North East Odyssey: Part Eleven

Day Nine (02.12.2021): Exploring Cherrapunji

Welcome to one of the rainiest places on earth, Cherrapunji, locally called as Sohra. We have been reading about this place in geography and today I am driving towards the same. I had a lot of assumptions since I had only read about this place. I thought that the climate would be cloudy with drizzles and the ground would be muddy and wet. But this was not the case. Since it was December, there was no rain and the climate was okay, neither too hot nor too cold. We did see a lot of churches and chapels on the drive. We reached the waterfall viewpoint at 12.15 PM. It would have been great to watch the falls at a closer distance but never mind.

Nohkalikai Waterfall

Nohkalikai means ‘Ka Likai’s Leap’ in Khasi language. It is the tallest plunge waterfall in India. Water plunges from a height of 1100ft uninterrupted from the highest point to the foot of the falls making it a spectacular site. The force of water has carved a waterhole which remains blue in the winter and turns green in the summer months. Read the tragic story on how the falls got its name on google. Our bus was parked, and we walked towards the viewpoint and took a few clicks. Then we drove towards Ram Krishna Mission and reached the place at 1PM.

Ram Krishna Mission Ashram

Ramakrishna Mission is a Hindu religious and spiritual organization which forms the core of a worldwide spiritual movement known as the Ramakrishna Movement or the Vedanta Movement. The mission is named after and inspired by the Indian spiritual Guru Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and founded by Ramakrishna's chief disciple Swami Vivekananda on 1 May 1897. The main reason to visit the RKM Ashram was the two museums. The bus was parked. We entered the gate, there was a souvenirs and book shop on the right side. We proceeded to the left and climbed the spiral stairs to the museums. The first museum gave us information on the seven sisters and their only brother (Sikkim) through the state models which depicted the way of living, attire, houses and the regional terrain. There were charts displaying Cherrapunji in detail. The second museum had musical instruments, war weapons, fishing equipment's, Dhelling houses, ornaments, cooking clay utensils, etc. The walls were covered with charts of different waterfalls like Iapkhnai falls, Nohkalikai fall, etc. One wall depicted the tribal history of Garo, Khasi and Jantia tribes. We further roamed around the school ground. The garden was blooming with a variety of flowers. The temple was on one side.

We reached our lunch restaurant Orange Roots at 2pm. Thali was served with roti, rice and papad. 

In case we need extra papad or salad, we must pay for it! Same was the rule for paneer sabzi. While I managed to finish atleast four bowls, I liked chutney the most. Done with the lunch and souvenirs shopping, we drove further to the Seven Sisters Waterfalls. We reached the venue at 3PM and it was a total disappointment to see a dry fall. We headed further to the caves and reached there by 3:30PM.

Mawsmai Caves

Meghalaya is the home to a lot of caves. We visited the Mawsmai cave, which is narrow, rugged limestone cave with a dimly lit access point, low overhangs & often uneven footing. We had to walk the road to the ticket counter. There were souvenirs shops on one side and small food joints on another. We reached the entry point. Tapan gave a brief idea on the trail. There was a guide map to display the trail. 

We walked further, had to hike a series of steps upwards to the cave entry point. 

We had to walk through uneven stones, had to squeeze to pass through gaps, had to crawl at some points, and so on. Finally, we reached the exit and had a group photo. Then we hiked downwards through the series of steps to the base road by 4:30PM.

After having a washroom break, we had tea with Unibic cookies. Some tried snacks at the food joint, some tried the local fruit slices, some were engrossed in shopping. We got into our bus and drove back to our hotel in Shillong. As decided yesterday, the girl gang got ready for the Polo Tower, and I was figuring out where should I spend my evening till dinner time. But Hiteshree and Swati joined me. And rest of them went to Polo Tower and enjoyed the night with delicious cuisines. Hiteshree wanted to shop for a few things. So, we traversed the market area. I am bad at shopping. Since yesterday I could not figure out what should I buy. It was 8PM now, and sellers started wrapping at their stuff in bags. Finally, I bought a woollen hat. We got back to the hotel and had a delicious dinner with Siddharth Malhotra's songs in background. Even today, from the aloo chat till the spicy eggplant sauce and pulav, everything was lip smacking. 

Post dinner three of us were chatting on random topics for a while and then we went to our rooms. After a while, Krupali got back shivering from the Polo Tower. The evening and night in Shillong were chilling. She informed me that the girl gang was convincing Bhushan for the Wards Lake. The lake was not in our itinerary but it was too close to not visit it. Let's see if we can visit the lake. Hiteshree and Shreya joined us, we discussed random topics for an hour or so. They left and we dozed off.

Read next: North East Odyssey: Part Twelve