainly Hindus or Moslems. The Manipuris are mainly oriental looking and are Hindus (or Moslem). There’re others too, too many to name). Anyway, what do I make of Shillong, what do you make of any place when there is a cold war brewing in the midst? Nope, I’m not referring to the many terrorist outfits that populate the North East. What do you do let’s say, when you have your recently ex’d lover and your new love together with you on the same trip, staying in the same bloody hotel? How stupid can one be huh? (Yup, I can be very stupid sometimes). You’d be lucky it didn’t fester into an all-out bloody war, and I thought it’d be fun and educational for some possible stint at the UN (maybe) as a peace negotiator in future. Anyway, to cut the story short, the potential UN Peace Negotiator failed miserably in his training… Enough said.
The Haulawng Gang at Cherrapunji (from left - yours truly, Rani our little dog, Rini, Tony, Anu, Anny, Amrita)
