Imagine green hillsides, bright red insects, wet roads, wildflowers by the highway. Oh, and imagine clouds, lots and lots of clouds.
Imagine now a sacred grove. Ki Law Adong, the Khasis call it: the prohibited forest. For centuries, no one has been allowed to fell a tree, pluck a flower or even remove a dead leaf. Imagine lianas, toadstools, orchids, moss carpets, incredible biodiversity, trees which shut out the sun. Imagine (and now perhaps I ask too much of you) no other tourists in sight.
Finally, imagine living bridges. Centuries ago, the war-Khasis discovered that they could train the secondary roots of ficus elastica, a species of rubber plant, to grow across a river. Imagine Avatar meets Frank Lloyd Wright meets Lord of the Rings in the north-east of India, in the wettest place on earth.
In my next post, there will be photos of all these and more. I can only hope that after the Meghalaya of your imagination, the photos will not come as a disappointment.
6 comments:
The pictures Myshkin uploaded are very, very, very beautiful. So is this post. I really should travel more often. :(
I don't know whether the photographs would be a letdown had I read your post first(probably not), but the post sure wasn't a letdown after the photographs.
:)
Travel posts are back, yaay. And more to come, I know!
Im dying to read your posts on your leh trek now... and why didn't you like shillong? i loved the place. it has this really quiet understated cool vibe..
Right. I hope you don't die before you get the pictures here. Pratiti said you might.
@Shrabasti: It's not like that's in your hands right now. Give it a few years.
@Pratiti: Strangely, I don't feel like posting about Ladakh.
@Anindita: Too much pollution and traffic congestion, a sorry excuse for a public transport system, drab houses that have overwhelmed what must once have been very fine architecture, a town centre with no real character, lots of other reasons.
@Ravis: I survived!
This is something very beautiful..i mean, the place your post has made me imagine. I won't see the photographs, hence.
Post a Comment